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Mary Rand
Mary Denise Rand, MBE (née Bignal; born 10 February 1940) is a British former track and field athlete. She won the long jump at the 1964 Summer Olympics by breaking the world record, the first British female to win an Olympic gold medal in track and field. Until Emma Finucane in 2024, she was the only British female athlete to win three medals in a single Games.
Mary Rand is the daughter of Eric and Hilda Bignal. She was born and grew up in Wells, Somerset, England. At 16, Millfield School offered her an athletics scholarship. She excelled in all sports and won All-England Schools' titles. She was outstanding at high jump, long jump and hurdles. In 1956, she was a guest of the Olympic squad at a training camp in Brighton, where she beat Britain's best high jumpers.
At 17, Rand set a British record of 4,046 points in the pentathlon. She was selected for England and won a silver medal in the 1958 Commonwealth Games the long jump and came fifth in the high jump. One month later she came seventh in the European pentathlon championship.
In the 1960 Olympics in Rome, she set a British record of 6.33 m in the qualifying round of the long jump, which if repeated, would have won a silver in the final. In the final she fouled two of the three jumps and finished ninth. She also finished fourth in the 80 m hurdles. She won a bronze medal in the European championship long jump in 1962.
At the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, Rand set an Olympic record in the long jump in the qualifying rounds, jumping 6.52 m. In the final she beat the favourite, world record holder Tatyana Schelkanova of the USSR and Poland's Irena Kirszenstein. Her first jump of 6.59m was a British record. However, in the fifth round, on a wet runway with a headwind of 1.6 metres a second, she broke the world record, leaping 6.76 m to take gold. Her record lasted four years until it was broken at altitude by Viorica Viscopoleanu in the Mexico City Olympics.
Rand won the silver medal in the pentathlon, her 5,035 points putting her second in the all-time rankings. She was beaten to the gold by Irina Press, whose biological sex has been the subject of speculation. She also won a bronze as a member of the Great Britain team that finished third in the 4 × 100 metres relay.
Six days after Rand won the gold medal, her roommate Ann Packer won the 800 metres. Packer said: "Mary was the most gifted athlete I ever saw. She was as good as athletes get, there has never been anything like her since. And I don't believe there ever will."
Rand was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1965 New Year Honours for services to athletics and voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year for 1964.
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Mary Rand
Mary Denise Rand, MBE (née Bignal; born 10 February 1940) is a British former track and field athlete. She won the long jump at the 1964 Summer Olympics by breaking the world record, the first British female to win an Olympic gold medal in track and field. Until Emma Finucane in 2024, she was the only British female athlete to win three medals in a single Games.
Mary Rand is the daughter of Eric and Hilda Bignal. She was born and grew up in Wells, Somerset, England. At 16, Millfield School offered her an athletics scholarship. She excelled in all sports and won All-England Schools' titles. She was outstanding at high jump, long jump and hurdles. In 1956, she was a guest of the Olympic squad at a training camp in Brighton, where she beat Britain's best high jumpers.
At 17, Rand set a British record of 4,046 points in the pentathlon. She was selected for England and won a silver medal in the 1958 Commonwealth Games the long jump and came fifth in the high jump. One month later she came seventh in the European pentathlon championship.
In the 1960 Olympics in Rome, she set a British record of 6.33 m in the qualifying round of the long jump, which if repeated, would have won a silver in the final. In the final she fouled two of the three jumps and finished ninth. She also finished fourth in the 80 m hurdles. She won a bronze medal in the European championship long jump in 1962.
At the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, Rand set an Olympic record in the long jump in the qualifying rounds, jumping 6.52 m. In the final she beat the favourite, world record holder Tatyana Schelkanova of the USSR and Poland's Irena Kirszenstein. Her first jump of 6.59m was a British record. However, in the fifth round, on a wet runway with a headwind of 1.6 metres a second, she broke the world record, leaping 6.76 m to take gold. Her record lasted four years until it was broken at altitude by Viorica Viscopoleanu in the Mexico City Olympics.
Rand won the silver medal in the pentathlon, her 5,035 points putting her second in the all-time rankings. She was beaten to the gold by Irina Press, whose biological sex has been the subject of speculation. She also won a bronze as a member of the Great Britain team that finished third in the 4 × 100 metres relay.
Six days after Rand won the gold medal, her roommate Ann Packer won the 800 metres. Packer said: "Mary was the most gifted athlete I ever saw. She was as good as athletes get, there has never been anything like her since. And I don't believe there ever will."
Rand was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1965 New Year Honours for services to athletics and voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year for 1964.