Mary Peters - Ballymena, Northern Ireland
The women’s pentathlon was divided into two days and Peters had the perfect opening. She was drawn in lane seven for the 100m hurdles but still managed to equal her personal best. Spurred on by the attention of the large crowd at the Olympic Stadium – “it was the first time in my life and career I had a real audience and I performed for them” – she repeated the feat in both the shot put and high jump. By the end of the first day, she had an impressive 300-point lead over the West German.
That night, she could not sleep. “Every time I looked at my watch it seemed the hands had moved backwards.” She was anxious and had every right to be. The second day consisted of Rosendahl’s two strongest events and Peters’ two weakest events – the long jump and the 200m. The West German, who had already been crowned Olympic long jump champion, leapt 6.83m to land within a single centimetre of her then world record. Peters could not even get past the 6m barrier, landing at 5.95m. Her lead had been cut to just 47 points and there was still one event to go. If Peters wanted gold, she would have to run faster than she had ever done before.
Both athletes started well in the 200m, and after the first bend, Peters was still within touching distance of Rosendahl. She was urged on by the BBC commentator – “Come on Mary, you need the run of your life now” – but could not match the West German for pace. In the final 80m, Rosendahl accelerated to finish in a time of 22.96sec. Peters finished fourth, 10m and 1.12sec behind her. It looked like she had blown it.
After the race, the athletes, crowded by photographers, stared anxiously at the scoreboard, waiting for the results. Arms were folded, lips were bitten. Rosendahl, head bowed, paced nervously up and down; Peters stood behind another competitor and peeked out from behind her hands. It was not until the West German came over and shook her hand that Peters realised she had won the gold medal – by 10 points – setting a new world record in the process.
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