Mary Rand dies aged 86: Tributes paid to first British woman to win athletics Olympic gold
Mary Rand, the first British woman to win an Olympic athletics gold medal, has died at the age of 86.
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The trailblazer made history after securing three medals at a single Games at Tokyo in 1964 with her triumphs in the long jump, pentathlon, and 100m relay.
In doing so, she broke the British and Olympic records with her first attempt of 6.59 metres in the long jump and then went on to smash the world record with a leap of 6.76m.
A statement released by UK Athletics confirmed the news of her passing on Friday.
It said it was "saddened to hear of the death of Olympic, European and Commonwealth champion Mary Rand, at the age of 86, and added: "She became the first British woman to win three medals at a single Olympic Games at Tokyo 1964 and blazed a trail for women in the sport."
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During an illustrious career, Rand also won silver in the inaugural women's pentathlon and bronze as a member of the 4x100m relay team in Japan, becoming the first British woman to win three medals at a single Olympic Games.
She also went on to win long jump gold at the 1966 Commonwealth Games in Jamaica.
She went on to marry British rower Sydney, with the couple having a daughter, Alison, who was two years old at the time of her Olympic triumph.
However, injury ended her Olympic title defence and she failed to make the squad in 1968, retiring in September of that year, aged just 28.
Over the course of her career, she won 12 national titles across long jump, high jump, sprint hurdles and pentathlon.
Ann Packer, who won Olympic 800m gold in 1964 and was Rand’s roommate in Tokyo, described her as "the most gifted athlete I ever saw".
In 1969, Rand married her second husband, American Bill Toomey, the 1968 Olympic decathlon champion and emigrated to the United States.
They were together 22 years, having two daughters, Samantha and Sarah.Rand later married John Reese and continued living in the US, with a home in California and then moving to Nevada.