Tessa Sanderson
Theresa Ione "Tessa" Sanderson, CBE (born 14 March 1956) is a British former javelin thrower and heptathlete. A six-time Olympian in the javelin from 1976 to 1996, she won the gold medal in 1984 for Great Britain, and in 1996 she became the second track and field athlete, after discus thrower Lia Manoliu, to compete at six Olympics. She is the first black British woman to have won an Olympic gold medal.
Sanderson in 2008 | |
Personal information | |
---|---|
Full name | Theresa Ione Sanderson[1] |
Nationality | British |
Born | [1] St Elizabeth, Jamaica | 14 March 1956
Sport | |
Country | Great Britain (1973–1996) |
Sport | Athletics |
Event(s) | Javelin throw |
Turned pro | 1973 |
Retired | 1997 |
Achievements and titles | |
Personal best(s) | 73.58 m (1983) |
Medal record
|
Sanderson also won gold medals in the javelin throw at three Commonwealth Games (1978, 1986 and 1990) and at the 1992 IAAF World Cup. She was runner-up at the 1978 European Athletics Championships, and competed in three world championships (1983, 1987, and 1997). She was AAAs National Champion ten times, UK National Champion three times. She set ten UK senior records and five Commonwealth records in the javelin, as well as records at both junior and masters levels.
During her career, she had an ongoing acrimonious rivalry with fellow Briton Fatima Whitbread. Sanderson has made numerous television appearances as a guest, and worked as a sports reporter for Sky News when it first aired in 1989. She was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1985 New Year's Honours, raised to Officer (OBE) in 1998, and later to Commander (CBE) in the 2004 New Year's Honours. Sanderson served as Vice-Chairman of Sport England from 1999 to 2005, and in 2009 established the Tessa Sanderson Foundation and Academy, which aims to encourage young people and people with disabilities to take up sport.
Early life
Sanderson was born on 14 March 1956 in St Elizabeth, Jamaica,[1] of Ghanaian ancestry.[2] Her parents left Jamaica to find work in England when Sanderson was five, and she was in the care of her grandmother until going to live her parents in Wednesfield at the age of six. Her P.E. teacher at Ward's Bridge High School, Barbara Richards, noted her talent for athletics and encouraged her, also making threats of putting Sanderson in after-school detention if she did not train, an approach that Sanderson later said helped her.[3][4] She first threw a javelin at the age of 14, when betting with a friend for a bag of chips over who would be able to throw it further.[5]
Athletics career
Early career
She was a member of Wolverhampton & Bilston Athletics Club, competing in both javelin and multi-event disciplines.[1] In 1972, aged 16, Sanderson won the Intermediate javelin at the English Schools' Athletics Championships.[1] The following year she was selected to compete in the javelin throw at the 1973 European Athletics Junior Championships, where she reached the final but finished 12th with 39.18 m (128 ft 6 1⁄2 in), well behind the winner, Tonya Khristova, who threw 54.84 m (179 ft 11 in).[6]:17–18 After this competition, Sanderson decided to focus on the javelin event rather than pentathlon, partly because she expected competing in the javelin to provide more opportunities for travel.[6] She made her senior international debut in the javelin throw at the 1974 British Commonwealth Games, finishing fifth. Later that year, she finished 13th at the 1974 European Athletics Championships. Sanderson broke the UK javelin throw junior record five times, achieving 55.04 m (180 ft 6 3⁄4 in) in 1974. She became the national record holder in 1976, throwing 56.14 m (184 ft 2 in). She went on to achieve ten new UK senior records and five Commonwealth records.[1]
1976 saw Sanderson's Olympic debut, at 1976 Summer Olympics. Aged 20, she was the youngest of the competitors in her event, and threw 57.00 m (187 ft 0 in) to finish ninth.[1] In July 1977, at the European Cup semi-finals in Dublin, she achieved 67.20 m (220 ft 5 1⁄2 in), at the time a UK record and the second longest distance achieved by a woman; Ruth Fuchs, holder of the world record, qualified in second place.[7] At the European Cup finals it was Fuchs who won the gold, with Sanderson taking the silver.[8] At the 1977 IAAF World Cup, Sanderson won bronze.[9]
Sanderson won her first major gold medal with a throw of 61.34 m (201 ft 2 3⁄4 in) the 1978 Commonwealth Games, the first time that England had won gold in the women's javelin at the games since 1962.[1] A few weeks later, Sanderson took silver at the 1978 European Athletics Championships as runner-up to Fuchs,[10] and at the 1979 European Cup again finished behind Fuchs, with both of them losing out to champion Éva Ráduly-Zörgő.[11]
She went to the 1980 Summer Olympics rated as the third-best woman javelin thrower of all time, but failed to meet the qualifying standard for the final, achieving only 48.76 m (159 ft 11 1⁄2 in) with her first throw, and having her other two attempts declared "no-throws".[12]
After the 1980 Olympics, she approached Wilf Paish at the Carnegie Institute of P.E. in Leeds to coach her.[3] He agreed to become her coach, and she moved to live with his family.[2] A throw of 61.56 m (201 ft 11 1⁄2 in) was enough for Sanderson to win at the 1981 Pacific Conference Games.[13] At the 1981 European Cup, Sanderson was runner-up, with Antoaneta Todorova having produced a world-record throw to win.[14] Later in 1981, Sanderson suffered an Achilles tendon rupture in her left leg and also broke a bone in her throwing arm. An operation on her Achilles tendon was unsuccessful, and she required another operation. The injuries prevented her from competing for twenty-two months.[3] Sanderson was fourth at the 1983 World Championships, where her rival Fatima Whitbread won silver.[15] At the 1983 World Championships, she injured her Achilles tendon again, and had both operations on both Achilles tendons a few days after the end of the competition.[3]
Olympic gold and later career
When Sanderson won the gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in the javelin, it was Great Britain's first Olympic win in a throwing event since the instigation of the modern Olympics in 1896. She set a new Olympic record with her throw of 69.56 m (228 ft 2 1⁄2 in). Whitbread won bronze.[16] She also became the first black British woman to have won an Olympic gold medal.[17] Sanderson also won gold at the 1986 Commonwealth Games, with Whitbread taking silver.[18]
In March 1987, Sanderson announced that she would be focusing on the heptathlon rather than the javelin throw. Shortly before that, she had moved to London, and was looking for a career change to television or promotional work.[19] She later threatened to boycott athletics events, for which she was being paid £1,000 each by British Athletics whilst Whitbread was being paid £10,000 per event, and agreed a new deal at the start of June.[20] At the Dairy Crest Games in August, Whitbread, who had been undefeated during the season, injured her shoulder whilst Sanderson won the event and then announced that she would be training with Mick Hill in Italy for the world championships.[21] Whitbread won the World Championship gold, with Sanderson finishing fourth.[22] By this time, former pop star Adam Faith was engaged as Sanderson's agent.[23]
Sanderson burst the skin around her ankle, exposing her Achilles tendon, around ten days before taking part in the 1988 Summer Olympics as defending champion.[24] She failed to qualify for the final, and left the competition limping, with blood visible on the bandage on her injured ankle.[25] She left the stadium on crutches before the medal ceremony, where Whitbread was presented with the silver medal after finishing as runner-up to Petra Felke.[26]
Having announced after the 1988 Olympics that she would retire from the javelin throw, Sanderson made an unexpected return to competition in 1989,[27] at the McVitie's International Challenge, where she finished third.[28] She was also third at the 1989 European Cup despite still being short of fitness.[29] At the 1990 Commonwealth Games, a throw of 65.72 m (215 ft 7 1⁄4 in) was enough for Sanderson to retain her title.[30] At the 1990 European Athletics Championships Sanderson finished twelfth,[31] but was later upgraded to eleventh after Felicia Ţilea was disqualified.[32][33] Aged 35, Sanderson won at the 1991 European Cup, ahead of a field that included the reigning world record holder Felke.[34]
Her fifth Olympic appearance, at the 1992 Summer Olympics, set a new record for Olympic appearances by a British athlete.[35] Her best throw of 68.54 m (224 ft 10 1⁄4 in) was almost five metres less than the winning distance achieved by Silke Renk.[36] At the 1992 World Cup Sanderson won gold with a throw of 61.86 m (202 ft 11 1⁄4 in), nearly three metres further than any other competitor.[37]
Return to competition
After a four-year hiatus, Sanderson returned to track and field competition in 1996.[38] She achieved new masters record throws of 58.18 m (190 ft 10 1⁄2 in) and 60.64 m (198 ft 11 1⁄4 in) in each of her first two throws in May, surpassing the previous record of 51.84 m (170 ft 3⁄4 in).[1] After two further masters record throws,[1] she increased the record to 64.06 m (210 ft 2 in) at the Securicor Games in July.[38][1] At the 1996 Summer Olympics she became the second track and field athlete, after discus thrower Lia Manoliu, to compete at six Olympics, but did not qualify for the final.[39] She also failed to qualify for the final at the 1997 World Championships, which was her last international appearance.[1]
An article by Alan Hubbard in The Observer in 1990 said of Sanderson and Whitbread that "their hate-hate relationship has been one of the most enduring in British sport", citing Sanderson's perception that Whitbread received preferential treatment from the British Amateur Athletic Board, whose promotions officer was a family friend of Whitbread; and the support that Whitbread and Whitbread's mother (who coached Whitbread) publicly supported Sue Howland who had been allowed to compete at the 1990 Commonwealth Games.[40] In 2009, Tom Lamont wrote in The Guardian that "Whitbread and Sanderson were always uneasy rivals and the enmity that developed during their overlapping careers became as famous as their achievements, and seems to survive in their retirement".[2]
Sanderson retired from competition in 1997, her rival Whitbread having retired five years earlier.[2] Sanderson's career-best javelin throw was 73.58 m (241 ft 4 3⁄4 in) in Edinburgh on 26 June 1983.[41] She had also competed in pentathlon and heptathlon events,[1] setting new UK and Commonwealth records for the heptathlon twice in 1981.[42]
Sports administration
Sanderson served as Vice-Chairman of Sport England from 1999 to 2005.[43] In 2006, she started an academy in the Newham, London that helped to find and train athletes to represent Britain in the 2012 Summer Olympics.[44] In September 2009, The Tessa Sanderson Foundation and Academy was established, with the aim of encouraging young people and people with disabilities to take up sport, and providing mentoring and support.[45]
From 2009 to 2013, Sanderson organised an annual 10 km race in Newham, with part of the route being through the Olympic Park. The 2013 event attractied 3,000 participants representing 45 different nationalities. However, the event was cancelled in 2014, with Sanderson claiming that the local authority, Newham Council, had been delaying meetings about the event, and had been looking to double the fee payable.[46][47] Sanderson was appointed as a board member of the Olympic Park Legacy Company chaired by Baroness Ford, to "develop and manage" the Olympic Park following the 2012 Olympics.[48][49]
Media work
Sanderson was a guest on television shows including A Question of Sport (in 1979), Punchlines (1984), The Krypton Factor Olympic Celebrity Special (1984), Sporting Triangles (1987 and 1988), Celebrity Wheel of Fortune (1989), Busman's Holiday Celebrity Special (1991), Catchphrase Celebrity Special (1991), Celebrity Wife Swap (2009)[50] and Bullseye (1984).[51]
When Sky News was launched in 1989, she worked as a sports reporter for the channel.[52] She also appeared alongside Cilla Black as a co-host on ITV's Surprise Surprise.[53] In 2005, she took part in the one-off special, Strictly African Dancing, as part of the Africa Lives season on the BBC.[54] She performed a "traditional 'dance celebrating the return home of the menfolk'" and was voted into third place by the viewers.[55] Sanderson starred in the fitness videos "Cardiofunk" (1990) "Body Blitz" (circa 1992) with Derrick Evans.[56][57]
She appeared in "Billy's Olympic Nightmare", a one-off exclusive BBC Red Button episode of EastEnders which was aired on 16 July 2012.[58] and was a contestant in Dancing on Ice goes Gold program on ITV on 22 July 2012. In 2018, Sanderson featured in Channel 5's reality series Celebrity 5 Go Barging.[59] At 58 years of age, she began working as a model for the Grey Model Agency.[4]
Honours
Sanderson was selected as a British Athletics Writers' Association Athlete of the Year in 1977, 1978 and 1984,[60] and inaugurated into the England Athletics Hall of Fame in 2012[61] Potential candidates for inclusion in the Hall of Fame are selected by a panel of experts, with the decision on inclusion then being determined by a public vote.[62]
She was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1985 New Year's Honours, following her Olympic gold, raised to Officer (OBE) in the 1998 New Year's Honours for her charity work, and later to Commander (CBE) in the 2004 New Year's Honours for her services to Sport England.[63]
Sanderson is an honorary graduate of the University of Wolverhampton[64] and was made an Honorary Fellow of London South Bank University in 2004.[65] In 2004, Sanderson was voted one of 100 Great Black Britons in a poll established after the BBC's 100 Greatest Britons failed to include any black Britons.[66][67] Later in the same year she was presented with a Sportswomen of the Year Lifetime Achievement award by The Sunday Times.[68] In Wednesfield there is a housing estate located near where she started learning the javelin throw, Sanderson Park, named after her.[69] There is also a road named after her in Wandsworth Road, South London, Tessa Sanderson Place.[70]
Personal life
Sanderson has spoken about the discrimination she had faced as a black woman. In 1990, she told The Guardian that she had faced racial discrimination, although not in her sporting career; and that she felt sexism was the reason that women athletes were not adequately paid.[71] Growing up she experienced racist language and behaviour in school, including being spat on,[72] and has spoken about how, following her Olympic gold in 1984, she received a racist letter saying that she was not truly British.[73] She told Sky Sports in October 2020 that "Black athletes didn't have the voice they have now, so I just had to fight my own battles" and that she was disappointed by the continuing lack of black, Asian and minority ethnic representation in sports governing bodies.[73]
In the 1970s, the use of performance-enhancing drugs was common in throwing events, and Sanderson spoke against the practice,[74] consistently maintaining an anti-doping stance.[6]:159–165[72] Her rival Fuchs later admitted to using steroids during competition.[75]
Tessa: My Life in Athletics, Sanderson's autobiography, was published in 1986.[76] In 1990 Sanderson was awarded £30,000 in damages by the High Court of Justice over newspaper claims that by starting an affair with Evans, who later became known as Mr. Motivator, she had "stolen another woman's husband." Sanderson contended that her affair with Evans had begun only after his marriage had broken up.[5]
On 3 May 2010, she married Densign White, a former Olympic judo athlete, at St. Paul's Cathedral in London. Her bridesmaids were her fellow Olympic teammates Sharron Davies, Kelly Holmes and Christine Ohuruogu.[77] Sanderson unsuccessfully received In vitro fertilisation treatment three times before she was 50. In 2013, she and White started fostering four-month old twins, Cassius and Ruby Mae, and the couple adopted the twins the following year, when Sanderson was aged 58.[4][78] Her nephew, Dion Sanderson, is a footballer who made his debut for Wolverhampton Wanderers in October 2019.[79]
National titles (Javelin throw)
- AAA Junior Championships (under 17) 1971 and 1972[80]
- English Schools Champion 1972 (intermediate) and 1973 (senior)[81]
- British Schools International Match 1973[82]
- English Commonwealth Games trials 1973 and 1978[83]
- British Olympic Games trials, 1976 and 1984[83]
- 10 Times AAAs National Champion (1975, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1985, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1996)[1]
- 3 Times UK National Champion (1977, 1978, 1997)[1]
Midland Counties Championships titles
Personal bests
Event | Best | Date | Notes | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|
Javelin throw | 73.58 m | 26 June 1983 | in Edinburgh | [41] |
200 m | 24.89 s | 1981 | [1] | |
400 m | 57.3 s | 1972 | [1] | |
800 m | 2:26.20 | 1981 | [1] | |
100 m hurdles | 13.46 s | 1981 | [1] | |
400 m hurdles | 60.46 s | 1977 | [1] | |
High jump | 1.69 m | 1973 | [1] | |
Long jump | 5.97 m | 1981 | [1] | |
Shot put | 13.27 m | 1981 | [1] | |
Heptathlon | 6125 pts | 1981 | [1] | |
60 m hurdles (indoors) | 8.5s | 1977 | [1] | |
Pentathlon (indoors) | 3623 pts | 1973 | [1] | |
International competitions (Javelin throw)
Notes:
- Results with a q, indicate overall position in qualifying round
- At the World Cup competitions, Sanderson was representing Europe.
Media appearances
Television and radio
- These are UK television appearances unless otherwise noted.
Year | Programme | Role | Ref |
---|---|---|---|
1979 | The Superstars: The Women's Championship | participant | [86] |
1979 | A Question of Sport | participant | [50] |
1984 | Punchlines | participant | [50] |
1984 | Bullseye | participant | [51] |
1984 | Crackerjack | guest | [87] |
1984 | The Krypton Factor Olympic Celebrity Special | participant | [50] |
1985 | Blankety Blank | guest | [88] |
1986 | Tessa Sanderson | participant | [50] |
1987 | Sporting Triangles (2 episodes) | participant | [50] |
1987 | The Grand Knockout Tournament | participant | [89] |
1987 | Through the Keyhole | participant | [90] |
1988 | Which School and Why? | participant | [50] |
1988 | Sporting Triangles (3 episodes) | cast member | [50] |
1989 | Special Awards Presentation | participant | [50] |
1989 | Sunday Sunday | guest | [50] |
1989 | Sky News | sports reporter | [52] |
1989 | Celebrity Wheel of Fortune | participant | [50] |
1989 | Grand Final | participant | [50] |
1989 | Tessa Sanderson | [50] | |
1990 | Afternoon | participant | [50] |
1990 | Telethon – Thanks to You | participant | [50] |
1990 | Bullying | participant | [50] |
1990 | On the Line | participant | [50] |
1991 | Get Up, Stand Up | participant | [50] |
1991 | Busman's Holiday Celebrity Special | participant | [50] |
1991 | Visions | participant | [50] |
1991 | Catchphrase Celebrity Special | participant | [50] |
1992 | TV Squash | guest | [50] |
1992 | Tessa Sanderson M.B.E. | guest | [50] |
1992 | Surprise Surprise (3 episodes) | host | [50] |
1993 | Benn V Eubank: Round One – The Best of Enemies | guest | [50] |
1993 | Inside Info | participant | [50] |
1993 | Celebrity Squares | guest | [91] |
1993 | The Real McCoy | participant | [92] |
1993 | Going for Gold[lower-alpha 1] | presenter | [93] |
1993 | Cluedo (episode: The Hanged Man) | participant | [50] |
1994 | Capital Woman | presenter | [50] |
1995 | They Think It's All Over | participant | [94] |
1996 | Win, Lose or Draw | participant | [95] |
1996 | Noel's Telly Years | participant | [96] |
1996 | Sunday Matters | participant | [50] |
1996 | Desert Island Discs[lower-alpha 2] | guest | [97] |
1997 | Ha Bloody Ha | participant | [50] |
1997 | Night Fever – Abba Special | participant | [50] |
1999 | h&p@bbc | participant | [98] |
2002 | The Essential...Daley Thompson | participant | [50] |
2003 | Russell Grant's Sporting Scandals | participant | [50] |
2005 | Trisha Goddard (2 episodes) | participant | [50] |
2005 | Big Brother's Little Brother | guest | [50] |
2005 | The Wright Stuff | panellist | [50] |
2006 | Strictly African Dancing | participant | [54] |
2006 | The Wright Stuff | panellist | [50] |
2007 | What the World Thinks of God | guest | [50] |
1999 | Antiques Roadshow | participant | [99] |
2009 | Celebrity Wife Swap | participant | [50] |
2010 | Cash in the Celebrity Attic | participant | [100] |
2010 | Celebrity MasterChef | participant | [101] |
2012 | Celebrity Antiques Road Trip | participant | [102] |
2012 | EastEnders: Billy's Olympic Nightmare | herself | [58] |
2012 | A Question of Sport | participant | [103] |
2012 | Dotun Adebayo[lower-alpha 3] | participant | [104] |
2012 | Dancing on Ice Goes Gold | participant | [50] |
2016 | Pointless Celebrities | participant | [105] |
2015 | All Star Mr & Mrs | participant | [106] |
2016 | Pointless Celebrities (2 episodes) | participant | [107][108] |
2016 | A Question of Sport | participant | [109] |
2019 | The Junk Food Experiment | participant | [110] |
2016 | Tenable All Stars | participant | [111] |
2018 | Celebrity 5 Go Barging | participant | [59] |
2019 | Sink Or Swim For Stand Up To Cancer | participant | [112] |
2020 | Bargain Hunt: Newmarket 31 (Sport Relief Special) | participant | [113] |
Pantomime
Year | Title | Role | Venue | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|
1990–91 | Robinson Crusoe | Girl Friday | Guildford | [114] |
1991–92 | Aladdin | The Genie | Brighton Dome | [115] |
1994–95 | Robinson Crusoe | Girl Friday | Bournemouth Pavillion | [115][116] |
1995–96 | Cinderella | Fairy Godmother | Lewisham Theatre | [117] |
See also
- Javelin throw at the Olympics
- List of athletes with the most appearances at Olympic Games
- List of Olympic medalists in athletics (women)
- List of Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics (women)
- List of European Athletics Championships medalists (women)
- List of javelin throwers
- List of Jamaicans
- List of people from Wolverhampton
Notes
- Programme about the likelihood of Manchester hosting the 2000 Olympics; not Going for Gold
- Radio
- Radio; with Dotun Adebayo
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External links
- Official website
- The Tessa Sanderson Foundation and Academy
- Tessa Sanderson Track and Field Statistics
- Tessa Sanderson at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)