Tessa Sanderson

Theresa Ione Sanderson was born on 14 March 1956 in St Elizabeth, Jamaica. Her parents left to find work in England when she was a small child, and she stayed with her grandmother until she joined them in the West Midlands at around the age of six, growing up in Wednesfield, Wolverhampton. She first threw a javelin at 14.

She joined Wolverhampton and Bilston Athletics Club and won her first national title at 15. She went on to compete for Britain at six Olympic Games, from 1976 to 1996, only the second track and field athlete in history to do so. She won Commonwealth javelin gold medals in 1978, 1986 and 1990, and the World Cup in 1990.

Her greatest moment came at the Los Angeles Olympics on 6 August 1984. Her opening throw of 69.56 metres stood unbeaten through the rest of the competition, and she became the first Black British woman to win Olympic gold, and the first British athlete of either sex to win an Olympic throwing title. Her great rival Fatima Whitbread took the bronze. She remains the only British person to win an Olympic throwing gold.

She missed the 1988 Games through an Achilles injury, but returned for 1992, finishing fourth in Barcelona, and in 1996 competed at her sixth Olympics. She represented Britain more than 60 times in a career spanning 17 years, was a ten-time winner of the AAA championship and set British and Commonwealth records.

After retiring Sanderson became a broadcaster, working with Sky News when it launched in 1989 and presenting on television, and served as vice-chair of Sport England. She was awarded the MBE in 1985, the OBE in 1997 and the CBE in 2004.