Tessa SANDERSON

Tessa Sanderson achieved her greatest improvement as a javelin thrower in 1977, during which she increased her personal best by exactly ten metres. Her first improvement came at the Midland Championships on 4 June, where she increased her UK record from 57.20m to 58.90m. Eleven days later, she improved to 60.24m at the UK national championships, and then on 1 July, at Dusseldorf, she broke the Commonwealth record of Petra Rivers (Australia), setting a new mark of 64.42m. Finally, at the European Cup semi-final at Dublin on 17 July, Sanderson set another Commonwealth record of 67.20m, defeating world record holder Ruth Fuchs (East Germany), and moving to second on the all-time world list. Fuchs turned the tables on her at the European Cup final at Helsinki, and later at the World Cup in Dusseldorf, where Sanderson finished third with a best throw of 60.30m.

Sanderson's massive improvement in 1977 meant that she was a much stronger force in the major international championships held in 1978, than she had been in earlier years. On 17 June, she easily qualified for her second Commonwealth Games team, winning at the trials in Birmingham by over 10 metres. At the Games in Edmonton, on 10 August, Sanderson was a class apart from her opponents, setting a new Games record of 61.34m in the first round, and producing two other throws further than the best by anyone else. At the European Championships in Prague on 1 September, Sanderson again achieved her best throw on her first attempt, reaching 62.40m to take the lead after round one. However, Tessa had to console herself with the silver medal, behind the winning throw of 69.16m by Ruth Fuchs. Sanderson's best throw of the year was 64.00m, which she achieved at the British Meat Games on 2 July (see photo above). (Ron Casey)

Women's Javelin Final

European Athletics Championships 1978

Women's Javelin Final

Commonwealth Games 1978

Following her second place finish in the javelin at the 1978 European Championships, it seemed natural to assume that Tessa Sanderson would figure prominently in the javelin results at the 1980 Moscow Olympics. This assumption seemed a certainty after Sanderson increased her Commonwealth record to 69.70m at Stuttgart on 5 June 1980, only 0.26m short of the world record. However, seven weeks later in Moscow, Sanderson could throw no further than 48.76m in the qualifying round, and failed to advance to the final. In 1981, Tessa decided to once again explore her potential in multi-event competition, achieving immediate success when she set two Commonwealth records in the heptathlon, firstly scoring 5906 points in June, and then 6110 points at Brussels in July. However, after suffering a severe Achilles tendon injury during the 1982 indoor season, which caused her to miss the whole of that year's outdoor campaign, Sanderson decided to concentrate solely on the javelin for the remainder of her career.

This strategy quickly brought results, as Tessa improved her Commonwealth javelin record twice in 1983, firstly to 70.82m on 5 June, and then a career best of 73.58m three weeks later. However, at the inaugural World Championships at Helsinki on 13 August, Sanderson finished 4th with a best throw of 64.76m, having been well beaten by Tiina Lillak (Finland), and Tessa's younger compatriot Fatima Whitbread, who had emerged during 1983 to challenge Sanderson's domestic dominance of the event. The following year in Los Angeles, competing in her third Olympics, Sanderson threw an Olympic record of 69.56m in the first round. This remained the best throw of the competition, winning Sanderson the gold medal (see photo above), to become the first British woman to win an Olympic throwing event. (Ron Casey)

Women's Javelin Final.

Olympic Games 1984