Tessa SANDERSON

Tessa Sanderson had totally dominated the javelin event in the United Kingdom during the early part of her career, improving the national record from 55.60m to 73.58m between 1976 and 1983, and invariably winning domestic competitions by huge margins. However, in the early 1980's, another champion British javelin thrower, Fatima Whitbread, emerged to challenge Sanderson's dominance. Whitbread had defeated Sanderson in their only two encounters in 1984 prior to the Los Angeles Olympics, however, Tessa turned the tables at Los Angeles, winning the gold medal, while Whitbread won the bronze. It seemed that this was only forestalling the inevitable changing of the guard, as during 1985, the two champions met on a number of occasions, with Whitbread beating Sanderson on each occasion. Tessa's best performance that year was 71.18m at an early season meet in Madrid, at which Whitbread did not compete.

She also won her sixth WAAA javelin title on 26 July at Birmingham, where again Whitbread was an absentee. Their most significant confrontation following the 1984 Olympics occurred in the javelin final at the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh on 31 July 1986. Whitbread immediately took control at Edinburgh, setting a new Games record of 65.60m in the first round, and then breaking the record again when she extended her lead with a 68.54m throw on her third attempt. This remained the best throw of the competition until the last round, where Sanderson, obviously not unphased by either the competitive pressure or the rainy conditions (see photo above), produced a 69.80m effort on her last attempt to snatch the gold medal. This was not only her best throw of the year, but it also gave Tessa her second Commonwealth javelin title, having previously won at Edmonton in 1978. (Ron Casey)

Tessa Sanderson's decade long reign as Britain's premier javelin thrower began to crumble in 1985, when she started to be consistently beaten by her younger compatriot Fatima Whitbread. Tessa made a valiant attempt to forestall the inevitable when she defeated Whitbread to win the 1986 Commonwealth Games title, but it was obvious that Whitbread had usurped Tessa's mantle when she set a new world record only four weeks later, exceeding Sanderson's Commonwealth record by nearly four metres. Whitbread had a magnificent season in 1987, which included a win at the World Championships in Rome. Significantly, her one defeat of the year came at the hands of Sanderson, who finished fourth at Rome with a best throw of 67.54m. In 1988, at 32 years of age, Sanderson showed that she was still very much a force to be reckoned with when she started the year with two wins over Whitbread, and then threw 71.07m on 16 July, the second longest throw of her career, and her best for five years.

Sanderson's form made her a strong medal prospect for the Olympic Games held later that year in Seoul, but disaster struck when she reinjured her leg at a training camp in Japan prior to the Games, and although she competed at Seoul, she could only reach 56.70m in the qualifying round, and failed to advance to the final. Sanderson had a relatively low-key season in 1989, reaching a best of only 61.34m, although she did win her seventh WAAA javelin title, and came third in the European Cup. On 1 February the following year, at the Commonwealth Games in Auckland, Sanderson unleashed a throw of 65.72m on her second attempt, which easily won the gold medal, giving the overjoyed Tessa (see photo above) her third Commonwealth javelin title, equalling the record for the most gold medals in an individual event.