Debbie Flintoft is pictured above in the Rome Olympic Stadium
at the 1987 World Championships. The main image is of her in the
second semi-final (2nd in 55.08) behind Cornelia Feuerbach-Ullrich
and the smaller image of the final two days later in the
final (2nd in 54.19) behind Sabine Busch (53.62 CR)
Debbie Flintoff had an unforgettable year in 1986, improving her 400m hurdles
personal best by over a second, and winning the 400m hurdles/400m double at
the Edinburgh Commonwealth Games. She also married her coach, Phil King, during
that year, and thenceforth competed under the name of Flintoff-King. At the World
Championships in Rome the following year, Debbie easily moved through the first two
rounds (see photo above) to qualify for the 400m hurdles final on 3 September.
Despite drawing the outside lane in the final, Flintoff-King finished strongly to
win the silver medal behind Sabine Busch (East Germany). In the early season
competition the following year, it seemed that the Olympic gold medal in Seoul
would again be fought out between Flintoff-King and Busch. However, another
major contender emerged in the first semi-final in Seoul, in the form of
Tatyana Ledovskaya (Soviet Union), who took the field out at a terrific pace, before
being overtaken and beaten by the narrowest of margins (0.01sec) by Flintoff-King.
In the final held two days later, Ledovskaya made an even faster start, leading over
the fifth hurdle in a lightning fast 23.06sec. Flintoff-King was only in 4th place at the
ninth hurdle, but was finishing faster than anyone else. Even so, coming off the
last hurdle, Ledovskaya still held a virtually unbeatable 0.24sec lead over Debbie.
However, the Australian produced an incredible burst in the remaining 40 metres,
to again nip the luckless Ledovskaya at the tape by 0.01sec. Flintoff-King's
gold medal-winning time of 53.17sec moved her to second on the all-time world list.
Debbie went on to win two silver medals in her final major international competition
at the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland, surrendering her 400m hurdles title
to Sally Gunnell (England), and winning a second medal in the 4 x 400m relay. (Ron Casey).
Australia had a number of champions in the women's sprint hurdles events in the 1950's and 1960's, but it was not until the
emergence of Debbie Flintoff, that they had a world-class talent in the relatively newer 400m hurdles event. Flintoff made a
rapid improvement in the event during 1982, resulting in her winning the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Brisbane,
ere 0.02sec behind the winning Canadian team. Although she was the best in the Commonwealth, Flintoff found difficulty breaking
into the top ranks on the global scene in her early years. At the 1983 World Championships in Helsinki, Debbie was eliminated
when she finished fifth in her semi-final.
She reached the final at the following year's Olympic Games in Los Angles, where she finished sixth, although the quality of the event
was seriously depleted by the absence of the Soviets and East Germans due to their countries' boycott. In September 1985, Flintoff
improved her personal best to 54.80sec when finishing second at the Grand Prix final in Rome, and the following month she won the
bronze medal at the World Cup in Canberra.
Flintoff had a stellar year in 1986, improving her personal best to 53.76 sec at Oslo on 5 July, which moved her to fifth on the all-time world list.
At the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, Debbie won the 400m gold medal on 27 July, and then the 400m hurdles gold medal
the following day, (see photo above, proudly showing both medals). In addition, she picked up a bronze medal as a member
of the third-placed Australian 4 x 400m relay squad. (Ron Casey)