Barbara LAWTON

Barbara Lawton was a champion high jumper for many years, but it was only after a decision to change her style, that she started to achieve her true potential. Competing under her maiden name of Barbara Inkpen, and utilising the straddle style, Barbara placed 13th at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City with a height of 1.68m. The following year she finished 8th at the European Championships in Athens with a 1.77m clearance. Barbara's performances as a straddle jumper were often unpredictable, like the time she equalled the UK record of 1.79m on 11 July 1970 just after missing out on selection for England's Commonwealth Games team. However, all that changed in July 1971. The day after Barbara was unplaced at the WAAA Championships on 16 July with a disappointing 1.73m, she started to experiment with the 'Fosbury Flop' technique in training. The result was a total transformation in not only the level of her performances, but also in her consistency.

Within a fortnight Barbara had set a new UK record of 1.80m, and at the European Championships in Helsinki on 12 August, less than a month after deciding to change her technique, Barbara jumped 1.85m to tie for second place. Barbara cleared this same height the following year at the Olympic Games in Munich where she finished fourth. Following her marriage to international walker Carl Lawton in 1973, Barbara set a new Commonwealth record of 1.87m in September that year in an international meet between UK and Sweden. The highlight of Lawton's career was when she won the gold medal at the 1974 Commonwealth Games in Christchurch clearing 1.84m on her first attempt. Barbara finished a disappointing 15th at the 1974 European Championships, and she retired from competition following the 1976 domestic season (see photo above). (Ron Casey)