Mary Rand, the first British woman to win an Olympic athletics gold medal, has died at the age of 86. Rand made history at the 1964 Tokyo Games, winning gold in the long jump, silver in the pentathlon, and bronze in the 4x100m relay.
Born Mary Bignal in Wells, Somerset in 1940, she grew up in a council house and attended Millfield School on a sports scholarship. Her athletic talent was evident early, and she competed in her first Olympics in Rome in 1960, finishing ninth in the long jump.
In Tokyo, Rand broke the world record with a leap of 6.76m into a headwind on a wet track. Her gold medal was Britain's first female Olympic athletics gold. She was known for her style and was called 'Marilyn Monroe on spikes' by one journalist.
After the Olympics, Rand turned down offers to star in a series of 'woman James Bond' films to focus on athletics. She retired in 1968 after tearing an Achilles tendon. Tributes have been led by Mary Peters, her roommate in Tokyo, who described Rand as 'the golden girl of her era'.
