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 by winning the long jump with a world record leap of 6.76 metres, despite a headwind and rain. She also earned 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. After her Olympic success, she was dubbed 'Marilyn Monroe on spikes' by a journalist, and Mick Jagger named her his dream date.
Her teammate Mary Peters, who shared a room with Rand in Tokyo, led tributes, calling her 'the golden girl of her era and the most gifted athlete I ever saw'. Rand would sing lullabies to her roommates, including Peters and Ann Packer, to help them sleep before their events.
Before the Olympics, Rand worked at the Guinness factory for £10 a week. After Tokyo, she turned down film offers, including a role in a proposed 'woman James Bond' series, to focus on athletics. She retired in 1968 after tearing an Achilles tendon.
Rand later moved to the United States with her second husband, Olympic decathlon champion Bill Toomey. She is survived by her daughter Alison. Ann Packer said of Rand: 'There has never been anything like her since. And I don't believe there ever will be.'
