| Name |
Tessa Sanderson |
| Height |
|
| Naionality |
English |
| Date of Birth |
14-March-1956 |
| Place of Birth |
St Elizabeth, Jamaica |
| Famous for |
Javelin Throw |
Tessa Sanderson is a former British javelin thrower and heptathlete who competed in the javelin competition in every one of the six Olympics from 1976–1996 winning the Gold medal in 1984. She is the second track and field athlete, after Lia Manoliu (discus), to compete at six Olympics.
Sanderson was the UK's leading javelin thrower from the mid-1970s, winning silver in the 1978 European championships and gold in the Commonwealth Games three times (1978, 1986, 1990), but was eclipsed during the 1980s by the up-and-coming Fatima Whitbread, with whom she shared a long standing rivalry. When Sanderson won the gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in the javelin, becoming the first British woman ever to win Olympic gold in this event, her victory was quite unexpected. In the end, her career outlasted Whitbread's, and she competed at senior international level until 1996. Her best performance in Javelin was 73.58m set in Edinburgh on 26th March 1983. In April 2009 Sanderson again because of her work in the community made history again by organising the first 10K road run to run through the Olympic Park offering the community and other visitors to Newham the Host Borough of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games a fantastic birds eye view of the Olympic 2012 athletics stadium. The Newham Classic 10K was so successful that it takes place annually and has led to other active running events for anyone such as the City of London West Ham Park Runs which takes place most Sunday mornings in West Ham Park in the East End of London.
Sanderson was been appointed as a Board member of the Olympic Park Legacy Company chaired by Baroness Ford to oversee and help with the formation of the Olympic Park for the Newham community and people living in the East End of London. Sanderson organised and was associated with the Redbridge 10k on 24 July 2011, which was the first ever run in the Borough of Redbridge. Sanderson was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1985 New Year's Honours, following her Olympic gold, raised to Officer (OBE) in the 1998 New Year's Honours for her charity work, and to Commander (CBE) in the 2004 New Year's Honours for her services to Sport England. There is a housing estate named after her in her adopted home town of Wednesfield: Sanderson Park. It is located in the vicinity of the playing fields of her former school, Wards Bridge High School.
