Anne Frances Audain (née Garrett, born 1 November 1955) is a New Zealand middle and long-distance runner. She competed in three

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...

and four

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

, winning the 1982 Commonwealth Games 3000m title and a silver medal in the 10,000m at the 1986 Commonwealth Games.

Career

Born in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

, Audain finished ninth aged 17 in the 1973 World Cross Country Championships. She ran in the 1500 m at the 1974 British Commonwealth Games in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

, New Zealand, finishing sixth, and top New Zealander, in the final with a time of 4:21.1. In the

1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 P ...

in Montreal, Audain competed in both the 800 and 1500 m. Although she failed to get past the heats, she broke the New Zealand record for the 1500 m. Prior to the start of the 1980s, major track and field athletics meetings had not had any women's events longer than 1500 metres. This started to change early in the new decade, and in March 1982, Audain competed in her first 5000 metres, breaking the world record. In the 1982 Commonwealth Games in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

she won Gold in the 3000 metres in 8m 45.53s, a New Zealand record. The record stood for 25 years until it was finally broken by Kim Smith of Auckland, when she ran 8min 35.31sec on 25 July 2007 in Monaco. At the

1984 Olympic Games The 1984 Olympics may refer to: *The 1984 Winter Olympics, which were held in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia *The 1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an intern ...

Audain competed in the inaugural women's Olympic marathon. In the 1988 Games, her last, she finished 11th in the inaugural women's

10,000 metres The 10,000 metres or the 10,000-metre run is a common long-distance track running event. The event is part of the athletics programme at the Olympic Games and the World Athletics Championships, and is common at championship level events. The ra ...

. In 1993 Audain founded the Idaho Women's Fitness Celebration 5K, now the largest race for women in the USA.

Honours and awards

Audain was awarded the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal. In the

1995 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1995 were appointments by most of the sixteen Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other co ...

, she was appointed a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

, for services to athletics. In February 2008, Audain was inducted into the Running USA Hall of Champions, and on 3 February 2009 she was inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame. She has the unique distinction of being in three Halls of Fame in two nations as in 2014 she was also inducted into the RRCA Distance Running Hall of Fame.

International competitions

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Audain, Anne 1955 births Living people New Zealand female long-distance runners New Zealand female middle-distance runners Olympic athletes of New Zealand Athletes (track and field) at the 1976 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1984 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1974 British Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1982 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1986 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1990 Commonwealth Games Athletes from Auckland Commonwealth Games gold medallists for New Zealand Commonwealth Games silver medallists for New Zealand New Zealand Members of the Order of the British Empire Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics New Zealand female cross country runners People educated at McAuley High School