Yvonne Carole Grace Murray-Mooney (née Murray, born 4 October 1964), is a Scottish former middle-distance and

long-distance Long distance or Long-distance may refer to: *Long-distance calling * Long-distance operator * Long-distance relationship * Long-distance train *Long-distance anchor pylon, see dead-end tower Footpaths * Long-distance trail *European long-d ...

track and road-running athlete. She won a bronze medal in the 3000 metres at the

1988 Olympic Games 1988 Olympics refers to both: *The 1988 Winter Olympics, which were held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada *The 1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul ...

, and gold medals at this distance at the 1987 European Indoor Championships, the 1993 World Indoor Championships and the 1990 European Championships. She also won a gold medal in the

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 ...

at the

1994 Commonwealth Games The 1994 Commonwealth Games (French: ''XVéme Jeux du Commonwealth'') were held in Victoria, British Columbia, from 18 to 28 August 1994. Ten types of sports were featured at the Victoria Games: athletics, aquatics, badminton, boxing, cycling ...

. Her 3000 metres best of 8:29.02 was set in the Olympic Final of 1988.

Biography

Yvonne Murray was born on 4 October 1964 in Musselburgh, East Lothian, Scotland. Murray was initially a Hockey player for Musselburgh Grammar School prior to taking up athletics in 1979. Murray first competed on the international stage as a 16 year old representing Scotland at the

1981 IAAF World Cross Country Championships The 1981 IAAF World Cross Country Championships was held in Madrid, Spain, at the Hipódromo de la Zarzuela on March 28, 1981. A report on the event was given in the ''Glasgow Herald''. Complete results for men, junior men, women, meda ...

in Madrid, where she finished 79th in the senior women's race. Later that year she represented Great Britain at the European Junior Championships in Utrecht, Holland where she finished 6th in the 3000m event. Murray's first major senior championship appearance was at aged 18 years, where she finished 10th in both the

1500m The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athlet ...

and

3000m The 3000 metres or 3000-metre run is a track running event, also commonly known as the "3K" or "3K run", where 7.5 laps are run around an outdoor 400 m track, or 15 laps around a 200 m indoor track. It is debated whether the 3000m shoul ...

finals at the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane. Her first major athletics medal was a bronze in the 3000m event at the

1985 European Athletics Indoor Championships The 1985 European Athletics Indoor Championships were held at the Peace and Friendship Stadium, Piraeus, Attica, Greece, on 2 and 3 March 1985. Medal summary Men Women Medal table Participating nations * (10) * (5) * (13) * (4) * (21) ...

in Piraeus, Greece. In 1986, she won the silver medal in the 3000m event at the

European Athletics Indoor Championships The European Athletics Indoor Championships is a biennial indoor track and field competition for European athletes that is organised by the European Athletic Association. It was held for the first time in 1970, replacing the European Indoor Games ...

in Madrid, a bronze medal in the 3000m event at the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh and a bronze medal again in the 3000m event at the 1986 European Championships in Stuttgart. In 1987 she broke the championship record to win the 3000m at the 1987 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Lievin. At the

in Seoul, she won a bronze medal in the

event, having taken the race on at 500m from the finish line. The winner, Tetyana Samolenko of the Soviet Union, tested positive for PEDS in 1993 and received a two year ban from the sport. Murray never had her Olympic medal upgraded. In 1989 Murray won the 3000m event at the

IAAF Grand Prix Final The IAAF Grand Prix Final was an athletics competition featuring track and field events staged by the International Association of Athletics Federations. It was first held in 1985 and replaced in 2003 by the IAAF World Athletics Final. For the most ...

in Monaco and at the

IAAF World Cup The IAAF Continental Cup was an international track and field competition organized by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). The event was proposed by IAAF former President Primo Nebiolo and was first held in 1977 as ...

in Barcelona while representing Europe, becoming the first UK Female athlete to win a World Cup track event. In January 1990, at the

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 ...

in Auckland, she won silver in the

event behind Canada's

Angela Chalmers Angela Chalmers (born September 6, 1963) is a Canadian retired track and field athlete who competed in the 1500 metres and 3000 metres. She is the 1992 Olympic bronze medallist in the 3000 metres, and a three-time Commonwealth gold medallist, wi ...

, with fellow Scot

Liz McColgan Elizabeth Nuttall (née Lynch, formerly McColgan; born 24 May 1964) is a Scottish former middle-distance and long-distance track and road-running athlete. She won the gold medal for the 10,000 metres at the 1991 World Championships, and a ...

third. Later that year, she won a gold medal in the 3000m event at the

1990 European Athletics Championships The 15th European Athletics Championships were held from 26 August to 2 September 1990 in Split, Croatia, SFR Yugoslavia. The host stadium was Stadion Poljud. It was the last participation of East Germany (which was already scheduled to be merged ...

in Split, Yugoslavia. She competed at the 1992 Olympic Games where she finished 8th in the 3000 metres event. Murray won a gold medal at the

1993 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 4th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics were held at the Skydome in Toronto, Ontario, Canada from March 12 to March 14, 1993. It was the last Indoor Championships to feature the 5,000 and 3,000 metres race walk events. In addition, i ...

in Toronto, again in the 3000m event, breaking away from the field after 1000m and winning the race by over 10 seconds, becoming the first UK Female athlete to win a World Indoor title. In 1994, she won the silver medal in the 3000m event at the

European Athletics Championships The European Athletics Championships is a biennial (from 2010) athletics event organised by the European Athletics Association and is recognised as the elite continental outdoor athletics championships for Europe. Editions First held, for men ...

in Helsinki, behind Sonia O'Sullivan of Ireland and then went on to win a gold medal in the

10,000m 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 ...

event at the

at Victoria, Canada. On her return from Canada, she won her second

3000m title in London. Murray has won a full set of medals at the European Indoor Championships, European Outdoor Championships and the Commonwealth Games. Murray was also a UK champion at 5000 metres in 1983 and at 3000 metres in 1985 and 1987. She was six-times AAA champion outdoors, and AAA indoor 3000m champion in 1984. Murray was five-times Scottish outdoor champion. Murray qualified for at least one track final in every major international championship that she contested throughout her career. Murray has held the Commonwealth 2000m record since 1986, breaking her own record in 1994 with a time of 5:26.93. Murray was awarded an

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

in 1990, was voted BBC Scotland Sports Personality of the Year in 1994 and was inducted into the

Scottish Sports Hall of Fame The Scottish Sports Hall of Fame is the national sports hall of fame of Scotland, set up in 2002. It is a joint project organised by sportscotland, the national governmental body for Scottish sport, and National Museums Scotland. It is also funded ...

in 2007. As at 2021, Murray remains Scotland's most decorated individual athlete in Olympic, World, European, Commonwealth and World Cup competition, having won 13 medals in individual events.

Achievements

Note: At the 1989 World Cup, Murray was representing Europe.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Murray, Yvonne 1964 births Living people Members of the Order of the British Empire Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Scotland Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Scotland Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Scotland Olympic bronze medallists for Great Britain 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 (track and field) at the 1994 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of Great Britain Sportspeople from Musselburgh Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Scottish Olympic medallists Scottish female middle-distance runners Scottish female long-distance runners European Athletics Championships medalists Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) World Athletics Indoor Championships winners People educated at Musselburgh Grammar School 20th-century Scottish women 21st-century Scottish women