Ann Elizabeth Packer

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 ...

(born 8 March 1942) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

former sprinter,

hurdler Hurdling is the act of jumping over an obstacle at a high speed or in a sprint. In the early 19th century, hurdlers ran at and jumped over each hurdle (sometimes known as 'burgles'), landing on both feet and checking their forward motion. Today, ...

and

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

er. She won a

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

in the

800 metres The 800 metres, or meters ( US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of an outdoor (400-metre) track and has been an Olympic event since the ...

and a silver in the

400 metres The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics (sport), athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor runn ...

at the

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 ( ja, 東京1964), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this ho ...

Early life

In 1959 Packer won the English Schools 100 yards title. Next year she competed internationally in the long jump. She attended Didcot Girls' Grammar School (now

Didcot Girls' School Didcot Girls' School (also known as DGS) is a secondary school with academy status for students in Didcot, Oxfordshire and the surrounding rural area. The school has been awarded with Language College and Enterprise College status (as of 2006) ...

Career

In 1962, she reached the finals in the 200 metres at the European Championships and in the 80 metres hurdles at the Commonwealth Games; she was also part of the 4 × 110 yards relay team that won two medals at these competitions. In 1963 she focused on the 400 metres, and already by her fourth 400m race ran a world-level time of 53.6 seconds. When she was selected for the 1964 British Olympic team Packer worked as a physical education teacher at Coombe County Girls' School,

New Malden New Malden is an area in South West London, England. It is located mainly within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames and the London Borough of Merton, and is from Charing Cross. Neighbouring localities include Kingston, Norbiton, Raynes ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

. At the Olympics she shared a room with long jump gold medallist

Mary Rand Mary Denise Rand, MBE (née Bignal on 10 February 1940) is an English former track and field athlete. She won the long jump at the 1964 Summer Olympics by breaking the world record, the first British female to win an Olympic gold medal in track ...

. Packer was hoping to win the

, but was beaten into second place by

Betty Cuthbert Elizabeth Alyse Cuthbert, (20 April 1938 – 6 August 2017) was an Australian athlete and a four-time Olympic champion. She was nicknamed Australia's "Golden Girl". During her career, she set world records for 60 metres, 100 yards, 200 metres ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, despite setting a new European record at 52.20 seconds. Disappointed, Packer planned to skip the 800m event and have a shopping trip instead, until her fiancé,

Robbie Brightwell Robert Ian Brightwell MBE (27 October 1939 – 6 March 2022) was a British track and field athlete and silver medallist.

persuaded her to compete. Before the Olympics, Packer only had five domestic 800m races; she had taken up a longer distance to improve her stamina, and earned the third British spot at the last minute. In her heat and semi-final Packer finished fifth and third, running 2:12.6 and 2:06.0 respectively, being beaten by French runner

Maryvonne Dupureur Maryvonne Samson Dupureur (24 May 1937 – 7 January 2008) was a French middle-distance runner. Competing in the 800 m event she won silver medals at the 1964 Olympics and 1967 European Indoor Games; she also took part in the 1960 and 1968 Olym ...

, clocking 2:04.5 and 2:04.1. She thus started the final the second slowest of the eight contestants, having raced at the distance only seven times before. Packer was sixth at 400 m, lying behind Dupureur. She began her sprint to the finish with about 150 m to go, moved up to third at 100 m and took the lead in the final straight, using her sprinting speed to take the gold. She broke the

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

with a time of 2:01.1 minutes. Commenting on her win, Packer said "Middle-distance running for women was still in its infancy and the 800 m had only been run in Rome four years earlier for the first time. I knew nothing about the event but being so naive was probably to my advantage; it meant I did not have any limitations in my head regarding what I should or could do. Ignorance proved to be bliss." Packer's winning performance is featured in ''

Tokyo Olympiad ''Tokyo Olympiad'', also known in Japan as , is a 1965 Japanese documentary film directed by Kon Ichikawa which documents the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Like Leni Riefenstahl's ''Olympia'', which documented the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin ...

'', the official documentary of the games directed by

Kon Ichikawa was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. His work displays a vast range in genre and style, from the anti-war films '' The Burmese Harp'' (1956) and '' Fires on the Plain'' (1959), to the documentary ''Tokyo Olympiad'' (1965), which won t ...

. After winning the gold medal, she announced her retirement at the age of 22 and so had one of the shortest athletics careers of any Olympic gold medallist. It would be another forty years before another British woman,

Kelly Holmes Dame Kelly Holmes (born 19 April 1970) is a retired British middle distance athlete. Holmes specialised in the 800 metres and 1,500 metres events and won gold medals for both distances at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. She set British ...

, would win the 800 m, despite British men being successful at the distance. Later in the same Games,

Robbie Brightwell Robert Ian Brightwell MBE (27 October 1939 – 6 March 2022) was a British track and field athlete and silver medallist.

won a silver medal in the 4 × 400 m relay. They later married and had three sons, Gary, a 400 m runner like his mother, and

Ian Ian or Iain is a name of Scottish Gaelic origin, derived from the Hebrew given name (Yohanan, ') and corresponding to the English name John. The spelling Ian is an Anglicization of the Scottish Gaelic forename ''Iain''. It is a popular name in Sc ...

and

David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

, the latter two becoming footballers with

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

. She and Brightwell were each appointed

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 ...

(MBE) in the 1965 New Year Honours for services to athletics. In 2011 Brightwell published a book detailing their careers: ''Robbie Brightwell and his Golden Girl: The Posh and Becks of Yesteryear''. Packer now lives in

Congleton Congleton is a town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. The town is by the River Dane, south of Manchester and north of Stoke on Trent. At the 2011 Census, it had a population of 26,482. Top ...

in Cheshire. In 2009, Packer was inducted into the

England Athletics Hall of Fame The England Athletics Hall of Fame was launched in 2008 with a panel of experts selecting a list of potential inductees for athletics fans and members of the public to vote on. The Hall of Fame honours those who have made an outstanding contributi ...

. Ann was coached by Denis Watts and was a member of

Reading Athletic Club Reading Athletic Club, based in Reading, Berkshire, is one of the oldest and longest established athletic clubs in the United Kingdom. They officially formed in November 1881, however records show that they were one of the inaugural clubs that for ...

when she was selected for the British Olympic team. In 1966 Packer appeared in an experiment for the BBC TV history programme, ''

Chronicle A chronicle ( la, chronica, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and lo ...

'' to see how far geese could walk in a day. She was chosen because however far the geese went, she would still be with them at the end. Packer's 800m gold medal win at the Tokyo

is dramatically captured in the stunning documentary film ''

'' (1965) directed by

. The race (and Packer celebrating with friends and loved ones after winning) is shown in its entirety starting at minute 59:30 of the film. Athletic personal bests: 100y 10.9 (1963), 10.8w (1960); 100m 11.7w, 12.0 (1960), 200m 23.7 (1964), 400m 52.20 (1964), 800m 2:01.1 (1964), 80mh 11.4 (1960), HJ 1.60 (1959), LJ 5.92 (1960), Pen 4294 (old tables) (1963).

References

External links

BBC Sport article

Photo of Ann Packer (left) with Mary RandTokyo Olympiad
- film by Kon Ichikawa (Criterion Collection)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Packer, Ann 1942 births Living people Alumni of the University of Greenwich British female sprinters British female middle-distance runners Athletes (track and field) at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games silver medallists for England Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Members of the Order of the British Empire Olympic athletes of Great Britain English Olympic medallists Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain People from Congleton People from Oxfordshire World record setters in athletics (track and field) European Athletics Championships medalists Sportspeople from Cheshire Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic female sprinters