For as long as I can remember, I have been captivated by the Olympic Games – so many sports, so many incredible athletes and stories.
My favourite ever moment in individual Olympic competition dates from the year I was born – 1964 – and concerns the women’s 800-metre final (one of the most incredible races you will ever see). I don’t really have any “heroes” as such, but the winner of the gold medal for that particular event in Tokyo is someone for whom I have a huge amount of admiration.
Her name is now Ann Brightwell, but back in October 1964 she was Ann Packer.
What follows is a short part of a fascinating phone interview she gave me in early 2015.
“In all, I actually ran six races in six days, but I didn’t feel physically tired, because I was extremely fit. I trained probably harder than any woman had trained in that era. I was doing weights and sometimes training three times a day, all on top of having a full-time job.
“As well as being in really good physical condition, I was unwittingly perfectly prepared for the 800 metres, but I didn’t realise it at the time. I was a sprinter who hadn’t been good enough at sprinting, and that’s why I stepped up to the 400m. I’d got into the European team two years earlier in the 200m; I reached the final, but I was never going to be a world beater at the sprints. I moved up in distance on the recommendation of my coach, Dennis Watts, and Robbie [Brightwell, Ann’s fiancé at the time] who was obviously an established 400-metre runner.
“To be honest, I wouldn’t even have been able to tell you what the 800-metre world record was. I was in the race because there was a space. Dennis Watts had made me run a time trial over 600m before we went to Tokyo, just for endurance work, and he was quite astounded by the time that I did.
“I ran two 800s, again to build up my stamina. One was at Leyton and the other at White City, and I managed to get the Olympic qualifying time. I said I wouldn’t do the event in Tokyo if it was going to interfere with my 400m race, but as luck would have it, it didn’t. The event started the very next day after the 400m finished, so I had nothing to lose by giving it a shot.
“Psychologically it was very difficult because I was still disappointed about my 400m [Ann finished second to Betty Cuthbert of Australia]. Robbie’s race hadn’t gone according to plan either, but it was just a peculiar set of circumstances that found me running in the 800.
“It sounds very simplistic, but people kept telling me that if the other girls ran the first lap in about a minute, that would be very close to their best 400m time. Normally these girls would run 800m, 1,500m or even cross country. But since I was an ex-sprinter, a quicker pace would have been perfect for me.
“The girls actually went through the first 400m in under 60 seconds in the final, which was really pushing it for them. I knew that if I could stay with them in the third 200m stretch and was still in touch coming off the final bend, then I would have a great chance of winning. Most of them just wouldn’t have that basic sprinting speed.
“I know it looked like I was quite a way behind, but I felt very comfortable. With about 200 metres to go, I was near the back of the pack. But it was a single group, so I never felt out of the race. I was actually watching the New Zealand girl Marise Chamberlain, because after me, she was the fastest 400-metre runner in the race. She didn’t compete in the event in Tokyo, but she had been a 400-metre runner in the past and had more basic speed than the others. So, when she stepped out of the group and went for it, that was when I made my move.
“The French girl [Maryvonne Dupureur] was always a front runner – I didn’t know that, but obviously I found out that she always ran from the front, and very successfully. But after running wide round the last bend, I overtook her coming down the final straight as I made my final effort for the tape.
“The Japanese officials were organised brilliantly. As soon as you’d finished your event, they’d appear carrying the box with your tracksuit in, and you’d be escorted straight off the track. But Robbie had managed, along with the rest of the relay team, to somehow persuade the officials to let them stay near the finish, because his fiancée was running in the next race (which, luckily, was straight afterwards). So that’s how he came to be there, but I didn’t know until I’d finished, and then I saw them.
“There was John Cooper, Robbie, Adrian Metcalfe, Tim Graham and Milkha Singh, who was a friend of Robbie’s. I’d met him in a lift inside the stadium just before the race and he’d said to me, ‘You will win!’
“If you win a race nowadays, there are all sorts of ways you can celebrate. Someone will throw you a flag, and you do a lap of honour. But in those days, you didn’t do anything like that. So, to have someone there to share the moment – with the boys pointing up at the screen saying, ‘You’ve broken the world record!’ – was fantastic!
Little did I realise during our conversation that I would not only be offered the chance to meet Ann in person, but that I would actually be invited to her Cheshire home for a chat over tea and biscuits (in November 2015); and it was with a mixture of excitement and nerves that I made the trip across the M62... M60... A627... A34... etc...
In fairness, despite the miserable weather, the journey was fine... except for a crack on my windscreen that emanated from a chip that must have happened fairly early on in proceedings. The crack grew to about six or seven inches in length but thankfully got no worse.
It was always going to be a slightly surreal moment when I knocked on the Brightwell’s front door, but after that initial meeting Ann and I sat in her kitchen and chatted away for something like an hour and a half and barely paused for breath. Ann’s husband Robbie (a medallist himself at the Tokyo games) popped in a few times... and I even had a chance to see their medals as well as wearing Ann’s 1964 Olympic 400m silver medal.
Spending time in Ann’s company was the very definition of a pleasure and a privilege. It was a fantastic experience, and a day I will never forget…
Finally, just to put Ann’s medal into some sort of context, British women had won just 10 individual track-and-field golds in the whole history of the modern Olympic Games (to 2012). Mary Rand started the proverbial ball rolling a few days before Ann won her gold medal. The other eight are: Mary Peters (Pentathlon, 1972), Tessa Sanderson (Javelin, 1984), Sally Gunnell (400m hurdles, 1992), Denise Lewis (Heptathlon, 2000), Kelly Holmes (800m and 1500m, 2004), Christine Ohuruogu (400m, 2008), and Jessica Ennis (Heptathlon, 2012).
My favourite ever moment in individual Olympic competition dates from the year I was born – 1964 – and concerns the women’s 800-metre final (one of the most incredible races you will ever see). I don’t really have any “heroes” as such, but the winner of the gold medal for that particular event in Tokyo is someone for whom I have a huge amount of admiration.
Her name is now Ann Brightwell, but back in October 1964 she was Ann Packer.
What follows is a short part of a fascinating phone interview she gave me in early 2015.
“In all, I actually ran six races in six days, but I didn’t feel physically tired, because I was extremely fit. I trained probably harder than any woman had trained in that era. I was doing weights and sometimes training three times a day, all on top of having a full-time job.
“As well as being in really good physical condition, I was unwittingly perfectly prepared for the 800 metres, but I didn’t realise it at the time. I was a sprinter who hadn’t been good enough at sprinting, and that’s why I stepped up to the 400m. I’d got into the European team two years earlier in the 200m; I reached the final, but I was never going to be a world beater at the sprints. I moved up in distance on the recommendation of my coach, Dennis Watts, and Robbie [Brightwell, Ann’s fiancé at the time] who was obviously an established 400-metre runner.
“To be honest, I wouldn’t even have been able to tell you what the 800-metre world record was. I was in the race because there was a space. Dennis Watts had made me run a time trial over 600m before we went to Tokyo, just for endurance work, and he was quite astounded by the time that I did.
“I ran two 800s, again to build up my stamina. One was at Leyton and the other at White City, and I managed to get the Olympic qualifying time. I said I wouldn’t do the event in Tokyo if it was going to interfere with my 400m race, but as luck would have it, it didn’t. The event started the very next day after the 400m finished, so I had nothing to lose by giving it a shot.
“Psychologically it was very difficult because I was still disappointed about my 400m [Ann finished second to Betty Cuthbert of Australia]. Robbie’s race hadn’t gone according to plan either, but it was just a peculiar set of circumstances that found me running in the 800.
“It sounds very simplistic, but people kept telling me that if the other girls ran the first lap in about a minute, that would be very close to their best 400m time. Normally these girls would run 800m, 1,500m or even cross country. But since I was an ex-sprinter, a quicker pace would have been perfect for me.
“The girls actually went through the first 400m in under 60 seconds in the final, which was really pushing it for them. I knew that if I could stay with them in the third 200m stretch and was still in touch coming off the final bend, then I would have a great chance of winning. Most of them just wouldn’t have that basic sprinting speed.
“I know it looked like I was quite a way behind, but I felt very comfortable. With about 200 metres to go, I was near the back of the pack. But it was a single group, so I never felt out of the race. I was actually watching the New Zealand girl Marise Chamberlain, because after me, she was the fastest 400-metre runner in the race. She didn’t compete in the event in Tokyo, but she had been a 400-metre runner in the past and had more basic speed than the others. So, when she stepped out of the group and went for it, that was when I made my move.
“The French girl [Maryvonne Dupureur] was always a front runner – I didn’t know that, but obviously I found out that she always ran from the front, and very successfully. But after running wide round the last bend, I overtook her coming down the final straight as I made my final effort for the tape.
“The Japanese officials were organised brilliantly. As soon as you’d finished your event, they’d appear carrying the box with your tracksuit in, and you’d be escorted straight off the track. But Robbie had managed, along with the rest of the relay team, to somehow persuade the officials to let them stay near the finish, because his fiancée was running in the next race (which, luckily, was straight afterwards). So that’s how he came to be there, but I didn’t know until I’d finished, and then I saw them.
“There was John Cooper, Robbie, Adrian Metcalfe, Tim Graham and Milkha Singh, who was a friend of Robbie’s. I’d met him in a lift inside the stadium just before the race and he’d said to me, ‘You will win!’
“If you win a race nowadays, there are all sorts of ways you can celebrate. Someone will throw you a flag, and you do a lap of honour. But in those days, you didn’t do anything like that. So, to have someone there to share the moment – with the boys pointing up at the screen saying, ‘You’ve broken the world record!’ – was fantastic!
Little did I realise during our conversation that I would not only be offered the chance to meet Ann in person, but that I would actually be invited to her Cheshire home for a chat over tea and biscuits (in November 2015); and it was with a mixture of excitement and nerves that I made the trip across the M62... M60... A627... A34... etc...
In fairness, despite the miserable weather, the journey was fine... except for a crack on my windscreen that emanated from a chip that must have happened fairly early on in proceedings. The crack grew to about six or seven inches in length but thankfully got no worse.
It was always going to be a slightly surreal moment when I knocked on the Brightwell’s front door, but after that initial meeting Ann and I sat in her kitchen and chatted away for something like an hour and a half and barely paused for breath. Ann’s husband Robbie (a medallist himself at the Tokyo games) popped in a few times... and I even had a chance to see their medals as well as wearing Ann’s 1964 Olympic 400m silver medal.
Spending time in Ann’s company was the very definition of a pleasure and a privilege. It was a fantastic experience, and a day I will never forget…
Finally, just to put Ann’s medal into some sort of context, British women had won just 10 individual track-and-field golds in the whole history of the modern Olympic Games (to 2012). Mary Rand started the proverbial ball rolling a few days before Ann won her gold medal. The other eight are: Mary Peters (Pentathlon, 1972), Tessa Sanderson (Javelin, 1984), Sally Gunnell (400m hurdles, 1992), Denise Lewis (Heptathlon, 2000), Kelly Holmes (800m and 1500m, 2004), Christine Ohuruogu (400m, 2008), and Jessica Ennis (Heptathlon, 2012).