Ann Packer
| Olympic medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
Representing  United Kingdom
| ||
| Women's athletics | ||
 |
1964 Tokyo | 400 m |
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1964 Tokyo | 800 m |
Ann Elizabeth Packer MBE (born 8 March 1942 in Moulsford, Oxfordshire, UK) is a former British sprinter, hurdler and long-jumper. She won a gold medal in the 800 metres at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
Ann Packer was a member of Reading Athletic Club when she was selected for the British team. She was in the 4 x 100 metres team that won silver medals in the 1962 Commonwealth Games and the 1962 European Championships.
Packer travelled to Tokyo in 1964 where she shared a room with long jump gold medallist Mary Rand. Packer was hoping to win her favourite event, the 400 metres, but was beaten into second place by Betty Cuthbert of Australia, despite setting a new European record (52.2sec). After winning a silver medal in the 400 metres Packer had no plans to run in the 800 metres and had a shopping trip planned until her fiancé, Robbie Brightwell finished fourth in the 400 metres. Disappointed for him, she turned to the 800 metres, an event which she had only raced in five times before. In her heat and semi-final Packer finished fifth and third, running 2:12.6 and 2:06.0 respectively, being beaten by Frenchwoman Maryvonne Dupureur clocking 2:04.5 and 2:04.5.
She thus started the final the slowest of the eight contestants, having raced at the distance only seven times before. Packer was sixth at 400 metres, lying behind Dupureur, she was third at 600 m and took the lead in the final straight, using her sprinting speed to take the gold. She broke the world record with a time of 2min 1.1sec [1].
After winning the gold medal, she announced her retirement at the age of 22 and so had one of the shortest athletics career of any Olympic gold medallist. It would be another forty years before another British woman, Kelly Holmes would win the 800 metres despite the event being very successful for Britain's men.
Later in the same games Robbie Brightwell won a silver medal in the 4 x 400 m relay. They later married and had three sons, Gary, Ian and David, the latter two becoming footballers with Manchester City. She and Robbie were each awarded the MBE in 1965.
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