Tessa Sanderson

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Medal record
Tessa Sanderson
Women's Athletics
Competitor for United Kingdom
Olympic Games
Gold	1984 Los Angeles	Javelin Throw

Theresa ("Tessa") Ione Sanderson CBE (born March 14, 1956) is a former British javelinist and heptathlete.

Sanderson was born in St Elizabeth, Jamaica of Ghanaian ancestry, she later emigrated to Wolverhampton, England. She was the UK's leading javelin thrower from the early 1970s, winning silver in the 1978 European championships and gold in the Commonwealth Games twice, but was eclipsed during the 1980s by the up-and-coming Fatima Whitbread.

When Sanderson won the gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in the javelin, becoming the first British black woman ever to win Olympic gold, her victory was quite unexpected. In the end, her career outlasted Whitbread's, and she competed at senior international level until 1996. She served as Vice-Chairman of Sport England from 1999 to 2005.

In 1988, she made an appearance on Bullseye. In 2005, she took part in the one-off special, Strictly African Dancing, as part of the Africa Lives season on the BBC. She was voted into third place by the viewers.

She was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1985 New Year's Honours, following her Olympic gold, raised to Officer (OBE) in the 1998 New Year's Honours for her charity work, and to Commander (CBE) in the 2004 New Year's Honours for her services to Sport England.

There is a housing estate named after her in her adopted home town of Wednesfield, Sanderson Park. It is located on the playing fields of her former school, Wards Bridge High School.

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v • d • e

Olympic Champions in Women's Javelin Throw

1932: Babe Didrikson • 1936: Tilly Fleischer • 1948: Herma Bauma • 1952: Dana Zátopková • 1956: Inese Jaunzeme • 1960: Elvīra Ozoliņa • 1964: Mihaela Peneş • 1968: Angéla Németh • 1972: Ruth Fuchs • 1976: Ruth Fuchs • 1980: María Colón • 1984: Tessa Sanderson • 1988: Petra Felke • 1992: Silke Renk • 1996: Heli Rantanen • 2000: Trine Hattestad • 2004: Osleidys Menéndez

v • d • e British Olympic Champions in Women's Athletics

1964: Mary Rand (long jump) \| 1964: Ann Packer (800 m) \| 1972: Mary Peters (pentathlon) \| 1984: Tessa Sanderson (javelin) \| 1992: Sally Gunnell (400 m hurdles) \| 2000: Denise Lewis (heptathlon) \| 2004: Kelly Holmes (800 m & 1500 m)