- Tessa Sanderson
Theresa ("Tessa") Ione Sanderson CBE (born
March 14 ,1956 ) is a former British javelin thrower and heptathlete.Sanderson was born in St Elizabeth,
Jamaica ofGhanaian ancestry, she later emigrated toWolverhampton ,England . She was the UK's leading javelin thrower from the mid-1970s, winning silver in the 1978 European championships and gold in theCommonwealth Games three times (1978, 1986, 1990), but was eclipsed during the 1980s by the up-and-comingFatima 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 ofSport 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 theBBC . 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.External links
* [http://www.tessa.co.uk/index.htm Tessa Sanderson's website]
* [http://www.sporting-heroes.net/athletics-heroes/displayhero.asp?HeroID=1809 sporting heroes photos]Persondata
NAME= Sanderson, Tessa
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=British former javelin thrower and heptathlete
DATE OF BIRTH=1956-03-14
PLACE OF BIRTH=St Elizabeth,Jamaica
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=
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