Tessa Sanderson

Theresa Ione Sanderson is a British javelin thrower who became the first Black British woman to win an Olympic gold medal, taking the title at Los Angeles in 1984. Over a long career she competed at six successive Olympic Games.

She was born on March 14, 1956, in Saint Elizabeth Parish, Jamaica, and moved to Wolverhampton, England, as a child to join her parents. She attended Heath Park High School in Wolverhampton, where her physical-education teachers spotted her throwing arm, and she joined Wolverhampton and Bilston Athletic Club. In 1976 she made her Olympic debut in Montreal at the age of 20.

The Moscow Games of 1980 ended in disappointment when she failed to record a valid throw in the final. Four years later in Los Angeles, on 6 August 1984, she threw 69.56 metres on her second attempt to win gold ahead of her long-time rival Fatima Whitbread.

She added Commonwealth Games titles in 1986, 1990, and 1994 and competed at her sixth Olympics in Sydney in 2000 before retiring. She was appointed MBE in 1985, OBE in 1998, and CBE in 2004, and went on to coach, broadcast for the BBC, and serve as vice-chair of Sport England. She continues to promote athletics through the Tessa Sanderson Foundation and Academy.

The feminine name Tessa is a short form of Theresa, itself a name of disputed origin sometimes traced to the Greek therizo, "to harvest," or to the island of Therasia. She harvested medals across four decades on the British circuit.