Louise Alexandra "Alix" Stevenson (née Jamieson; born 31 March 1942) is a Scottish retired

athlete An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-devel ...

. She competed for Great Britain in the women's long jump at the

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 ( ja, 東京1964), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this ho ...

in Tokyo, Japan.

Career

Trained by the respected coach

John Anderson John Anderson may refer to: Business *John Anderson (Scottish businessman) (1747–1820), Scottish merchant and founder of Fermoy, Ireland * John Byers Anderson (1817–1897), American educator, military officer and railroad executive, mentor of ...

, Jamieson was a national champion in multiple events (as well as a Scotland international in field hockey)Scots Olympic couple recall 'amazing experience' of last of the 'Goodwill Olympics' at Tokyo 1964
Jack Davidson, 21 July 2021 and still holds the record for most golds won overall at the Scottish Athletics Championships with 16 claimed over a decade between 1960 and 1970 (two in the

100-yard dash 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1 ...

, three in the 80 metres hurdles, seven in the long jump and four in the

pentathlon A pentathlon is a contest featuring five events. The name is derived from Greek: combining the words ''pente'' (five) and -''athlon'' (competition) ( gr, πένταθλον). The first pentathlon was documented in Ancient Greece and was part of t ...

). At British level, she claimed a long jump gold medal in 1964 at the

AAA Indoor Championships The AAA Indoor Championships was an annual indoor track and field competition organised by the Amateur Athletic Association of England. It was the foremost indoor domestic athletics event during its lifetime. The event was first held in 1935, fol ...

and a pentathlon bronze at the 1966 AAA Championships. On a wider platform, she entered three events at the

1958 Commonwealth Games The 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games (Welsh: Gemau Ymerodraeth Prydain a'r Gymanwlad 1958) were held in Cardiff, Wales, from 18–26 July 1958. Thirty-five nations sent a total of 1,130 athletes and 228 officials to the Cardiff Games ...

(100 yards,

220 yards The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightly ...

and

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

, though without great success), again made little impact on the 100 yards event at the 1966 Games however achieved fourth place in the long jump event, then focused solely on the long jump at her 'home' games at Edinburgh in

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

, but finished in fourth just outside the medals once more. At the 1964 Olympics, she qualified for the final group with the exact distance required – 6.00m – but was unable to match or better this score in the final; British teammate Mary Rand won the gold medal and recorded a world record jump (6.76m) in the competition.

Personal life

Jamieson attended Hutcheson's Grammar School in Glasgow, and during her time there was awarded the nationwide 'Frances Barker Shield' for outstanding performance on three occasions. In 2009, the school's new multi-sport facility was named the ''Alix Jamieson Stadium'' in recognition of her achievements. She is one of several talented sportspeople in her family: her father Andrew was a golfer who won the Scottish Amateur championship, represented Scotland and Great Britain ( Walker Cup) in team play and briefly achieved fame when he unexpectedly beat Bobby Jones, one of the leading talents of the era; her younger sister Jinty was also an athlete who competed alongside her in the 1970 Commonwealth Games; her second cousin Jean Westwood was a multiple World champion in ice dancing; and her husband David Stevenson was a fellow competitor in the 1964 Olympics in the pole vault event. As the operators of a successful textile business ( Edinburgh Woollen Mill), together they owned several racehorses, with

Gordon W. Richards Gordon Waugh Richards (7 September 1930 – 29 September 1998, aged 68) was a British racehorse trainer specialising mainly in National Hunt racing. He trained two winners of the Grand National with Lucius in 1978 and Hallo Dandy in 1984. He ...

as trainer.The Boss: The Life and Times of Horseracing Legend Gordon W. Richards
John Budden; Random House, 2012;

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jamieson, Alix 1942 births Living people People educated at Hutchesons' Grammar School Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Scottish female field hockey players Scottish female long jumpers Scottish female sprinters Olympic athletes for Great Britain Commonwealth Games competitors for Scotland Athletes (track and field) at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games Sportspeople from Glasgow 20th-century Scottish women 21st-century Scottish women