Monica Kathleen Rutherford (29 March 1944 – 2 December 2024) was an English

artistic gymnast Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics in which athletes perform short routines on different types of apparatus. The sport is governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), which assigns the '' Code of Points'' used ...

. She competed at the

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 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 honor was subseq ...

in all artistic gymnastics events with the best ranking of 59th on the vault. After marrying Brian Phelps, an Olympic diver, she changed her last name to Phelps. Following her career as a gymnast, Rutherford coached for many years at the OLGA club in

Poole Poole () is a coastal town and seaport on the south coast of England in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area in Dorset, England. The town is east of Dorchester, Dorset, Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

. In retirement, Rutherford resided in France. She died in

Picauville Picauville () is a commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France. On 1 January 2016, the former communes of Amfreville, Cretteville, Gourbesville, Houtteville and Vindefontaine were merged into Picauville. On 1 Januar ...

, France on 2 December 2024, at the age of 80.

References

1944 births 2024 deaths Sportspeople from Sunderland Gymnasts at the 1964 Summer Olympics Olympic gymnasts for Great Britain British female artistic gymnasts English female artistic gymnasts 20th-century English sportswomen {{UK-artistic-gymnastics-bio-stub