Raelene Ann Boyle (born 24 June 1951) is an Australian retired athlete, who represented Australia at three

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

as a sprinter, winning three silver medals, and was named one of 100 National Living Treasures by the

National Trust of Australia The National Trust of Australia, officially the Australian Council of National Trusts (ACNT), is the Australian national peak body for community-based, non-government non-profit organisations committed to promoting and conserving Australia's Ind ...

in 1998. Boyle was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1996 and subsequently became a board member of Breast Cancer Network Australia (BCNA). In 2017, she was named a Legend in the

Sport Australia Hall of Fame The Sport Australia Hall of Fame was established on 10 December 1985 to recognise the achievements of Australian sportsmen and sportswomen. The inaugural induction included 120 members with Don Bradman, Sir Don Bradman as the first inductee and ...

Early life

Boyle was born on 24 June 1951, the daughter of Gilbert and Irene Boyle, in

Coburg Coburg ( , ) is a Town#Germany, town located on the Itz (river), Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Ernestine duchies, Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only ...

, a suburb of

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. She was educated at Coburg High School in Melbourne.

Sporting career

After strong performances in the 1968

Australian Championships The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events every year, held be ...

and Olympic trials, Boyle was selected to represent Australia at the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Mexico 1968 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 12 to 27 October 1968, in Mexico City, Mexico. These were the first Ol ...

in Mexico City, at the age of 16. At 17, she won a silver medal in the 200-metre sprint and placed 4th in the

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contested at ...

. Setting world junior records in both distances, of 22.73 and 11.20 seconds. The 200-metre record lasted 12 years before being broken; the 100-metre 8 years. The 100-metre time stood as an Australian junior record for five and half decades until it was broken in 2025 by Leah O'Brien in Perth. Boyle and O'Brien met after the race and Boyle congratulated her for breaking her 57 year-old record. Boyle competed in the 1970 British Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, where she contributed to Australia's number one position on the medal tally with three gold medals, in the 100 and 200-metre sprints and the 4 × 100-metre

relay A relay Electromechanical relay schematic showing a control coil, four pairs of normally open and one pair of normally closed contacts An automotive-style miniature relay with the dust cover taken off A relay is an electrically operated switc ...

. At the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Boyle collected two more silver medals, in the 100-metre and 200-metre sprints. In both races, she came second to East German Renate Stecher. In 1974, at the

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

British Commonwealth Games, Boyle duplicated her results at the Edinburgh Games, winning three more gold medals in the same three events. Breaking the games record in both the 100 metres 11.27 and 200 metres with a 22.50 clocking. Later that year in July, Boyle won both the 100 and 200 metres British WAAA Championships titles at the 1974 WAAA Championships. In January 1976, she and her team-mates beat an eight year old world record for the 4 × 200 metre relay in Brisbane. At the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, Boyle finished fourth in the final of the 100-metre sprint, but was disqualified from the 200-metre-race for making two false starts. A video replay later showed that she had not false started on her first start. However, Boyle did receive the honour of acting as the flag bearer for the Australian team, the first woman to do so. Boyle was unable to replicate her previous Commonwealth success at the

1978 Commonwealth Games The 1978 Commonwealth Games were held in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, from 3 to 12 August, two years after the 1976 Summer Olympics was held in Montreal, Quebec. They were boycotted by Nigeria, in protest at New Zealand's sporting contacts with a ...

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

, winning only a silver medal in the 100-metre sprint before withdrawing from the 200m and relay due to injury. Boyle was selected to compete in the 1980 Olympics in Moscow but eventually withdrew from the team for what she stated were personal reasons, during the long dispute within Australian sporting circles over whether to join the USA led boycott of the Games. Her final major competitive appearance was at the 1982 Commonwealth Games in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

, where she won gold in the 400-metre sprint, and silver in the 4 × 400-metre relay. Through her successful career, Boyle won seven gold and two silver medals at the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

, in addition to her three silver medals at the

. Many East German athletes were later revealed to have used anabolic steroids within a systematic state-sponsored doping program. Boyle has stated she believes that she would have won gold at the 1972 Olympics if not for drug use by her competitor. The IOC only banned the use of anabolic steroids in 1975.

Honours

* 15 June 1974 – appointed a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) for services to sport. *1974 – awarded the ABC Sportsman of the Year Award *1985 – inducted into the

. *1991 – received an "award for excellence" in her sport, and for contributions to the Commonwealth Games by the

Australian Commonwealth Games Association Commonwealth Games Australia (CGA) is the Commonwealth Games Association for Australia, and is responsible for representing and promoting the Commonwealth Sport movement in the country, and organises the participation of Australia at the Commonw ...

*25 September 1989 – awarded the Douglas Wilkie Medal by the Anti-Football League, for doing the least for football in the best and fairest manner. *2000 – Boyle pushed Betty Cuthbert in her wheelchair in the torch relay during the 2000 Sydney Olympics Opening Ceremony. *2000 – awarded

Australian Sports Medal The Australian Sports Medal is an award given to recognise achievements in Australian sport to commemorate Australian participation in major sporting events. Original recipients of the award included competitors, coaches, sports scientists, off ...

. *2001 – awarded

Centenary Medal The Centenary Medal is an award which was created by the Australian Government in 2001. It was established to commemorate the centenary of the Federation of Australia and to recognise "people who made a contribution to Australian society or g ...

. *2004 – inducted into the Athletics Australia Hall of Fame. *

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

– appointed as a

Member of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

(AM) for service to the community through a range of roles with organisations that support people with cancer, particularly Breast Cancer Network Australia. *2013 – named in Australia's Top 100 Sportswomen of All Time. *2017 – upgraded to a Sport Australia Hall of Fame Legend.

Personal life

Boyle was diagnosed with cancer in 1996 and

ovarian cancer Ovarian cancer is a cancerous tumor of an ovary. It may originate from the ovary itself or more commonly from communicating nearby structures such as fallopian tubes or the inner lining of the abdomen. The ovary is made up of three different ...

in 2000 and 2001. Boyle works to raise community awareness about breast cancer and has been a very active board member of Breast Cancer Network Australia (BCNA) since 1999.Webb, Carolyn
A birthday bash for Raelene Boyle
. ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

''. 1 July 2011. Boyle currently lives on the Sunshine Coast in

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

with her partner Judy Wild.

References

External links