Susan Mary Platt (born 4 October 1940) is a British former

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

athlete who competed for England and Great Britain in the

javelin throw The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about in length, is thrown as far as possible. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's de ...

. She was a three-time Olympian and competed three times at the

British Empire and 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 ...

. She had a personal best of and was Commonwealth champion in 1962.

Biography

Born and educated at Copthall County Grammar School in

Mill Hill Mill Hill is a suburb in the London Borough of Barnet, England. It is situated around northwest of Charing Cross, close to the Hertfordshire border. It was in the Historic counties of England, historic county of Middlesex until 1965, when it b ...

in the London suburb of

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) *Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; anc ...

, she joined the London Olympiades

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competitio ...

club, which was the country's leading all-women's club.Sue Platt
Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2016-03-06. Platt emerged at national level in 1958 when finishing third behind Averil Williams in the javelin event at the

1958 WAAA Championships The 1958 WAAA Championships were the national track and field championships for women in the United Kingdom. The event was held at Motspur Park, London, on 7 June 1958. Results + Held on 13 September at Stoke-on-Trent See also *1958 A ...

. The following year Platt became the national javelin champion after winning the British

WAAA Championships The WAAA Championships was an annual track and field competition organised by the Women's Amateur Athletic Association (WAAA) in England. It was the foremost domestic athletics event for women during its lifetime. Since 1880, the Amateur Athl ...

title at the

1959 WAAA Championships The 1959 WAAA Championships were the national track and field championships for women in the United Kingdom. The event was held at Motspur Park, London, on 4 July 1959. Results + Held on 8 August at Wolverhampton See also *1959 AAA Ch ...

. She went on to take nine national titles in women's javelin at the WAAA Championships (one of them as best placed British athlete in 1964). She also took three titles at the regional South of England Championships. Platt made three appearances at the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...

– 1960, 1964 and 1968 – being Great Britain's leading female javelin thrower in the 1960s. Her best finish and performance was on her debut in 1960, where she came seventh with a mark of . She was among the best throwers of the period outside of Eastern Europe. She performed poorly at the

1962 European Athletics Championships The 7th European Athletics Championships were held from 12–16 September 1962 in the JNA Stadium in Belgrade, Yugoslavia (present-day Serbia). Contemporaneous reports on the event were given in the ''Glasgow Herald''. Just before the m ...

, however, coming last in qualifying. She was a three-time participant for England at the

. Her first outing in

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the thir ...

saw her finish in fourth place, one spot behind England teammate Averil Williams, but over ten metres behind winner Anna Pazera, who set a

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...

. With a throw of , Platt topped the podium at the 1962 games, where Pazera fell to third in the rankings and Rosemary Morgan made it a 1–2 for England. Platt also competed in the

shot put The shot put is a track-and-field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical Ball (sports), ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. For men, the sport has been a part of the Olympic Games, modern Olympics since their 1896 Summer Olym ...

at that event, coming eighth in the final. In her third and final appearance for England, Platt placed sixth overall.

International competitions

National titles

* Women's AAA Championships **Javelin throw: 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1964, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969AAA Championships (Women)
GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2016-03-06.
GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2016-03-06. *South of England Championships **Javelin throw: 1960, 1961, 1964
GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2016-03-06.

References

External links

All-Athletics profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Platt, Sue 1940 births Living people Actors from the London Borough of Barnet Athletes from the London Borough of Barnet English female javelin throwers British female javelin throwers Olympic athletes for Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 1960 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1968 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England Athletes (track and field) at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games People from Mill Hill 20th-century English sportswomen Commonwealth Games gold medallists in athletics