Theresa Ione Sanderson (born 14 March 1956) is a British former

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 ...

er. She appeared in every

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 ...

from 1976 to 1996, winning the gold medal in the javelin throw at the 1984 Olympics. She was the second track and field athlete to compete at six Olympics, and the first Black British woman to win an Olympic gold medal. Sanderson won gold medals in the javelin throw at three Commonwealth Games (

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

and

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

) and at the 1992 IAAF World Cup. She was runner-up at the

1978 European Athletics Championships The 12th European Athletics Championships were held from 29 August to 3 September 1978 in the Stadion Evžena Rošického in Prague, the capital city of Czechoslovakia (present-day Czech Republic). Contemporaneous reports on the event were given ...

, and competed in three world championships (

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

, and

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

). Sanderson was UK National Champion three times and AAA National Champion in amateur athletics ten times. She set five Commonwealth records and ten British national records in the javelin, as well as records at the junior and masters levels. During her career, Sanderson had a rivalry with fellow Briton Fatima Whitbread, who took the bronze in the 1984 Olympics. Outside athletics, Sanderson has made several guest television appearances, and was a sports reporter for

Sky News Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel, live stream news network and news organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of ...

when it began broadcasting in 1989. Sanderson was 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) in 1985 and became a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2004 New Years Honours. She was Vice-chair of

Sport England Sport England is a non-departmental public body under the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Its role is to build the foundations of a community sport system by working with national governing bodies of sport, and other funded partners, ...

from 1999 to 2005, and later established the Tessa Sanderson Foundation and Academy, which aims to encourage young people and people with disabilities to take up sport.

Early life

Theresa Ione Sanderson was born on 14 March 1956 in St Elizabeth,

Colony of Jamaica The Crown Colony of Jamaica and Dependencies was a British colony from 1655, when it was Invasion of Jamaica (1655), captured by the The Protectorate, English Protectorate from the Spanish Empire. Jamaica became a British Empire, British colon ...

. Her parents left Jamaica to find work in England when Sanderson was five. She was cared for by her grandmother until she went to live with her parents in

Wednesfield Wednesfield () is a town and historic village in the City of Wolverhampton, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England; it was historically within the county of Staffordshire. It is east-north-east of Wolverhampton cit ...

(then in

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

) at age six. Barbara Richards, her

physical education Physical education is an academic subject taught in schools worldwide, encompassing Primary education, primary, Secondary education, secondary, and sometimes tertiary education. It is often referred to as Phys. Ed. or PE, and in the United Stat ...

teacher at Ward's Bridge High School, noted her talent for athletics and encouraged her to succeed; Richards threatened to place Sanderson in after-school detention if she did not train, an approach which Sanderson later said helped. She first threw a

javelin A javelin is a light spear designed primarily to be thrown, historically as a ranged weapon. Today, the javelin is predominantly used for sporting purposes such as the javelin throw. The javelin is nearly always thrown by hand, unlike the sling ...

at age 14, betting with a friend for a bag of

chips ''CHiPs'' is an American crime drama television series created by Rick Rosner and originally aired on NBC from September 15, 1977, to May 1, 1983. After the final first-run telecast on NBC in May 1983, the series went into reruns on Sundays fr ...

on who would be able to throw it further.

Athletic career

Early career

Sanderson was a member of Wolverhampton & Bilston Athletics Club, competing in the

and multi-event disciplines. In 1972, aged 16, Sanderson won the Intermediate javelin event at the English Schools' Athletics Championships. She was selected to compete in the javelin throw at the 1973 European Athletics Junior Championships the following year, where she reached the final but finished 12th with a throw of well behind the winner, Tonya Khristova of Bulgaria, who threw . Sanderson then decided to focus on the javelin throw rather than the

pentathlon A pentathlon is a contest featuring five events. The name is derived from Greek language, Greek: combining the words ''pente'' (five) and -''athlon'' (competition) (). The first pentathlon was documented in Ancient Greece and was part of the Anci ...

, partly because she thought that javelin competitions would provide more opportunities for travel. She made her senior international debut in the javelin throw at the

1974 British Commonwealth Games The 1974 British Commonwealth Games () were held in Christchurch, New Zealand, from 24 January to 2 February 1974. The bid vote was held in Edinburgh at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games. The event was officially named "the friendly games". T ...

, finishing fifth. Later that year, Sanderson finished 13th in the

1974 European Athletics Championships The 11th European Athletics Championships of 1974 were held from 2 September to 8 September in Italy, at Rome's Stadio Olimpico. Contemporaneous reports on the event were given in the Glasgow Herald. Men's results Complete results were p ...

. She broke the British javelin-throw junior record five times, achieving a distance of in 1974. Sanderson set the national record in 1976, throwing , and went on to set ten national records and five Commonwealth records. The 1976 season saw Sanderson's debut at the

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

. Aged 20, she was the youngest competitor in her event and threw to finish ninth. In July 1977, at the

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

semi-finals in Dublin, she threw a national record and the second-longest distance by a woman at the time. At the European Cup finals, Ruth Fuchs of East Germany won the gold and Sanderson took the silver. Later that year, Sanderson was the bronze medalist at the

1977 IAAF World Cup The 1st IAAF World Cup in Athletics was an international track and field sporting event sponsored by the International Association of Athletics Federations, held from 2 to 4 September 1977, at the Rheinstadion in Düsseldorf, West Germany. Ove ...

. Sanderson won her first major

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

with a throw of in 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 ...

, the first time England had won Commonwealth gold in the women's javelin since

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

. A few weeks later, Sanderson took silver at the

behind Fuchs; she was the bronze medalist at the 1979 European Cup again behind Fuchs, both of them losing out to Romanian Éva Ráduly-Zörgő. Selected for the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad () and officially branded as Moscow 1980 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1980 in Moscow, Soviet Union, in present-day Russ ...

, she failed to meet the qualifying standard for the final, reaching only with her first throw and having her other two attempts declared no-throws. After the 1980 Summer Olympic Games, Sanderson asked Wilf Paish of the Carnegie Institute of Physical Education in

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

to become her coach, and lived with his family once he agreed. A throw of was enough for Sanderson to win at the 1981 Pacific Conference Games. At the 1981 European Cup, she was runner-up behind Antoaneta Todorova of Bulgaria who made a world-record throw of . She also competed in the

and heptathlon, setting UK and Commonwealth records for the heptathlon twice in 1981. Later that year, Sanderson had an achilles tendon rupture in her left leg and broke a bone in her throwing arm. Surgery on her Achilles tendon was unsuccessful, and she required another operation; the injuries prevented her from competing for 22 months. After returning, Sanderson achieved her career-best javelin throw of at the Tarmac Games in Edinburgh on 26 June 1983. It was the third-longest throw by a woman at the time, when the record was thrown by Tiina Lillak of Finland ten days previously. Sanderson finished fourth at the 1983 World Championships; another British competitor, Fatima Whitbread, who was coming to the fore as her rival, won silver. After re-injuring her Achilles tendon at the championship, Sanderson had surgery on both Achilles tendons a few days after the competition ended.

Olympic gold and later career

Sanderson won the gold medal at the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the ...

in the javelin, setting a new Olympic record with her throw of . Whitbread won the bronze; it was Great Britain's first Olympic win in a throwing event since the modern Olympics began in 1896. Sanderson is the first Black British woman to win an Olympic gold medal. Sanderson wrote in her 1986 autobiography that following her Olympic victory, she had not intended to compete in the following athletics season, but she did take part in several competitions after being persuaded by her management company

IMG img or IMG is an abbreviation for image. img or IMG may also refer to: Science, technology, and mathematics *IMG (file format), file that stores a complete and uncompressed copy of the contents of a storage device * IMG, a prefix for camera ima ...

to do so. Although she finished behind Whitbread in five successive meetings, Sanderson did produce the fourth-longest women's javelin throw of the year. She won gold at the

1986 Commonwealth Games The 1986 Commonwealth Games were held in Edinburgh, Scotland, between 24 July and 2 August 1986. This was the second Commonwealth Games to be held in Edinburgh. Thirty two of the eligible fifty nine countries (largely African, Asian and Caribbe ...

in Edinburgh, and Whitbread took the silver medal. In March 1987, Sanderson announced that she would change her focus from the javelin throw to the

heptathlon A heptathlon is a track and field combined events contest made up of seven events. The name derives from the Greek ἑπτά (hepta, meaning "seven") and ἄθλος (áthlos, or ἄθλον, áthlon, meaning "competition"). A competitor in a hep ...

. Shortly before then, she had moved to London and was looking for a career in television or promotional work. In fact, she only competed in one heptathlon after this, in July. At the Dairy Crest Games in August, Whitbread (who had been undefeated during the season) injured her shoulder; Sanderson won the event. Sanderson then announced that she would train with Mick Hill in Italy for the

world championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

. Whitbread won the world championship, and Sanderson finished fourth. About ten days before participating in the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and officially branded as Seoul 1988 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. 159 nations were represe ...

as defending champion, Sanderson burst the skin around her ankle and exposed her Achilles tendon. She failed to qualify for the final and left the competition limping, with blood visible on the bandage on her injured ankle. Sanderson left the stadium on crutches before the medal ceremony, where Whitbread received the silver medal behind Petra Felke from East Germany. Sanderson announced after the 1988 Olympics that she would retire from the javelin throw, but made an unexpected return to competition in 1989 at the McVitie's International Challenge; she finished third. She also finished third at the 1989 European Cup, despite not being in top condition. At the

1990 Commonwealth Games The 1990 Commonwealth Games () were held in Auckland, New Zealand from 24 January – 3 February 1990. It was the 14th Commonwealth Games, and part of New Zealand's 1990 sesquicentennial celebrations. Participants competed in ten sports: at ...

, a throw of was enough for Sanderson to retain her title. She finished 12th at the 1990 European Athletics Championships, but was later moved up to 11th. Aged 35, Sanderson won at the 1991 European Cup over a field which included world-record holder Felke. Her fifth

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 ...

appearance, at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...

, set a record for Olympic appearances by a British athlete. Sanderson's best throw, , was almost five metres less than the winning throw of by Silke Renk and 3.28 metres less than bronze medalist Karen Forkel. She won gold at the 1992 World Cup with a throw of , nearly three metres further than any other competitor.

Rivalry with Fatima Whitbread

Alan Hubbard wrote in a 1990 article in ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

'' about Sanderson and Whitbread that "their hate-hate relationship has been one of the most enduring in British sport", lasting almost a decade. The same year, Matthew Engel wrote in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' that "the Sanderson-Whitbread feud is, of course, one of the most splendid in sport", and Tom Lamont, in the same newspaper 29 years later, commented that "Whitbread and Sanderson were always uneasy rivals and the enmity that developed during their overlapping careers became as famous as their achievements, and seems to survive in their retirement". Hubbard cited Sanderson's perception that Whitbread received preferential treatment from the British Amateur Athletic Board. The Board's promotions officer, Andy Norman, who had a role in setting British athletes' fees, was a family friend of Whitbread and her mother and coach, Margaret. Margaret Whitbread was also the national coach for women's javelin in 1985, when her daughter participated in many international events while Sanderson only competed in one in the season ending in June 1985. In 1987, Sanderson threatened to boycott athletics events, for which she was being paid £1,000 each by British Athletics compared to Whitbread's £10,000. Sanderson agreed to a new deal at the beginning of June that year. Sanderson also objected to the endorsement that the Whitbreads had given to the Australian athlete Sue Howland, who competed at the 1990 Commonwealth Games after a two-year doping suspension, saying that she felt that they should have supported British athletes instead. During their respective careers, Sanderson won an Olympic and three Commonwealth golds, and Whitbread gained one world and one European title. In all, Sanderson placed higher in 27 of the 45 times that they faced each other in competition, although Whitbread had the better results of the pair from 1984 to 1987. In 2019, Sanderson told an interviewer from ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' that although she had initially been on friendly terms with Whitbread, before "the competition got to Whitbread's head" and they fell out, "The rivalry was one of the best things when you look at it now. It drove me to another level. It made me want to beat her every time. It's calmer now. I respect her and I hope she respects me."

Return to competition

After a four-year hiatus, Sanderson returned to track and field competition in 1996. She set masters (over-40) record throws of and with her first two throws in May, surpassing the previous record of . After two further masters-record throws, Sanderson increased the record to at the Securicor Games in July. At the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

, she became the second

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 (after Romanian discus thrower

Lia Manoliu Lia Manoliu (; 25 April 1932 – 9 January 1998) was a Romanian discus thrower who won one gold and two bronze Olympic medals. She was the first track and field athlete to compete at six Olympics (1952–1972). Early life; sports and educat ...

) to compete at six Olympics but did not qualify for the final. Sanderson also failed to qualify for the final at the 1997 World Championships, her last international appearance. Sanderson retired from competition in 1997; Whitbread had retired five years earlier. During the 1970s, the use of performance-enhancing drugs was common in throwing events; Sanderson spoke against the practice, consistently maintaining an anti-doping stance. Her rival, two-time Olympic champion Fuchs, later admitted using

steroid A steroid is an organic compound with four fused compound, fused rings (designated A, B, C, and D) arranged in a specific molecular configuration. Steroids have two principal biological functions: as important components of cell membranes t ...

s in the East German sports programme. The East German team did not compete in the

1984 Olympic Games The 1984 Olympics may refer to: *The 1984 Winter Olympics, which were held in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia *The 1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an i ...

as they participated in a wider

boycott A boycott is an act of nonviolent resistance, nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organisation, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for Morality, moral, society, social, politics, political, or Environmenta ...

led by the Soviet Union. Sanderson told reporters from ''The Daily Telegraph'' in 2021 that she felt during her career she had been "robbed" of medals by losing to competitors using drugs.

Outside competition

Sanderson has appeared as a guest on several television shows, including

panel game A panel show or panel game is a radio or television game show in which a panel of celebrities participate. Celebrity panelists may compete with each other, such as on '' The News Quiz''; facilitate play by non-celebrity contestants, such as on ' ...

s ''

A Question of Sport ''A Question of Sport'' (known as ''Question of Sport'' from 2021 until 2023) is a British television sports quiz show produced and broadcast by the BBC. It was the "world's longest running TV sports quiz". Following a pilot episode in December ...

'' (in 1979), '' Bullseye'' (1984), '' Catchphrase Celebrity Special'' (1991), and '' Celebrity Wife Swap'' (2009). When

was launched in 1989, Sanderson was a sports reporter for the channel, and she also co-hosted ITV's light-entertainment programme '' Surprise Surprise'' with

Cilla Black Priscilla Maria Veronica White (27 May 1943 – 1 August 2015), better known as Cilla Black, was an English singer and television presenter. Championed by her friends the Beatles, Black began her career as a singer in 1963. Her singles "A ...

. In 2012, Sanderson was in "Billy's Olympic Nightmare", a

BBC Red Button BBC Red Button is a brand used for digital interactive television services provided by the BBC, and broadcast in the United Kingdom. The services replaced Ceefax, the BBC's analogue teletext service. BBC Red Button's text services were due to cl ...

episode of soap opera ''

EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a British television soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the East End of London, the ...

'', and was a contestant on ITV's ''

Dancing on Ice ''Dancing on Ice'' is a British television series broadcast from 2006 to 2014 and then from 2018 to 2025. It was presented by Holly Willoughby and Stephen Mulhern. Other previous hosts include Phillip Schofield and Christine Lampard. The series ...

Goes Gold'' in the same year. At age 58, she began modelling for the Grey Model Agency. Sanderson was vice-chair of

from 1999 to 2005. In 2006, she founded an academy in

Newham The London Borough of Newham () is a London boroughs, London borough created in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. It covers an area previously administered by the Essex county boroughs of County Borough of West Ham, West Ham and County ...

which helped to find and train athletes to represent Britain in the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. The Tessa Sanderson Foundation and Academy was established in September 2009 to encourage young people and people with disabilities to take up sport with mentoring and support. From 2009 to 2013, Sanderson organised an annual 10 km race in Newham; part of the route was through Olympic Park. Although the 2013 event attracted 3,000 participants (representing 45 different nationalities), it was cancelled in 2014; Sanderson said that the Newham Council wanted to double its fee, and delayed meeting about the race. Sanderson was appointed to the board of the Olympic Park Legacy Company, chaired by Baroness Ford, to "develop and manage" the park after the 2012 Olympics.

Honours

Sanderson, the British Athletics Writers' Association Athlete of the Year in 1977, 1978 and 1984, was inducted into the England Athletics Hall of Fame in 2012. Candidates for the Hall of Fame are selected by a panel of experts and then voted on by the public. She was appointed a

(MBE) in the

1985 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1985 were appointments by most of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other countries ...

after her Olympic gold-medal performance, raised to Officer ( OBE) in the 1998 New Year Honours for her charity work, and to Commander (

CBE 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 ...

) in the 2004 New Year Honours for her service to Sport England. Sanderson is an honorary graduate of the

University of Wolverhampton The University of Wolverhampton is a public university in Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton, England, located on four campuses across the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, Shropshire and Staffordshire. Originally founded in 1827 as the Wolverham ...

, and was made an Honorary Fellow of

London South Bank University London South Bank University (LSBU) is a public university in Elephant and Castle, London. It is based in the London Borough of Southwark, near the South Bank of the River Thames, from which it takes its name. Founded in 1892 as the Borough Po ...

in 2004. That year, she was one of

100 Great Black Britons ''100 Great Black Britons'' is a poll that was first undertaken in 2003 to vote for and celebrate the greatest Black Britons of all time. It was created in a campaign initiated by Patrick Vernon in response to a BBC search for ''100 Greatest Brito ...

in a poll taken after the BBC's ''

100 Greatest Britons ''100 Greatest Britons'' is a television series that was broadcast by the BBC in 2002. It was based on a television poll conducted to determine who the British people at that time considered the greatest Britons in history. The series included i ...

'' failed to include any Black Britons. Later that year, Sanderson received a Sportswomen of the Year Lifetime Achievement award from ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

''. A housing estate in Wednesfield near where she began learning the javelin throw was named Sanderson Park after her. Two roads are named after her: Tessa Sanderson Place is near Wandsworth Road in South London, and Tessa Sanderson Way is in

Greenford Greenford () is a large town in the London Borough of Ealing in West London, Greater London, London, England, lying west from Charing Cross. It has a population of 46,787 inhabitants. Greenford is served by Greenford station, Greenford Stati ...

, West London.

Personal life

Sanderson has spoken about the discrimination she has experienced as a black woman. She told ''The Guardian'' in 1990 that she had faced

racial discrimination Racial discrimination is any discrimination against any individual on the basis of their Race (human categorization), race, ancestry, ethnicity, ethnic or national origin, and/or Human skin color, skin color and Hair, hair texture. Individuals ...

(although not in her sporting career), and she felt that

sexism Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but primarily affects women and girls. It has been linked to gender roles and stereotypes, and may include the belief that one sex or gender is int ...

was the reason women athletes were not adequately paid. Sanderson experienced

racist Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...

language and behaviour in school (including being spat on), and has spoken about receiving a racist letter saying that she was not truly British after her 1984 Olympic gold medal. She told

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British broadcasting of sports events, subscription sports channels operated by the satellite television, satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television ...

in October 2020, "Black athletes didn't have the voice they have now, so I just had to fight my own battles", and expressed disappointment at the continuing lack of Black, Asian and minority representation in sports governing bodies. ''Tessa: My Life in Athletics'', Sanderson's autobiography, was published in 1986. In 1990, she sued several newspapers and was awarded £30,000 in

damages At common law, damages are a remedy in the form of a monetary award to be paid to a claimant as compensation for loss or injury. To warrant the award, the claimant must show that a breach of duty has caused foreseeable loss. To be recognized at ...

by the

High Court of Justice The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal (England and Wales), Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Courts of England and Wales, Senior Cour ...

for claims that she had "stolen another woman's husband". Sanderson said that her affair with the man, Derrick Evans (a fitness instructor known as Mr Motivator) began after his marriage had broken up. Sanderson had starred in the fitness videos ''Cardiofunk'' (1990) and ''Body Blitz'' (c. 1992) with Evans. On 3 May 2010, Sanderson married former

judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, combat sport, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyc ...

Olympian Densign White at

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Paul the Apostle, is an Anglican cathedral in London, England, the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London in the Church of Engl ...

in London. Her bridesmaids were fellow Olympic teammates Sharron Davies,

Kelly Holmes Dame Kelly Holmes (born 19 April 1970) is a retired British Middle-distance running, middle distance Track and field, athlete and television personality. Holmes specialised in the 800 metres, 800 and 1500 metres events and won gold medals for ...

and Christine Ohuruogu. She had three unsuccessful

in vitro fertilisation In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is a process of fertilisation in which an ovum, egg is combined with spermatozoon, sperm in vitro ("in glass"). The process involves monitoring and stimulating the Ovulation cycle, ovulatory process, then removing ...

treatments by the age of 50. Sanderson and White began fostering four-month-old twins Cassius and Ruby Mae in 2013 and adopted them the following year, when Sanderson was 58. Her nephew, Dion Sanderson, is a footballer who debuted with

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

in October 2019.

Career statistics

Personal bests

Seasonal bests

The table below shows Sanderson's best javelin performance per season.

Raw data Raw data, also known as primary data, are ''data'' (e.g., numbers, instrument readings, figures, etc.) collected from a source. In the context of examinations, the raw data might be described as a raw score (after test scores). If a scientist ...

Season rankings

Sanderson's position in the rankings of women's javelin throw athletes, based on their longest throw in the year. Only positions in the top 25 are shown.

International competitions

The table shows Sanderson's performances representing Great Britain and England in international competitions. "(q)" denotes position in qualifying round.

National titles

* AAA Junior Championships (under 17): 1971 and 1972 * English Schools Champion: 1972 (intermediate) and 1973 (senior) * British Schools International match: 1973 * English Commonwealth Games trials: 1973 and 1978 * British Olympic Games trials: 1976 and 1984 * 10 times AAA National Champion:

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

* 3 times UK National Champion:

Midland Counties Championships

These were competitions for women based in the English

Midlands The Midlands is the central region of England, to the south of Northern England, to the north of southern England, to the east of Wales, and to the west of the North Sea. The Midlands comprises the ceremonial counties of Derbyshire, Herefor ...

counties of Avon,

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

Hereford and Worcester Hereford and Worcester ( ) was an English non-metropolitan county created on 1 April 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 from the areas of the former administrative county of Herefordshire, most of Worcestershire (except Halesowen, Stourbridg ...

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

, Salop,

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

and West Midlands. * Javelin throw: 1974, 1975, 1977 * Pentathlon: 1976 * 400 m hurdles: 1977

Notes

References

External links