Tessa Sanderson
Sanderson in 2008
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| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Theresa Ione Sanderson | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | British | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born |
14 March 1956 St Elizabeth, Jamaica |
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| Height | 1.68 m (5 ft 6 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 70 kg (150 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country |
 United Kingdom (1973-1996) |
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| Sport | Athletics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Event(s) | Javelin throw | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turned pro | 1973 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Retired | 1997 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal best(s) | 73.58 m (1983) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Theresa Ione "Tessa" Sanderson, CBE (born 14 March 1956 in St Elizabeth, Jamaica) is an English former javelin thrower and heptathlete who competed in the javelin competition in every one of the six Olympics from 1976–1996 winning the gold medal in 1984 for Great Britain. She is the second track and field athlete, after Lia Manoliu (discus), to compete at six Olympics.
Sanderson was born in St Elizabeth, Jamaica of Ghanaian ancestry. She later emigrated to Wolverhampton, England.
Member of Wolverhampton & Bilston Athletic Club coached initially in the progressive days by John Moogan, and, subsequently by National Track and Field Coach Wilf Paish. Sanderson was the UK's leading javelin thrower from the mid-1970s, winning silver in the 1978 European championships and gold in the Commonwealth Games three times (1978, 1986, 1990), but was eclipsed during the 1980s by the up-and-coming Fatima Whitbread, with whom she shared a long-standing rivalry.
When Sanderson won the gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in the javelin, becoming the first British woman ever to win Olympic gold in this event, her victory was quite unexpected. In the end, her career outlasted Whitbread's, and she competed at senior international level until 1996.
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