15 Facts About Dorothy Manley

Dorothy Manley competed in the 1948 Summer Olympics, held in London, in the 100 metres where she won the silver medal with a time of 12.2 seconds.

Dorothy Manley was the first British woman to win an Olympic sprint medal.

Dorothy Manley was a medallist in the 1950 British Empire Games, and the 1950 European Athletics Championships.

Dorothy Manley was initially introduced into athletics by one of her school teachers and worked her way up from the school, to the district and then to running for her county before the Second World War.

Dorothy Manley was added to a national list of potential Olympians in late 1947, and assigned to train with Sandy Duncan.

Dorothy Manley was originally accepted for the Olympics as a high jumper, but her coach told her she wouldn't make the grade and trained her to be a sprinter in just five months.

Dorothy Manley began her sprint training for the 1948 Summer Olympics early in March 1948, training on the track four times a week, but never using the gym.

Dorothy Manley was working full-time during 1948 for the Suez Canal Company as a typist, and used her summer holidays to attend the games although the leave was unpaid by her employer.

Dorothy Manley's mother made her running vest and shorts for the Games, but she was given the blazer and skirt for the opening ceremony.

Fanny Blankers-Koen won the gold medal in first place with a time of 11.9, while Dorothy Manley's time was 12.2, just ahead of Shirley Strickland de la Hunty, who registered the same time.

Dorothy Manley described her start in the race as the "best of her life", having described her normal starts as notoriously bad.

Dorothy Manley was part of the women's relay teams at the Games, and won silver in the 660 yards relay and bronze in the 440 yards relay.

Dorothy Manley described that race as particularly exciting as they had beaten the Dutch team, which included Fanny Blankers-Koen.

Dorothy Manley married twice, first in 1949 to Peter Hall, who died in 1973, and then in 1979 to John Parlett, a middle-distance runner she knew from the 1948 Olympics.

In 2012 Dorothy Manley had three children, five grandchildren, and 16 great-grandchildren.