55 Facts About Tessa Sanderson

Theresa Ione Sanderson was born on 14 March 1956 and is a British former javelin thrower.

Tessa Sanderson appeared in every Summer Olympics from 1976 to 1996, winning the gold medal in the javelin throw at the 1984 Olympics.

Tessa Sanderson was the second track and field athlete to compete at six Olympics, and the first Black British woman to win an Olympic gold medal.

Tessa Sanderson won gold medals in the javelin throw at three Commonwealth Games and at the 1992 IAAF World Cup.

Tessa Sanderson was runner-up at the 1978 European Athletics Championships, and competed in three world championships.

Tessa Sanderson set five Commonwealth records and ten British national records in the javelin, as well as records at the junior and masters levels.

Outside athletics, Tessa Sanderson has made several guest television appearances, and was a sports reporter for Sky News when it began broadcasting in 1989.

Tessa Sanderson was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1985 and became a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2004 New Years Honours.

Tessa Sanderson was Vice-chair of Sport England 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.

Theresa Ione Tessa Sanderson was born on 14 March 1956 in St Elizabeth, Colony of Jamaica.

Tessa Sanderson's parents left Jamaica to find work in England when Sanderson was five.

Tessa Sanderson was cared for by her grandmother until she went to live with her parents in Wednesfield at age six.

Tessa Sanderson first threw a javelin at age 14, betting with a friend for a bag of chips on who would be able to throw it further.

In 1972, aged 16, Tessa Sanderson won the Intermediate javelin event at the English Schools' Athletics Championships.

Tessa Sanderson then decided to focus on the javelin throw rather than the pentathlon, partly because she thought that javelin competitions would provide more opportunities for travel.

Tessa Sanderson made her senior international debut in the javelin throw at the 1974 British Commonwealth Games, finishing fifth.

Later that year, Tessa Sanderson finished 13th in the 1974 European Athletics Championships.

At the European Cup finals, Ruth Fuchs of East Germany won the gold and Tessa Sanderson took the silver.

Later that year, Tessa Sanderson was the bronze medalist at the 1977 IAAF World Cup.

Tessa Sanderson competed in the pentathlon and heptathlon, setting UK and Commonwealth records for the heptathlon twice in 1981.

Later that year, Tessa Sanderson had an achilles tendon rupture in her left leg and broke a bone in her throwing arm.

Tessa Sanderson finished fourth at the 1983 World Championships; another British competitor, Fatima Whitbread, who was coming to the fore as her rival, won silver.

Tessa Sanderson is the first Black British woman to win an Olympic gold medal.

Tessa 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 to do so.

Tessa Sanderson won gold at the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, and Whitbread took the silver medal.

In March 1987, Tessa Sanderson announced that she would change her focus from the javelin throw to the heptathlon.

Tessa Sanderson then announced that she would train with Mick Hill in Italy for the world championships.

Tessa Sanderson failed to qualify for the final and left the competition limping, with blood visible on the bandage on her injured ankle.

Tessa Sanderson left the stadium on crutches before the medal ceremony, where Whitbread received the silver medal behind Petra Felke from East Germany.

Tessa 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.

Tessa Sanderson finished third at the 1989 European Cup, despite not being in top condition.

Tessa Sanderson finished 12th at the 1990 European Athletics Championships, but was later moved up to 11th.

Aged 35, Tessa Sanderson won at the 1991 European Cup over a field which included world-record holder Felke.

Tessa Sanderson 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.

Tessa Sanderson failed to qualify for the final at the 1997 World Championships, her last international appearance.

Tessa Sanderson retired from competition in 1997; Whitbread had retired five years earlier.

Tessa 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.

Tessa Sanderson has appeared as a guest on several television shows, including panel games A Question of Sport, Bullseye, Catchphrase Celebrity Special, and Celebrity Wife Swap.

When Sky News was launched in 1989, Tessa Sanderson was a sports reporter for the channel, and she co-hosted ITV's light-entertainment programme Surprise Surprise with Cilla Black.

In 2012, Tessa Sanderson was in "Billy's Olympic Nightmare", a BBC Red Button episode of soap opera EastEnders, and was a contestant on ITV's Dancing on Ice Goes Gold in the same year.

Tessa Sanderson was vice-chair of Sport England from 1999 to 2005.

Tessa 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.

Tessa Sanderson was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 1985 New Year Honours after her Olympic gold-medal performance, raised to Officer in the 1998 New Year Honours for her charity work, and to Commander in the 2004 New Year Honours for her service to Sport England.

Tessa Sanderson is an honorary graduate of the University of Wolverhampton, and was made an Honorary Fellow of London South Bank University in 2004.

Later that year, Tessa Sanderson received a Sportswomen of the Year Lifetime Achievement award from The Sunday Times.

Two roads are named after her: Tessa Sanderson Place is near Wandsworth Road in South London, and Tessa Sanderson Way is in Greenford, West London.

Tessa Sanderson has spoken about the discrimination she has experienced as a black woman.

Tessa Sanderson experienced racist language and behaviour in school, and has spoken about receiving a racist letter saying that she was not truly British after her 1984 Olympic gold medal.

Tessa Sanderson told Sky Sports 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 Sanderson said that her affair with the man, Derrick Evans began after his marriage had broken up.

On 3 May 2010, Tessa Sanderson married former judo Olympian Densign White at St Paul's Cathedral in London.

Tessa Sanderson's bridesmaids were fellow Olympic teammates Sharron Davies, Kelly Holmes and Christine Ohuruogu.

Tessa Sanderson had three unsuccessful in vitro fertilisation treatments by the age of 50.

Tessa Sanderson's nephew, Dion Sanderson, is a footballer who debuted with Wolverhampton Wanderers in October 2019.

The table shows Tessa Sanderson's performances representing Great Britain and England in international competitions.