Dorothy Day Over and Over Again
Please utilise Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
British Olympic silver and bronze medallist Dorothy Hyman, now 80-years-quondam, talks about success, breaking records, retiring at 23, and her advice to youngsters today
Dorothy Hyman was but nineteen when she competed at her beginning Olympics in 1960. Her dream every bit a teenager was to win gold. Although she could not fulfil that ambition, her sprinting achievements 62 years ago have yet to be matched by a British woman.
Hyman is the terminal British female to win an Olympics private sprint medal in the 100m or 200m.
In an exclusive interview, she shares her incredible story of breaking records around the world, running at a time of inequality for women in the 1960s, meeting The Queen, beingness worshipped in her hometown, and the feelings of not being allowed to compete in the summit years of her running career.
A coal miner's daughter from Barnsley
The biggest inspiration for Hyman was her father who was a coal miner. Without his encouragement and guidance, Hyman feels she would not have become a medal-winning sprinter. He spotted her talent at an early on age.
Hyman in 1964 training for the Summer Olympics in Tokyo
"He came and watched me running in a school sports day," Hyman told Sky Sports News. "And I don't think I won that time because for some reason, before I got to the end, I turned round to look at somebody and they passed me! But he recognised that I could run and he set me off just practising, just running in the park anywhere. Considering for some reason he knew to be better, you had to practice."
Hyman was a junior champion at every age group from 13 upwardly. At the 1958 Republic Games, she was part of a world record winning team that won gold in the 4×110 1000 relay.
She was only 17 when those Games took place in Cardiff, and information technology was the beginning time she had been away without her male parent.
In that aforementioned year she besides competed at the European Athletics Championships where she won a silver medal as part of the relay squad. She would get to her first Olympics two years subsequently as a teenager in form.
Olympics silver and bronze in 1960
The Rome Olympics in 1960 was the first to be televised live. Despite some impressive performances, Hyman was not expected to win the 100m.
At the historic period of 19, Hyman had already proved her talent on the world stage. She got to the 100m Olympic terminal and was initially leading the race.
"I was very nervous," she tells Heaven'south Gail Davis in her home in Cudworth, a small village in Barnsley.
Hyman (number 188, 2d from right) winning the silver medal in the Olympic 100m last in Rome
"But I got off well and for the showtime 10 metres, I idea I was in forepart! Until Wilma got in her stride. And manifestly she was caput and shoulders taller than I was."
Hyman finished 2nd in the race which was watched by people around the earth and by thousands of her supporters in Barnsley.
She said: "Well you call up of domicile and you lot think 'oh I've washed well'. In some ways y'all wish yous'd take won. But y'all think of dwelling house, I wonder if they're watching. And people say: 'What was it like on the podium?' That's secondary. It's when you lot go through that record. You know what you've done. That'southward the best part."
The US great Wilma Rudolph - who won three Olympic gold medals in Rome - won the race in 11 seconds. Rudolph was one of the famous Tigerbelles at Tennessee State Academy coached by the legendary Ed Temple.
Hyman (left) was beaten over again by Rudolph in the 200m final with Jutta Heine of Due west Germany taking the silver medal
Hyman was as well on the podium in the 200m. She finished tertiary to win bronze and came away with two sprint medals from her first Olympics.
Hyman's incredible Barnsley homecoming
Hyman on her return to the Uk with her silvery medal that she won in the 100m at the 1960 Olympics in Rome
Her success in international competitions saw her being welcomed back with several big homecomings. Just it is the one in 1960 later on her start Olympics which she still remembers fondly.
"There couldn't accept been any more than there if The Queen would have been coming through." Hyman reflected on the reception of the locals having returned from Rome.
She was driven through the town in a coach as locals handed her presents and flowers. The streets had been decorated with bunting every bit locals lined the streets. The coach stopped off at pubs then the people could congratulate their hero.
Coverage of Dorothy Hyman's success in the 1960 Olympics in the Barnsley Chronicle (reproduced with kind permission from Barnsley Archives)
The Barnsley Chronicle in September 1962 chosen Hyman 'Britain'due south Sprint Queen' (reproduced with kind permission from Barnsley Archives)
Hyman's first Amateur Able-bodied Association (AAA) title victories came in 1959 and she won the 100m and 200m double and she repeated her success in 1960, 1962 and 1963.
Perhaps Hyman'due south best year in her short running career was 1962. She won the sprint double at the Commonwealth Games and celebrated the two gold medals with another large homecoming.
In the aforementioned yr she also celebrated being the fastest woman in Europe by winning gold in the 100m at the European Championships in Belgrade. It was i of three medals at the Championships every bit at that place was a silver in the 200m and bronze in the 4x100m relay.
Some other Olympic medal and retirement
1963 was a special year for Hyman who also won the Sportswoman of the Year honor, with Jim Clark winning the Sportsman accolade. They were pictured alongside British Prime number Minister Alec Douglas-Home. Hyman also won the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year award in the same twelvemonth.
British Prime number Minister Alec Douglas-Dwelling house with Sportswoman of the Year Dorothy Hyman and Sportsman of the Year Jim Clark at the annual dinner of the Sport Writers' Association in Dec, 1963
Unfortunately injury hampered Hyman's chances in 1964 equally she could non fulfil her dream of winning Olympic gold.
Although she was not fully fit, she still won a medal. She ran aslope Janet Simpson, Mary Rand and Daphne Arden to win statuary in the 4x100m relay.
At the age of 23 Hyman felt she could take dominated the sport for the next few years simply explained why she decided to retire.
British team which came in 3rd in the women'due south 4x100m relay at the Tokyo Olympics Summer Games of 1964. L-R: Janet Simpson, Dorothy Hyman, Daphne Arden and Mary Rand
"At that time I was tired because I worked full-fourth dimension and I trained," she said. "Then information technology was all piece of work, bed, work, bed. And I thought life was passing me by."
It was a determination she did non regret but has ever made her wonder how much more success she could have had.
A £150 book … and banned from the Olympics
Hyman got £150 for writing an autobiography in 1965 but that meant her elite sprinting career was over. She was non allowed to return to international competitions equally the volume meant she was not regarded as an amateur anymore.
Hyman made £150 from writing her autobiography
She felt she was running faster in her late 20s than she did at her first two Olympics, just there was no chance of a comeback considering of her determination to write the book and take money. Hyman was allowed to run in domestic races and won another AAA title in 1969 - her 9th in total.
Hyman was working in the offices of the National Coal Lath where she spent 30 years. She was the outset female tracer to work at the Coal Board and worked in the planning office at Woolley Colliery in Barnsley.
Hyman worked as a tracer in the planning office at Woolley Colliery in Barnsley
She turned to coaching and gear up the Dorothy Hyman Track Order based at the stadium in the habitation town of Cudworth. She worked with the next generations of British sprinting. Later in her life she worked with people with learning disabilities.
Looking back, would Hyman want to be an athlete in the mod era?
"I don't recall so," she says. "People say 'Dorothy you would have been a millionaire'. And apparently we all like to accept overnice things and you retrieve of the things it would take permit you do.
Just no, I think my way was a amend way. I had my athletics. I had my piece of work and I had an outlet. I had a different way of life.
Hyman pictured at Barnsley Markets (reproduced with kind permission from Barnsley Archives)
With mod technology and tracks perhaps being quicker to run on, does she wonder how fast she would run today?
"I do wonder now," she says.
"Not until I've got older. And I thought, 'Oh, well, if I'd take run once again I wonder how fast I could have gone'."
A trip to Buckingham Palace in 1965
Hyman remembers beingness "overawed" when she went to Buckingham Palace in 1965 after being awarded an MBE. She tells Sky Sports News about the nerves on her special mean solar day.
"Looking effectually, seeing all the things, beingness frightened to death that you would do wrong affair because you're told, 'you lot don't turn your back on The Queen, you've got to reverse back and turn, and walk off and somebody will give you your box at the other end'.
Hyman with her MBE outside Buckingham Palace in Nov, 1965
"And so I was petrified that I would exercise the incorrect matter. And subsequently she'd spoke to me I idea I'd turn only I didn't! I can't call up what she said to me. I think she asked me what I was doing now considering evidently I had retired past this time. But she said quite a longish conversation."
Hyman's legacy continues every bit a short distance from her home at that place is a big sports facility named after her chosen the Dorothy Hyman Sports Eye which includes a 400m running rail. Many years ago she remembers meeting Jessica Ennis-Hill at the venue in Cudworth before she won heptathlon gold in 2012.
Jessica Ennis-Colina with her gilt medal at the 2012 London Olympics
Hyman says: "When she was kickoff starting out at the rail that takes my proper noun, I had my photograph taken with her because she was an upwardly-and-coming young athlete, and I doubt if she'll remember. But that made me follow her. [I was] so sad when she had her injuries, but and so pleased when she battled on and got what she strived for."
As part of her interview, Hyman agreed to meet some local youngsters on that aforementioned rails to answer questions and offer advice. She brash them to never give up on their dreams and to try running at unlike distances at a young age to find their strengths.
Some youngsters met Hyman for the first fourth dimension at the Dorothy Hyman Sports Middle
Martin Prest, Facility Manager at Dorothy Hyman Sports Eye, said it was a "lovely and inspiring" afternoon. He added: "Everyone really enjoyed information technology and the youngsters loved coming together Dorothy."
Every bit a sign of Hyman's popularity, Prest says the Sports Centre still receives letters and fan mail for Hyman and he regularly drops off letters at her home. The last one came from Europe.
Hyman with some youngsters in a question and answer session
Dorothy gets her 1963 trophy in 2018
Hyman beat F1 world champion Jim Clark to win the BBC Sports Personality of the Twelvemonth in 1963. Only she never got to keep a replica of the trophy until a successful campaign a few years agone.
Hyman'southward local MP Stephanie Peacock, whose constituency is Barnsley E, was the inspiration to Hyman finally getting a bays 4 years agone. The Labour MP says the fourscore-twelvemonth-old from Cudworth is nonetheless seen as an inspiration.
In a statement to Sky Sports News, Peacock said: "Dorothy is an inspiration and a legend hither in Barnsley - and in British sporting history.
Dorothy Hyman (middle) is presented with BBC Sports Personality of the Twelvemonth award from 1963 that she didn't receive at the time from Steve Cram and Paula Radcliffe
"Built-in in Cudworth and now living in Stairfoot, in Barnsley East, she did our boondocks proud through her incredible sporting achievements and winning the BBC Sports Personality of the Year honor in 1963.
"But, in 2018, nosotros learnt that she was only person to have won the Sports Personality of the Yr non to receive a replica of the trophy after their win.
"I was proud to lead the campaign to become her well-deserved bays to her, raising the effect in Parliament and with the BBC, and to finally see her presented with her replica 55 years after her win.
"She continues to be a local hero and the Dorothy Hyman Sports Centre, in Cudworth, stands in honour of her incredible achievements."
Barnsley Mayor Cllr Caroline Makinson told Heaven Sports News Hyman is still celebrated in Barnsley over six decades subsequently her success.
Hyman says her father was a big influence on her career
"Dorothy's impact on Barnsley has been astounding. She's been a shining low-cal for what women in Barnsley can achieve," she said.
"She lit up the nation in the early sixties, when at such a young historic period she delivered Olympic medals as well as Gilded and Silver medals from the Commonwealth Games and European Championships.
"She is very well idea of in Barnsley, and in 2019, when the Women'southward Tour de Yorkshire started right exterior our town hall, we were proud to take invited Dorothy to practice the ceremonial ribbon cutting to beginning the race on a stage where women'south racing matched that of the men'due south.
Delight use Chrome browser for a more attainable video actor
Kathrine Switzer explains how her participation in the 1967 Boston marathon inspired women effectually the world to have upwardly long-distance running.
"Dorothy is withal very highly regarded with a sports centre named after her in Cudworth, and a bluish plaque was unveiled at the centre in September 2021, to celebrate her fantastic athletic achievements.
"This allows those of a younger generation to recognise her achievements and look upwardly to her as a role model. The sports centre sees many young people attending information technology every year, which benefits their wellness and wellbeing."
Interviewing Dorothy Hyman…
Heaven Sports News reporter Gail Davis shares her reflections afterwards spending the twenty-four hour period with Dorothy Hyman…
Gail Davis interviewed Hyman for International Women'southward Twenty-four hours
I met Dorothy at her business firm in Cudworth just later on noon, she'd been doing her sister'south shopping that morning. They live shut, Dorothy has never felt the demand to move away from the area she grew upwards in.
She rarely reflects on her achievements of six decades agone that despite the huge cabinet packed full of Olympic, European and Commonwealth medals hung in her hallway.
It was fabricated by someone locally and at the bottom is a little plaque that read: "To Dorothy a girl that fame never contradistinct." Eight words that perfectly sums upward the last British woman to win an Olympic private medal in the 100 or 200 metres. 62 years and counting.
Dorothy didn't even have a copy of the volume she wrote "Sprint to Fame" until someone recently bought it off an auction site. Her copy had been borrowed and never returned.
Dina Asher-Smith will exist hoping to intermission Hyman's record at the 2024 Olympics in Paris
The idea she was a trailblazer doesn't sit easily but at a time when athletics was dominated by men it was virtually unthinkable that a coal miner's daughter from Barnsley trained by her Dad could become a global sprinting superstar.
As the outset female person tracer working for the Coal Lath mayhap information technology came naturally. She loved her job and worked there for 30 years, it's one of the reasons she doesn't think she'd savour being an athlete in the mod era. She liked to compartmentalise and did not want to exist divers past one thing.
80-year-onetime Hyman regularly visits the Dorothy Hyman Sports Centre
She never regretted her decision to retire at 23 later on an injury denied her a potential Olympic gold medal in Tokyo. She has no bitterness that despite running faster times a few years later on she was never allowed to compete at the Olympics having written her book that earned her £150 so she was deemed a professional.
Occasionally and only recently she wonders just how fast she might have been able to run in the modern era given the modern techniques and equipment only the thought of the stress and pressure of the mod athlete, the issues of mental health and drugs leaves her thinking that financial rewards come up at a big cost.
It's at the local stadium and athletics track that bears her proper noun where Dorothy really comes alive, surrounded by sprinters hoping to emulate her achievements. She knows many of their grandparents and great aunts, coached their uncles and cousins and they are all excited to meet her. It doesn't matter that there is well-nigh a seventy-yr age gap. The kids hang on her every discussion.
When you lot listen to her answering their questions you realise a lot has inverse. Including the track which was a cinder 1, the warm-up routine of athletes, her spikes that were precipitous and heavy, and her kit so awful she says of her oversized tracksuit that she has never worn i since.
But a lot has too stayed the same. Similar the need to piece of work hard, harder than the person next to you and the necessity to park the disappointments and to arrive fuel y'all.
Dorothy makes a quick stop to see the manager of the sports centre before she leaves. There'due south some fan mail to collect and autographs to sign, then it's off back dwelling and that's exactly the manner she likes it.
Source: https://www.skysports.com/more-sports/olympics/news/29175/12555421/international-womens-day-dorothy-hyman-on-winning-silver-and-bronze-sprint-medals-at-1960-olympics-a-record-yet-to-be-matched
0 Response to "Dorothy Day Over and Over Again"
Post a Comment