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Ann Packer
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== Biography == In 1959 Packer won the English Schools 100 yards title. Next year she competed internationally in the long jump. She attended Didcot Girls' Grammar School (now [[Didcot Girls' School]]). In 1962, she reached the finals in the 200 metres at the European Championships and in the 80 metres hurdles at the Commonwealth Games; she was also part of the [[Athletics at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games – Women's 4 × 110 yards relay|4 × 110 yards relay]] team that won two medals at these competitions.<ref name="guardianolysrs">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2012/may/04/ann-packer-tokyo-olympics |title=50 stunning Olympic moments No 27: Ann Packer wins 800m in 1964 |date=4 May 2012 |newspaper=The Guardian |author=Sachin Nakrani}}</ref> In 1963 she focused on the 400 metres, and already by her fourth 400 m race ran a world-level time of 53.6 seconds.<ref name=sr/> Packer became the [[List of British champions in 400 metres|national 440 yards champion]] after winning the British [[WAAA Championships]] title at the [[1964 WAAA Championships]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0004941/19640705/703/0029 |title=Little Daphne Zips to Records |work=Sunday Express |date=5 July 1964 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |access-date=28 February 2025 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nuts.org.uk/Champs/AAA/index.htm |title=AAA, WAAA and National Championships Medallists |website=National Union of Track Statisticians |access-date=28 February 2025}}</ref> When she was selected for the 1964 British Olympic team Packer worked as a physical education teacher at Coombe County Girls' School, [[New Malden]], [[Surrey]]. At the Olympics she shared a room with long jump gold medallist [[Mary Rand]]. Packer was hoping to win the [[400 metres]], but was beaten into second place by [[Betty Cuthbert]] of Australia, despite setting a new European record at 52.20 seconds. Disappointed, Packer planned to skip the 800 m event and have a shopping trip instead, until her fiancé, [[Robbie Brightwell]] persuaded her to compete. Before the Olympics, Packer only had five domestic 800 m races;<ref name=sr/> she had taken up a longer distance to improve her stamina, and earned the third British spot at the last minute.<ref name="guardianolysrs"/> In her heat and semi-final Packer finished fifth and third, running 2:12.6 and 2:06.0 respectively, being beaten by French runner [[Maryvonne Dupureur]], clocking 2:04.5 and 2:04.1. She thus started the final the second slowest of the eight contestants, having raced at the distance only seven times before. Packer was sixth at 400 m, lying behind Dupureur. She began her sprint to the finish with about 150 m to go, moved up to third at 100 m and took the lead in the final straight, using her sprinting speed to take the gold. She broke the [[List of world records in athletics|world record]] with a time of 2:01.1 minutes.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20040105121325/http://www.times-olympics.co.uk/historyheroes/stgbo10.html Ann Packer]. ''The Times''.</ref> Commenting on her win, Packer said "Middle-distance running for women was still in its infancy and the 800 m had only been run in Rome four years earlier for the first time. I knew nothing about the event but being so naive was probably to my advantage; it meant I did not have any limitations in my head regarding what I should or could do. Ignorance proved to be bliss."<ref name="guardianolysrs"/> Packer's winning performance is featured in ''[[Tokyo Olympiad]]'', the official documentary of the games directed by [[Kon Ichikawa]]. After winning the gold medal, she announced her retirement at the age of 22 and so had one of the shortest athletics careers of any Olympic gold medallist. It would be another forty years before another British woman, [[Kelly Holmes]], would win the 800 m, despite British men being successful at the distance. Later in the same Games, [[Robbie Brightwell]] won a silver medal in the 4 × 400 m relay. They later married and had three sons, Gary, a 400 m runner like his mother, and [[Ian Brightwell|Ian]] and [[David Brightwell|David]], the latter two becoming footballers with [[Manchester City F.C.|Manchester City]]. She and Brightwell were each appointed [[Member of the Order of the British Empire]] (MBE) in the [[1965 New Year Honours]] for services to athletics.<ref>United Kingdom list: {{London Gazette |issue=43529 |date=29 December 1964 |pages=18 |supp=y}}</ref> In 2011 Brightwell published a book detailing their careers: ''Robbie Brightwell and his Golden Girl: The Posh and Becks of Yesteryear''.<ref>Congleton Chronicle website: https://www.exacteditions.com/read/congleton/25-august-2011-9329/5/3/</ref> Packer now lives in [[Congleton]] in Cheshire.<ref name="guardianolysrs"/> She was widowed following Robbie's death in March 2022.<ref>{{Cite news|date= 10 March 2022 |title= Death of Olympian who "influenced and inspired" the town |page=16|newspaper=[[Congleton Chronicle]]}}</ref> In 2009, Packer was inducted into the [[England Athletics Hall of Fame]].<ref>British Athletics official website: {{cite web |url=http://www.britishathletics.org.uk/e-inspire/hall-of-fame-athletes/ann-packer/ |title=British Athletics Official WebsiteAnn Packer |accessdate=2015-04-04 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140628172444/http://www.britishathletics.org.uk/e-inspire/hall-of-fame-athletes/ann-packer/ |archivedate=28 June 2014 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> Ann was coached by Denis Watts and was a member of [[Reading Athletic Club]] when she was selected for the British Olympic team. In 1966 Packer appeared in an experiment for the BBC TV history programme, ''[[Chronicle (UK TV series)|Chronicle]]'' to see how far geese could walk in a day. She was chosen because however far the geese went, she would still be with them at the end.<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/chronicle/8619.shtml Chronicle]. Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved on 2015-06-22.</ref> Packer's 800 m gold medal win at the Tokyo [[1964 Summer Olympics]] is dramatically captured in the stunning documentary film ''[[Tokyo Olympiad]]'' (1965) directed by [[Kon Ichikawa]]. The race (and Packer celebrating with friends and loved ones after winning) is shown in its entirety starting at minute 59:30 of the film. Athletic personal bests: 100 y 10.9 (1963), 10.8w (1960); 100 m 11.7w, 12.0 (1960), 200 m 23.7 (1964), 400 m 52.20 (1964), 800 m 2:01.1 (1964), 80 m h 11.4 (1960), HJ 1.60 (1959), LJ 5.92 (1960), Pen 4294 (old tables) (1963).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.britishathletics.org.uk/e-inspire/hall-of-fame-athletes/ann-packer/ |title=British Athletics Official WebsiteAnn Packer |accessdate=2015-04-04 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140628172444/http://www.britishathletics.org.uk/e-inspire/hall-of-fame-athletes/ann-packer/ |archivedate=28 June 2014 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>
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