Yvette Williams is one of New Zealand's most cherished athletes and one of our most inspiring.
She was our first female Olympic Gold medallist securing her place in our hearts and our history books back in 1952 at the Helsinki Olympic Games.
Yvette Williams jumps her way to an Olympic Gold medal with a jump of 6.24m. Helsinki Olympic Games, 1952. Photo: Photosport
It was her dramatic long-jump that saw her become our first golden girl.
She was welcomed back to New Zealand a national hero.
But it was not only in the long-jump she excelled. Williams also won four Empire Games gold medals in long jump, discuss, and shot-put.
She broke a long-jump world record too back in 1954 and held 21 separate national titles in athletics. She was an exceptional all-round athlete. She also played basketball for New Zealand.
Without the benefits of sport science and little support, Williams set about a regime that saw her lift concrete blocks and sand bags, run with army boots on her feet, and train in the soft dunes of West Coast beaches.
While Williams retired before the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games she remained involved in sport and worked for many years as a physical education teacher. She was inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame in 1990.
At a time when women were expected to keep house Williams was a trailblazer for generations of women who followed. Yvette Williams had four children with late husband Buddy Corlett. The 87 year-old lives in Howick.
Yvette Williams in an attempt to break her own long jump world record in Dunedin during a visit of Queen Elizabeth II. Photo: WikiCommons
That Jump
After leading the qualifying round, Williams began the final round with two no-jumps. Down to her last chance, she leapt 5.90m to make the top six and earn three more jumps.
Yvette Williams describes her winning jump at Helsinki, along with the two nerve-wracking 'no-jumps' that preceded it.
Listen to Yvette Williams speak about that jump on her return to New Zealand.
Williams' fourth jump was perfect. At 6.24 m, it was just 1 cm short of the world record held by legendary Francine ('Fanny') Blankers-Koen of the Netherlands. Williams had set a new Olympic record and won gold for New Zealand.
Williams took a month-long holiday in Europe before returning to New Zealand, where she was fêted at public receptions in Auckland, Dunedin and throughout the South Island. It would be 40 years before New Zealand would celebrate another female Olympic gold medallist - windsurfer Barbara Kendall at the 1992 Barcelona games.