telegraph.co.uk/tws @WomensSport @TelegraphWomensSport
not like the beauty of track. It was very
wrong. When it came to winning
competitions, a lot of us throwers were
saving the British team when the track
eventers were bombing out.”
Sanderson was cashing in on her success
while she could, a tactic that is just as
prevalent among today’s modern sporting
stars.
Yet how did she feel about changing her
image, seemingly pressured to do so as a
result of limitations for both women in sport
and her chosen discipline? “It wasn’t
changing my personality. I looked different,
but I was very comfortable with that
change,” she says. “It didn’t matter how I
looked, first and foremost, I always thought I
was a woman. If the times were moving, I
wanted to move with the times.
“The different hair, fashions and styles
were coming in, I wanted to have those.
When straightened hair came in, I was like,
‘Yes, I want that.’ When people started
introducing a lot of Bobbi Brown make-up
and black make-up, I was, ‘Let’s get it right’.”
Sanderson, who was once taken for a
sprinter at her first Olympics in 1976, holds
herself up as an example to girls that being a
thrower can be just as attractive as someone
on the track.
“Javelin throwing is a beautiful event. You
get it right, it feels great and like you’ve
achieved,” she says.
“There’s nothing wrong with being a
javelin thrower. You don’t have to be bulky
and like a bodybuilder or the Incredible
Hulk or anything like that. I proved that. It’s
about timing, flexibility and the technique. I
was strong, but I still felt feminine.”
Remarkably, Sanderson remains the only
British thrower, male or female, to win an
Olympic title. According to her, unless a
fresh approach to coaching young talent is
taken, and the experience of previous
champions such as herself is harnessed, it
will be a further 35-year wait for another.
And all the time the drought goes on, it
only serves to highlight just how
underappreciated the British battle royal
between Sanderson and rival Whitbread
was.
“Seb [Coe] and Steve [Ovett] had their
rivalry, but it was nothing like this. It was
the rivalry of history,” says Sanderson.
Battle lines were drawn, opposing camps
established. In one corner, Sanderson. The
other, Whitbread, marked by her own tough
beginnings and guided by her adoptive
mother and national coach Margaret, plus
controversial British Athletics promoter and
agent – latterly turned lover and husband –
Andy Norman.
Sanderson insists they started off as
“really good friends”, before “the
competition got to Whitbread’s head and her
family’s head. It was about kicking her ass
and forgetting everything else. It became
not friendly any more”.
Yet, in the 1984 Olympic final, a
momentary letting-down-of-the-guard –
whether in the name of patriotism, or
solidarity among field eventers – could have
cost Sanderson glory.
“I actually went up to Fats midway
through when I was leading after my first
throw and said, ‘Get your leg in, drive your
leg in and shoulder in,’ ” she recalls. “I was a
b----- fool, because she could have whupped
my ass. But it was that team spirit thing. She
came in, hit it and got bronze. She never said
thank you. It didn’t bother me.
“On the podium, she sort of pinched my
cheek. I hate that photograph. She said well
done. But all I could think of was, you went
into the Games, second in the world, I was
ranked fourth, I’d been through hell and
back and I’d won.”
Sanderson, winner of Olympic and three
Commonwealth golds to Whitbread’s World
and European titles, is, however, not
ashamed of acknowledging what their
acrimonious relationship did for her career.
“The rivalry was one of the best things
when you look at it now. It drove me to
another level. It made me want to beat her
every time. It’s calmer now. I respect her and
GETTY IMAGES EUROPE I hope she respects me.”‘I received a
letter saying I
didn’t win it for
Britain. It said
‘You’re black.
You won for
someone else.’
I thought: what
an idiot’
‘The rivalry
with Fatima
was one of the
best things.
It drove me
to another
level. It made
me want to
beat her
every time’
Sanderson is now in her
60s and enjoys a varied
and busy lifestyle. She
balances charity and
media work with a
second career as an
older model. She is also
a mother, after
adopting twins Cassius
and Ruby Mae, who are
now six, with her
husband, Densign, a
former Olympic
judo player.Sanderson is n
60s and enjoy
and busy lifes
balances char
media work w
second career
older model. S
a mother, afte
adopting twin
and Ruby Mae
now six, with
husband, Den
former Olymp
judo player.Family time
The Daily Telegraph Friday 16 August 2019 *** 7
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