Diane Leather

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Diane Susan Leather , married Diane Charles , (born January 7, 1933 in Streetly , West Midlands , † September 5, 2018 in Truro , Cornwall ) was a British athlete .

Career

Diane Leather was the daughter of a surgeon and grew up with her parents and five brothers. In 1952 she was working as a chemist at Birmingham University when she saw a broadcast of the athletics competitions from the Olympic Games on British television . This sparked her enthusiasm for the sport and led her to join a local running group. Just one year later, in September 1953, she achieved a time of 5: 02.6 minutes in the mile run , an unofficial world record. After the Romanian Edith Treybal had undercut this time with 5: 00.3 minutes in November 1953, Leather recovered the best performance on May 26, 1954 with 5: 00.2 minutes.

Three days later, on May 29, 1954, 23 days after Roger Bannister was the first man to stay under four minutes in the mile run, the middle-distance and cross-country runner at the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham was the first woman to do this with 4: 59.6 minutes Distance ran under five minutes. In 1955 she improved the best time first in May to 4: 50.8 minutes and in September to 4: 45.0 minutes. Leather held the unofficial world record over this distance for a total of seven years.

In 1954 she won silver over 800 m at the European Athletics Championships in Bern . Four years later she won silver again over 800 m at the EM 1958 in Stockholm. At the Olympic Games in Rome in 1960 , she entered under the name Diane Charles and was eliminated over this distance in the run-up.

She won three times for England starting the unofficial women's competition of the Cross of Nations (1954, 1955, 1957). She was the English cross-country champion four times (1953-1956), three times over 880 yards (1954, 1955, 1957) and twice in the mile run (1956, 1957).

In 1960 Diane Charles ended her active career and in 1961 she became the mother of her first child. She later worked as a social worker at Cruse Bereavement Care. In 2013 she was inducted into the England Athletics Hall of Fame . She died of a stroke in 2018 at the age of 85, leaving behind three sons and a daughter.

Personal bests

  • 800 m: 2: 06.6 min, August 24, 1958, Stockholm
  • 1500 m : 4: 29.7 min, July 19, 1957, London (intermediate time)
  • 1 mile: 4: 45.0 min, September 21, 1955, London

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Diane Leather, 85, First Woman to Run Mile in Under 5 Minutes, Dies , accessed February 4, 2019.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Leather, Diane
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Leather, Diane Susan; Charles, Diane
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British athlete
DATE OF BIRTH January 7, 1933
PLACE OF BIRTH Streetly , West Midlands
DATE OF DEATH 5th September 2018
Place of death Truro , Cornwall