Marilyn Neufville

Marilyn Neufville, 1970

Marilyn Neufville (born November 16, 1952 in Hectors River , Portland Parish ) is a former British - Jamaican sprinter . She set two world records in the 400-meter run and won four gold medals at international events.

Born in Jamaica, she emigrated to the United Kingdom at the age of eight, where she started for the Cambridge Harriers . She won three AAA Junior Championships:

• 1967 (class U15): 100 y in 11.5 s and 150 y in 17.3 s
• 1968 (class U17): 220 y in 23.9 s

In 1969 she was AAA runner-up over 200 meters in 24.3 s behind Dorothy Hyman (23.7 s). She achieved 54.2 s over 400 meters.

She came into the public spotlight in March 1970 when she won the gold medal over 400 meters in the indoor world record of 53.01 s at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Vienna , after she had already won the AAA Indoor Championships in 54.9 s (the Runner-up was 1.6 seconds slower) had won. In the summer she set her second world record at the British Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh , at which she started not for the United Kingdom but for her home country Jamaica after considerable public opposition, and improved the previous record of the French Colette Besson and Nicole Duclos by 0.7 seconds to 51.0 s (electronically stopped 51.02 s).

In 1970 she also won the ISTAF in Berlin. She also won the AAA championship in 52.6 s ahead of the two Germans Christel Frese (54.3 s) and Inge Eckhoff (54.3 s). In 1971 she lost while at the AAA Indoor Championships at 57.3 s against last year's runner Jannette Roscoe , but won at the Pan American Games in Cali her third gold medal and secured the Jamaican team in the 4 x 400-meter relay , the Bronze medal.

However, the early successes took their toll. In the period that followed, the young athlete was plagued by constant injuries that made participation in the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich impossible. It was only in 1974 at the British Commonwealth Games in Christchurch that she reappeared, but could no longer build on her earlier achievements. With a moderate 54.04 s she only came in sixth and was almost 2 seconds away from a medal (third-placed Charlene Rendina from Australia ran 52.08 s; Canadian Yvonne Saunders won in 51.67 s). Two years later, she qualified for the Olympic Games in Montreal and improved there to 52.93 s, with which she reached the quarter-finals as fourth of her preliminary run, but where she did not take part. Then she disappeared from the scene.

successes

• European Indoor Championships 1970 in Vienna: Gold over 400 m in 53.0 s in front of the German Christel Frese in 53.1 s and the French Colette Besson in 53.6 s
• 1970 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh: Gold in 51.02 s (WR) in front of Australian Sandra Brown in 53.66 s and Judith Ayaa from Uganda in 53.77 s
• Central American and Caribbean Championships in Kingston in 1971: Gold in 53.5 s ahead of Carmen Trustée from Cuba in 4.0 s and Yvonne Saunders from Jamaica in 54.3 s
• 1971 Pan-American Games in Cali: Gold in 52.34 s ahead of Carmen Trustée in 52.89 s and Yvonne Saunders in 53.13 s as well as bronze over 4 × 400 m in 3: 34.05 s behind the USA and Cuba.
• Jamaica's Sportswoman of the Year 1970 and 1971

Web links

• Marilyn Neufville on sporting-heroes.net
• Marilyn Neufville in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )