Yvette Williams obit

Olympic gold medallist Yvette Corlett (Williams) has died, aged 89

 

She was not on the list.

New Zealand's first female Olympic gold medallist, former long jump world recordholder Yvette Corlett, has died.

As Yvette Williams she won the women's long jump at the 1952 Helsinki Olympic Games. She died on Saturday night, aged 89.

President of Auckland Athletics Murray McKinnon confirmed the multi-talented athlete had died "of old age".

While the most significant thing in her career was being the first New Zealand woman to win Olympic gold, her influence reached far beyond that, McKinnon said.

She took a big interest in the career of Olympic champion shot putter Dame Valerie Adams, he said.

"She was a gracious lady. She kept in touch with Valerie Adams right from the early days, and contacted her every time she won something."

She set up an athletics club in the eastern suburbs of Auckland, where the Yvette Williams Track is to be found.

Analytical Wellington sports writer Peter Heidenstrom controversially rated Corlett as his New Zealand Athlete of the Century, ahead of the great Peter Snell, who won three Olympics golds across two Games.

Competing at a time when there were fewer athletics events for women, she shone in most. In the modern era she would have been a world class heptathlete.

Her younger brother, Roy Williams, won the decathlon at the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Kingston, Jamaica.

"Yvette Williams was a trail blazer and a true beacon of what is possible for women in sport," said New Zealand Olympic Committee president Mike Stanley.

"She was a truly humble New Zealander who was deeply passionate about sport and young athletes."

"Her place in New Zealand's history is unique and her contribution to sport has opened doors. She was a treasured member of the New Zealand Team and is one of our greatest-ever athletes, she will be missed by all who knew her."

Born in Dunedin on Anzac Day 1929, she played several sports at Otago Girls' High School, making the top netball team and going on to play for Otago and the South Island.

Shin troubles pushed her toward basketball, in which she played for New Zealand, and helped Otago claim a national title. Her late husband Buddy Corlett, who died in 2015, was a national basketballer.

Her interest in athletics was set on fire after an evening visit to Otago Ladies Amateur Athletics Club one evening.

While most famous as a long jumper, her first national title was for shot put in 1947. She won her first long jump title a year later.

Corlett formed a winning combination with coach Jim Bellwood, an uncompromising former soldier and POW, who she always called Mr Bellwood.

He modelled her technique on American legend Jesse Owens, winning the long jump at the 1950 Auckland British Empire Games, where she also came second in the javelin.

Corlett moved to Auckland to train with "Mr Bellwood" boarding with an aunt and uncle, who set up a gym for her in a spare room for morning training sessions.

Her lunch time outside her job was spent running up and down hills to build strength in her legs, after work she would meet Bellwood for three hours' training.

All her hard work paid of on in July 1952, when she leapt 6.24m - an Olympic record - to win the long jump at the Helsinki Olympics.

On 20 February 1954 she claimed the world record in Gisborne, leaping 6.29m. It stood for 18 months.

She knew she had cracked it as soon as her feet left the ground, she recalled in 2013.

Conditions were perfect in Poverty Bay and crowds of people had come to see her world record attempt.

In those days the long jump was known as the "broad jump", with distances measured in feet and inches. The record had been set in 1943 by the "flying Dutchwoman" Fanny Blankers-Koen. It stood at 6.25 metres (20ft 6in).

Corlett had come close to breaking it in Helsinki.

"I was only one centimetre off at the Olympics - I knew I would be able to break it, " she said.

The Gisborne athletics club put on a special meeting for Williams' attempt, even flying her parents from Dunedin to witness it.

Her hitch-kick technique perfected through years of practice, Corlett sprinted towards the board, hit it and leapt.

"I knew straight away, " she said. She landed beyond the red flag marking the world record, and Gisborne erupted in cheers.

Newspaper reports said "Miss Williams' reaction was to bound from the pit and leap into the air in exaltation. Other competitors rushed to embrace her and officials threw their arms in the air and dashed to shake her hand. The spectators' joy found relief in wave after wave of cheering."

Everyone had to wait for official verification. There were six officials on hand to observe as the Gisborne club judges measured the jump. It was a record. Williams had jumped 6.28m (20ft 7 1/2 in)

"Mr Williams walked proudly into the arena and embraced his daughter, and as she walked from the track to the stand she was kissed warmly by her mother, " the Post reported.

"No athlete, no woman athlete anyway, has ever deserved success as Miss Williams deserves hers."

At the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Vancouver, she won gold in the discus and long jump, setting Games records in both. She also won the shot put and made the 80m hurdles final.

She  retired from competition in 1956 working as a physical education teacher, and having four children.

She coached athletics and became involved with Special Olympians - people with intellectual disabilities.

Corlett was 'Sportsman of the Year' in 1950 and 1952 and made an MBE in 1953.

She was one of the first inductees into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame in 1990 and voted Otago Sportsperson of the Century in 2000.