Williams’ giant leap for womankind

There was tension at both ends of the globe as Yvette Williams stuttered her way through the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Finland.

Williams was a big favourite to win the gold medal and become New Zealand’s first female gold medallist ahead of the Games.

She then cruised into the final with the biggest jump in qualifying, leaping 6.16 metres to sit 28 centimetres clear of her nearest competitor.

But come the final, things got nervy.

As Williams’ brother, Roy Williams, puts it, the Otago Daily Times newspaper team were ready to lead on the front page with her success.

But before going ahead and putting a headline that Williams had won gold, they needed to see her successfully jump in the final.

When Williams overstepped her mark with her first jump it was about midnight in Dunedin, and the paper staff knew they had to wait before going ahead and printing the paper.

‘‘We were huddled around the radio, listening to the BBC at the time, as were the guys down at the paper,’’ Roy Williams said.

‘‘Then she overstepped with her second jump and the guys started getting very tense I can imagine.’’

With her third jump, Williams had to step on the board, not over it, and make sure she jumped more than 5.75m to get the chance to continue jumping for gold.

Everyone knew that should she make the final it would be Williams’ gold to lose.

‘‘I think perhaps I must have been a little tense,’’ Williams said in a radio interview after the event.

‘‘I was just over the board by a fraction of an inch. It was just rather unfortunate that I’d gone over to that extent.

‘‘On the third jump I shifted my pegs back about four inches to make certain.

‘‘I felt that I had to first of all strike the board, not go over it again, and secondly I had to jump far enough to qualify for another three jumps to get me into the finals.’’

Williams’ heart was beating a million times a minute, the crew at the Otago Daily Times were chewing their finger nails in anticipation, and Roy Williams and family were huddled around the radio, hoping for the best at about 2am.

Williams landed her jump, 10 minutes before the paper had to go to press, reaching 5.9m and a tie for third with three jumps to go, easing everyone’s fears that she’d fall short of what was expected.

Showing bold confidence that Williams would then go on to win, the paper was published.

Williams took the lead with her next jump, reaching 6.24m.

It was only one centimetre short of the world record, and was a mark that wouldn’t be matched as Williams took home gold.

After Helsinki, Williams went to the 1952 Commonwealth Games in Vancouver, winning three gold medals in the long jump, discus and shot put.

That made for four years of domination in long jump, having also won the 1950 Commonwealth Games gold medal in Auckland.

She paved the path for several great Kiwi sportswomen to follow, with the likes of Sarah Ulmer, Valerie Adams and Lisa Carrington owing plenty to Williams and her groundbreaking efforts in 1952.

"I think perhaps I must have been a little tense." Yvette Williams after failing with her first two jumps in Helsinki.