THROW FOR IT

The first black British woman to win an Olympic gold, javelin star Tessa Sanderson shone in the 1980s and 90s. Now, as the 67-year-old becomes the face of a new beauty campaign, SHARON GREEN looks back at the sporting legend’s glittering career...

Teenage Tessa when she was selected to compete in the javelin throw at the European Athletics Junior Championships. She had first picked up a javelin aged 14, in the hope of winning a portion of chips after being challenged by a girl at school. It turns out Tessa was a natural. After sports day glory, she had chips bought for her all week.

Tessa won the gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, setting a new Olympic record with her throw of 69.56m, beating fellow Brit Fatima Whitbread who took bronze. It was Great Britain’s first Olympic win in a throwing event since the modern Olympics began in 1896.

Her fifth Olympic Games, in Barcelona, set a record for Olympic appearances by a British athlete. Although she failed to make the podium, at the World Cup the same year, she won gold with a throw of 61.86m, nearly three metres further than any other competitor.

Tessa received vital funding from the Variety Club in the early days and is now an ambassador for the children’s charity. “They were the first people, in 1977, ever to really look my way and give me that leg up and the confidence,” she says.

Tessa has received many honours, including an MBE, pictured, which was raised to OBE in 1998 for her charity work and then to CBE in 2004 for her services to Sport England. She is also an honorary graduate of the University of Wolverhampton while the British Athletics Writers’ Association voted her Athlete of the Year in 1977, 1978 and 1984. In 2004 she was one of 100 Great Black Britons in a poll taken after the BBC’s 100 Greatest Britons failed to include any black people.

Tessa and fellow Olympic gold medallist Sebastian Coe chat with Princess Anne at a glittering event where they were awarded Sportswoman and Sportsman of the

Year. Tessa also took part in It’s A

Royal Knockout, pictured right, with Toyah Wilcox.

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One last throw: Tessa in action during her final Olympics, in Atlanta, USA. Proud moment: Model: Tessa is fronting a new Estee Lauder campaign with tips on looking good in your 60s. esteelauder.co.uk Royal appointment: Golden girl: Here she is arriving at Heathrow Airport from New Zealand with another gold medal, this time after retaining her Commonwealth Games title with a throw of 65.72m. World class: Tessa in action at a Dairy Crest athletics meeting at Crystal Palace, in London. That year she won the European Cup over a field which included world-record holder Petra Felke, of East Germany. Leading light: Carrying the Olympic Torch in London, as part of the torch relay ahead of the Beijing Olympics.

Starting out: Aiming high: Power lift: Tessa undergoes training in preparation for the European and Commonwealth games at a gym in her home city of Wolverhampton. Strong arm: She won bronze at the 1979 European Cup, behind East Germany’s Ruth Fuchs, both of them losing out to Romanian Éva Ráduly-Zörgő.

Feeling at home: