HAIL MARY, THE QUEEN OF BELFAST
Big honour for Peters, golden girl who defied the bombers
The greatness of Dame Mary Peters lies in the fact that her finest sporting achievement proved to be a beginning and not an end.
This was further recognised last night when she was named as a member of the Order of the Companions of honour in the New Year’s honours List.
She becomes only the second sports figure, after Lord Coe, to be elevated i nto such company usually reserved for luminaries of the arts, science and politics.
As with Lord Coe, it is largely recognition for what Dame Mary, 75, has done since winning an Olympic gold medal in the days when such things had enormous r ari t y value among British athletes.
‘I am thrilled to receive such a prestigious honour, being one of only 47 Companions of honour in the UK, it was totally unexpected,’ she said last night after becoming British sport’s most decorated woman. ‘everything I have done in my interesting life has been a gift so there was no need for recognition. I have been so privileged.’
Many will see this as fitting reward for someone who is too seldom associated with that admittedly well- worn tag of National Treasure. That i s, perhaps, because she has happily identified herself with one specific part of the kingdom, Northern Ireland, since dramatically winning Britain’s solitary gold, in the pentathlon, at Munich in 1972.
Barely had the bauble been placed around her neck than she was receiving a death threat from the IRA at a time when the Troubles were raging at their most disturbing pitch.
‘Mary Peters is a Protestant and has won a medal for Britain. An attempt will be made on her life and it will be blamed on the IRA … her home will be going up in the near future,’ a chilling Irish voice told the BBC in a phone call.
Far from being intimidated, she insisted on returning home i mmediately to share her success with the place she had long since fallen in love with having moved there f rom Liverpool as an 11-year- old. ‘I’m going straight to Belfast,’ she declared.
After arriving at the heavily fortified airport, she was paraded on an open-top truck down Royal Avenue, barely a month after 22 bombs had been detonated in t he city on one single day. Protestants and Catholics alike famously lined the streets together to acclaim her.
ever since that day she has proved to be a great friend to all sections of the community there, working tirelessly to unite people, raise money for sport and good causes, and act as an ambassador for the province.
Last night’s honour was the l atest in a progression which began, inevitably, by being named Sports Personality of the Year shortly after triumph in Germany. Following on were an MBe, CBe and her promotion to DBe (Dame Commander) in 2000. On a purely sporting basis her achievement in winning gold was remarkable. having shown athletic prowess as a teenager, she was encouraged by her father, who bought in two tonnes of sand to create a practice area for the long jump in a nearby field. he also bought enough cement to create a shot putt circle to perfect what would be her best discipline.
She missed out by one place on a bronze medal in 1964 and came ninth at Mexico City in 1968. As she recalled, getting to training on the track at Queen’s University in those times was often not easy due to frequent disruption caused by the Troubles. At 33, Munich would be her last chance, but she was up against the strongly favoured West German heide Rosendahl. Peters led after the first day but endured a sleepless night in which ‘every time I looked at my watch it seemed the hands had moved backwards’.
Rosendahl had her two best events to come and trailed by just 47 points when they lined up for t he f i nal 200metres. Peters managed her fourth personal best out of five but lost by 10 metres, and then followed an agonising few minutes while officials worked out the totals. With both competitors surrounded by photographers during the unbearable wait, Peters only knew she had won when Rosendahl sportingly held out her arms and congratulated her. She had won by a mere 10 points with a world-record score. The next day was to become the blackest in Olympic history, as the massacre of Israeli athletes began, as if Peters needed reminding of such horrors.
She did not need to make her future in Northern Ireland afterwards, receiving job offers from as far away as Australia and America, but chose to stay and use her fame to make Belfast a better place.
Blessed with a natural openness and matronly warmth, she first raised enough money to resurface the cinder track at Queen’s University. She has held nine chairmanship, president and vi ce - president positions on various boards and, i n 2009, became Lord Lieutenant of Belfast.
Aside from anything, she blazed a trail f or the l i kes of Daley Thompson, Denise Lewis and Jessica ennis-hill to establish multi- s port competition as something of a British speciality, and they will have joined in hailing last night’s latest honour.