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Commonwealth Games: Women s pentathlon/heptathlon

Published by
Athletics Weekly   Jul 22nd 2014, 4:59pm
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A look back at women’s multi-events at the Commonwealth Games

The Commonwealth Games isn t renowned for being innovative and the women had to wait until 1970 for their first medal opportunity in the multi events.

The first ever winner was Mary Peters of Northern Ireland. She started well in the hurdles and then a 16.13m shot, which was better than her winning throw for gold in the individual event, gave her a huge lead and she was able to hang on despite modest jumps of 1.66m and 5.73m compared to the runner up Ann Wilson of England.

Peters retained her title in 1974, to make it a Northern Ireland multi-events double with Mike Bull. It wasn t decisive though and Peters, now Olympic champion, again won on the strength of her shot. The Nigerian teenager Modupe Oshikoya was significantly better in three of the five events, and equal in the high jump but couldn t make up for the four metre difference in the shot and ended up 32 points down. Wilson won another medal for England in third.

Diane Jones-Konihowski was a well-beaten sixth in Christchurch but was a transformed athlete in 1978 and won by over 500 points from England pairing Sue Mapstone and Yvette Wray as the 800m replaced the 200 metres for the first time. Konihowski improved in the jumps from 1.65 and 5.80m to 1.88 and 6.41m in Canada.

Australia s Glynis Nunn won a great battle in Brisbane against Judy Livermore. The English woman had a good lead after three events but lost ground with inferior efforts in the 200m and long jump and though Nunn was only superior in those events, Livermore fell 68 points short.

Livermore, now Simpson, was involved in another Anglo-Aussie battle in 1986. She was vastly superior to Jane Flemming in the first three events but Flemming was better in the next three. After leading by 171 points overnight, Simpson trailed by 23 after the javelin and it all went down to the 800m and the English woman won by two seconds to take gold by just four points! England s Kim Hagger was a distant third.

Simpson was back in 1990 but had to settle for third as she was well beaten by a vastly improved Flemming who won with a world- class 6695 points. Flemming was significantly better in all seven events compared to Edinburgh and compared to runner-up Sharon Jaklofsky-Smith and all bar the shot except for Simpson.

In 1994, Flemming was notably better than Denise Lewis in all the first day events. Lewis made up ground with a 6.44m long jump and huge 53.68m javelin, which was an astonishing five-metre PB. And though Flemming beat Lewis by just under five seconds at 800m, she ultimately fell eight points short and Lewis won her first major title.

Lewis retained her title much more easily in 1998. Her only real rival was Australian Jane Jamieson and Lewis was better in five events and equal in the other one and this time she could ease around the 800m outside 2:20 and still win by over 150 points with a 6513 score.

Jamieson scored 300 points less in Manchester but this time moved up to first, winning by almost 100 points from team-mate Kylie Wheeler.

Jamieson didn t finish in 2010 and it was Wheeler who led the Australian challenge with a much bigger score than four years earlier and she managed to split England s Kelly Sotherton and Jessica Ennis. Sotherton won with a good all round performance, bar the usual javelin blip, as Ennis won her first senior medal highlighted by a 1.91m high jump. Six athletes broke 6000 points for the first time in the Games.

There was no Sotherton or world champion Ennis in Delhi in 2010 but England still won two medals. Louise Hazel won gold winning a battle with Canadian Jessica Zelinska, who had been fifth in the Olympics. Hazel set four individual PBs and smashed her heptathlon best with a 6156 score. It was the fourth Birchfield Harrier gold in six Games, and the other two Games were both won by Australians called Jane! Grace Clements was a surprise bronze medallist.

British medallists pentathlon

1970 Mary Peters (NIR) 5148
1974 Mary Peters (NIR) 4455
1978 Diane Konihowski (CAN) 4768

British medallists heptathlon

1982 Glynis Nunn (AUS) 6282w
1986 Judy Simpson (ENG) 6282
1990 Jane Flemming (AUS) 6695
1994 Denise Lewis (ENG) 6325
1998 Denise Lewis (ENG) 6513
2002 Jane Jamieson (AUS) 6059
2006 Kelly Sotherton (ENG) 6396
2010 Louise Hazel (ENG) 6156

Gold medal winners

Gold: Peters (NIR, 1970, 1974), Livermore-Simpson (Eng: 1986), Lewis (Eng: 1994/1998), Sotherton (2006), Hazel (2010)
Silver: Anne Wilson (Eng: 1970), Sue Mapstone (Eng: 1978), Livermore-Simpson (Eng: 1982)
Bronze: Wilson (Eng: 1974), Yvette Wray (Eng: 1978), Kim Hagger (Eng: 1986), Livermore-Simpson (Eng: 1990), Jessica Ennis (Eng: 2006), Grace Clements (Eng: 2010)
Most successful athlete and Briton: Both Denise Lewis and Mary Peters won two golds in their two appearances.

Find other event-by-event histories here and an overall history of the Commonwealth Games here

The post Commonwealth Games: Women’s pentathlon/heptathlon appeared first on Athletics Weekly.



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