Anita Neil, the first black woman to compete for Great Britain at the Olympic Games, has been appointed MBE for her services to athletics. Neil competed in the women’s 100m and 4x100m relay team in Mexico City aged 18 in 1968 and at the following games in Munich four years later. Now 74, she entered the history books and became a trailblazer in female British sport. Neil spoke of the honour of receiving the MBE from former Olympian Princess Anne. The Princess Royal told her that it had been a “long time coming”.
Neil said that she did feel like a trailblazer in female British sport for her Olympic feats. “I go to schools and homes and all sorts of places, giving talks and speeches,” she said. “I opened a school the other month in the local area. They appreciate me now, they know I’m here”. She competed internationally at the age of 16 when reigning Olympic gold medallist Mary Rand was injured, taking her place at a competition in Lille, France.
Ms Neil spoke about the difficult conditions in which she trained during her career, with no funding and many other struggles that young athletes today may not have to face. Neil said she had no sponsorship, little equipment or finances, and would often train on a rough school playing field. “They’ve got it all now,” Neil said of current British athletes, adding that it was “unbelievable” that she had achieved what she had. Neil said representing Great Britain ranked as her greatest success.
She remembered her victories on the individual-level and the pride she felt representing her country, saying: “I won medals at the European Games and I stood on the podium and watched the Union Jack flutter in the breeze. That was for me and for my country, and I felt very, very proud of that”. At the Olympic Games this summer, female trailblazer and fellow Briton, Dina Asher-Smith, broke the longstanding British sprinting record
Read the full article from The BBC here: Read More
