Mary Rand: The trailblazing Olympic champion who caught Mick Jagger’s eye

Born in Wells, Somerset on 10 February 1940, Rand was an extraordinary talent; She attended Millfield School on a sports scholarship, then was expelled after going to Paris with her boyfriend and getting engaged.

She burst onto the international scene at the age of 18 with a silver medal in the long jump at the 1958 Commonwealth Games in Cardiff, and broke a British record at her first Olympics in Rome in 1960.

Four years later, Rand, now a wife and mother to the first of her three daughters, broke an Olympic record with her first lap jump. He broke the world record with his final jump of 6.76 m.

In his amateur age, all his success came while working part-time in the post office of a Guinness factory in London.

She was described as “Marilyn Monroe’s nail” by a former national athletic trainer, and also caught the eye of Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger.

“I was at the BBC one day and the Beatles were there. I met them both – Ringo [Starr] and george [Harrison] I think,” Rand told Sky Sports in 2023.

“And then Mick Jagger; I’ve never actually met him, but they asked him if he could go on a date with anyone, and he said it would be me.”