Born in Liverpool, Mary Peters moved at age 11 with her parents to Northern Ireland, which she regards as home. Through much hard work, training and determination, Peters won a gold medal and world record in the pentathlon at the Munich Olympics in 1972.
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Born in Liverpool, Mary Peters moved at age 11 with her parents to Northern Ireland, which she regards as home. Through much hard work, training and determination, Peters won a gold medal and world record in the pentathlon at the Munich Olympics in 1972.
SPORT BIO
Born in Liverpool, she moved at an early age to Northern Ireland, which she regards as her roots. Through a strong work ethic, which remains her hallmark, Mary converted raw talent as an athlete into an international career spanning nearly two decades.
In the pentathlon and the shot she turned in performances of a consistently high standing in international competition: fourth in the Olympics in 1964; second in the shot at the Commonwealth Games in 1966; and first in the Commonwealth pentathlon in 1970 and 1974. Her career was crowned with a gold medal and world record in the pentathlon at the Munich Olympics in 1972.
At the end of 1972 Peters had been announced as BBC's sports personality of the year. In 1973 Mary was made an MBE. In the same year she became a member of the Northern Ireland Sports Council, a position she maintained for 20 years.
From 1979 to 1984 Mary was Team Manager to the British Women's athletic team. Under her management the team brought 8 bronze medals home from the Moscow Olympics in 1980, and in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics they won 7 bronze, 2 silver and 1 gold medal.
SPECIALIST AREAS
Since retiring from track and field, Mary Peters has dedicated herself and her time to serving various organisations, including national and community sport; charitable and community causes; and broadcasting and the press.
She has a very strong work ethic and is very dedicated to what she does. Many honours, awards and trophies have been bestowed upon Mary, and the use of words like 'Golden Girl', 'Legend' and 'Icon' are frequently used by way of introduction at her after-dinner speaking engagements or motivational lectures throughout the world.
When Mary speaks about her athletics career, a daunting determination and toughness comes across. "Oh yes, there was a steel there, there has to be. It is not easy winning a gold medal and it is the one that matters. No one remembers who won the silver medals".
She has applied this same determination to other areas of her life in order to achieve what gives her the most pleasure and satisfaction. She is one of life's rarities: a wonderful raconteur who speaks from vast experience with dignity and knowledge yet with caring, humility and humour.
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