The sports writer Peter Heidenstrom rated Yvette Williams as his 'New Zealand Athlete of the Century'. There is no doubt that she was one of our greatest-ever athletes - and probably the most versatile.
Yvette Williams
Personal details
Full Name:
Yvette Winifred Corlett
Lifetime:
25 Apr 1929 – 13 Apr 2019
Biography
Events In History
20 February 1954
Eighteen months after winning the long jump at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, Williams set a new world record of 20 feet 7½ inches (6.29 m) at an athletics meeting in Gisborne.
23 July 1952
Yvette Williams (later Corlett) won the long jump to become New Zealand’s first female Olympic medallist.
Main image: Film: Yvette Williams jumping
Yvette Williams performs a long jump in front of the Queen during the Invercargill Agricultural show on 29 January 1954.
