New Zealand athletes prepare for the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Vancouver, Canada. Among the athletes featured are Olympic gold medallists Yvette Williams and Murray Halberg.
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.
New Zealand's first female Olympic medallist, Yvette Williams (now Corlett) won gold in the long jump with an Olympic-record leap of 6.24 m (20 feet 5 and 3/4 inches).
Two years after winning the long jump gold medal at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, Williams set a new world record of 20 feet 7 1/2 inches (6.29 m) at an athletics meeting in Gisborne.
