Sport Athletics Name Marise Chamberlain Event(s) 800 m Role Olympic athlete | Club Canterbury Height 1.69 m Weight 55 kg | |
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Olympic medals Athletics at the 1964 Summer Olympics – Women's 800 metres | ||
Personal best(s) 800 m – 2:01.4 (1962) | ||
Marise chamberlain wins bronze in tokyo 1964
Marise Ann Millicent Chamberlain MNZM (born 5 December 1935) is a former New Zealand middle-distance runner. She is the only New Zealand woman to win an Olympic medal in track athletics (Lorraine Moller won a medal in the marathon). She set world records over 440 and 880 yards as well as 1 mile.
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At the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Perth, Australia she won a silver medal over 880 yards, behind Australian Dixie Willis. Two years later, at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, she won the bronze medal behind Ann Packer (gold) and Maryvonne Dupureur (silver), the top five runners beating the old Olympic record time set by Dupureur in the semifinals.
At the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Kingston, Jamaica Chamberlain stumbled just before the finish line when leading in the 880 yds final and missed out on a medal.
In the 2003 Queen's Birthday Honours Chamberlain was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to athletics.
Honorific eponym
Chamberlain Place, in the Hamilton suburb of Chartwell, is named in Chamberlain's honour.