Mary Bignal Rand's World Record Long Jump, Market Place, Wells, Somerset. BA5 2RF.
Posted by: 
greysman
N 51° 12.577 W 002° 38.699
30U E 524798 N 5673195
A representation of the distance jumped by Mary Rand in claiming the world record for the long jump at the Tokyo 1964 Olympics.
Waymark Code: WMPXMT
Location: South West England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 11/05/2015
Views: 9
This commemorative marker in brass is set into the pavement outside the shops of 'Present Company' and 'Kitchenmonger' at 19 and 17 Market Place. It records the length of the world record long jump made by Mary Bignal Rand at the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games There is a plaque and adjacent, running south-west down the Market Place, twelve blocks of limestone with inset Olympic Ring symbols, two sets on each block, twenty-two in all, between alternate English Rose and Saltire 'sets'. The first 'set' is an arrow pointing down the length. After the last OR symbol is a transverse line, the record distance marker, with beyond it a large OR symbol occupying the whole of the last block. All insets are of brass.
The dedication plaque reads:-
This represents the world record / ladies long jump made by / Mary Bignal Rand, a native of / this city, to win the gold medal / at the Olympic Games Tokyo 1964 / it is 22'2¼" long and is placed here / in admiration of her achievement / presented by T W W
Here in the UK in 1964 we were still using old money measurements, hence 22feet, 2-and-a-quarter inches. This equates to 6.76m in new money.
Mary Rand's potted life history and her other achievements can be found on Wikipedia here: Mary Rand
Visit Instructions:
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