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Epic pointChapter 17 is the athletic – and dramatic – highlight of the book. It's the 23rd of July 1952 and Yvette Williams is in Helsinki at the Olympic Games. Every hope and expectation back in New Zealand is that their champion will win the gold medal. But the day started badly. Having a practice runup Yvette clipped the edge of the pit and jarred her left leg. A masseur with the English team told her to keep it moving. She did but it felt worse as the day went on. However that was only a trivial drama compared with what happened later. Yvette qualified in the morning for the final held at 4.30 in the afternoon. First jump. A red flag – no jump. Second attempt – a red flag. Another red flag and she would be out! She adjusted her marker pegs, concentrated as she never had before and hit the take off board cleanly. White flag – relief! Another wait and then another three jumps for the six best finalists. Her first was terrific. 6.24 metres, a new Olympic record. No one else came close. Yvette had won gold. Rattray StreetWhen Yvette Williams won that medal I was 12, soon to be 13. She was 9 years older. At the Rattray Street bus stop from where I often caught a bus home if I'd been to town after school, I clearly remember seeing the length of her winning jump, 6.42 metres, chalked along the footpath. My friends and I marvelled at the distance. MoreThere is more to this book than the pursuit of gold at the Olympics. The newspaper-extract-punctured narrative of Williams' rapid rise from beginner in 1946, to accomplished national and international field events athlete at the start of the next decade, is exciting in itself. And the influence of her coaches Mr and Mrs Bellwood, as she always called them, is fully explored and credited. Life and cultural issues are addressed. Yvette wrestled with 'should I get married and be a housewife and mother like my friends' or 'should I give all my time to training and becoming a top class athlete.' That wrestle cost her hours of misery and a broken engagement. She chose athletics until she retired in 1954. Then she married. The bookEarlier this year, the Otago Daily Times featured the Williams book even before it was published. Staff writer Bruce Munro wanted to know how author Angela Walker managed to write so realistically about the details of Yvette's daily life, including her thoughts about goals and relationships. Walker, herself a medal winning Commonwealth Games rhythmic gymnast, explained that Williams kept meticulous diaries and scrapbooks all her athlete years. Entrusted with these by Yvette's daughter Karen, Walker had a huge mass of resource material. So this biography is initimate as well factual. The reader gets to know closely, this unassuming talented athlete. The story is very real and I kept hurriedly turning pages because I wanted to find out what would happen next. If you read it, I think you will do the same. □ John McInnes Friday 30 September 2022 Publication details: Ideals are like Stars, The Dame Evette Williams Story; by Angela Walker; Bateman Books; Auckland NZ; 2022. ISBN 978-1-77689-027-9 ##########
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