Dame Mary Peters Remembers
the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics
By CATHOLINE BUTLER
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Dame Peters is proud to be the patron of the 2013 World Police and Fire Games which will be held in Belfast.
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VANCOUVER - On July 30, Tourism Ireland hosted a special lunch with Dame Mary Peters, gold Olympic medalist for Northern Ireland, at the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel.
Dame Mary Peters, DBE, DL is a former British athlete, competing mainly in the pentathlon and shot put. She was born in Halewood, Merseyside, but moved to Ballymena, Northern Ireland at age 11. She now lives near Belfast.
Dame Peters is a tall striking woman who exudes energy and vitality. She goes to the gym daily and walks four to five miles every day to keep fit.
Between 1958 and 1974 she represented Northern Ireland at every Commonwealth Game. During this period she won two gold medals for the pentathlon, plus a gold and silver medal for the shot put.
As for her Olympic Games pentathlon record, after finishing fourth in 1964 and ninth in 1968, the crowning glory of her long career was at the fateful 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. It was here at 33 years of age that she won the gold medal in the women's multi-discipline event, now the heptathlon.
Northern Ireland's premier athletics track, on the outskirts of Belfast, is called the Mary Peters Track in her honour. She received her Damehood in 2000.
In April 2009, Dame Mary Peters accepted an invitation to take up the role of Lord Lieutenant of the County Borough of the city. She became the Queen's representative for Belfast, replacing the current incumbent Lady Romayne Carswell, who retired in August.
Speaking about her new role, Dame Peters said, "for a wee girl that just used to run and high jump and put the shot, it's absolutely amazing and a great honour.
"Some of my duties as Lord Lieutenant will be receiving any heads of state or any members of the Royal family, when they come to the City of Belfast. I can perform citizenship ceremonies for people who wish to become British citizens and have lived in Northern Ireland for five years or more.
"And there are a lot of occasions when I will be required to be involved with the Army, Navy and Air Force on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen."
At the time of her visit to British Columbia, the World Police and Fire Games were taking place in Burnaby, which included many police and fire athletes from Northern Ireland.
Dame Peters is proud to be the patron of the 2013 World Police and Fire Games which will be held in Belfast. She said, "We successfully won the bid to host the games in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
"We have brought the Minister of Sport, representatives of city council, along with the head of the prison, police and fire service here to see the enormity of the games and the amount of work that we need to do over the next four years to make it a success.
"We will need to gather a lot of volunteers and bring in some cruise ships because we won't have quite enough hotels to accommodate all the visitors that we are anticipating. They reckon that we could have between 15,000 to 25,000 visitors and at present we only have 10,000 bed spaces but with the cruise ships, that should answer a lot of our problems in this area.
"We also have to build some venues. Right now a 50-metre swimming pool is already under construction and we will be upgrading a track facility for sport. We also need to bring on-line the tourist boards and the transportation people. It's a lot of work but we are looking forward to the challenge of bringing the Games to Belfast."
One of her greatest athletic achievements took place in 1972 at the Summer Olympics in Munich. It was during these Olympic Games that 11 Israeli athletes were brutally murdered and Peters herself was under threat to her life.
"The murder of the Israeli athletes happened after my performance and my winning the Gold," she said, "selfishly, I wasn't as aware as I might have been since I had finished competition.
"They delayed the events for a number of days and there was a great discussion as to whether the Games would finish in Munich. Because of our political situation in Northern Ireland, I had a threat to my life and there was a move to get me home as quickly as possible in case my life would be in danger.
"I was very happy to go home to Belfast, because it was my home and all my friends were there. But, it was an anxious time and I have always felt guilty that I hadn't been more aware of the Israeli situation than I might have been. Because you are in a foreign country and don't understand the language, you are not always aware of the enormity of it.
"Even though, there had been a threat to my life, I never felt threatened but the security forces were very concerned for my safety. I couldn't imagine why anyone would want to do me any harm since all I wanted to do was take part in sport, and the fact was that I had been successful in bringing a lot of joy to the people back home.
"I did know one of the Israeli girls who was a hurdler. Her coach had been killed and I really felt for her. She was to run in the final and they left a lane empty as a tribute to her and her coach."
As a result of Mary Peters winning Olympic gold, a trust fund has been set-up in her name where funds are raised to help invest in the future generations of up-and-coming athletes. Through the Mary Peters Trust Fund, over 150 grants are awarded every year providing that all important stepping stone into the successful arena for future Olympians.
Some advice from gold medal winner Dame Mary Peters to athletes who aspire to the lofty heights of success: "There are three things," she said. "You have to train hard, get a very good coach and enjoy your sport.
"These days, the training is almost full time. When I was an athlete, I was also a home economics teacher and it was a hobby for me, but now most of the top athletes take it very seriously and are full-timers."
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