Kerry's Story
1961 -
Prolific world record breaker, Kerry Saxby, competed in the women’s walks at Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000. Women’s walking was not introduced to the Olympic program until Barcelona and Saxby finished 15th in the inaugural event, the 10 kilometres. She improved her placing to 12th at Atlanta and at her home Olympics at Sydney she finished 7th in an event that had been lengthened to 20 kilometres. It was this race where Jane Saville was dramatically fouled as she was about to lead the field into the stadium and on to the finish line and a gold medal.
Women’s walking was introduced to the world championships at Rome in 1987 and Saxby won the silver medal in the inaugural 10 kilometres event. In all, she competed at four world championships, winning a further medal, a bronze in the 20 kilometres, at Seville, Spain in 1999. She won the first two women’s 10 kilometres gold medals at the Commonwealth Games at Auckland 1990 and Victoria 1994 in Canada. She garnered a silver at the next Commonwealth Games at Kuala Lumpur 1998 in Malaysia.
Saxby was inducted into the Athletics Australia Hall of Fame in 2012. Across her lengthy career, she set over 25 world records or world’s best times, of which eight were set on outdoor or indoor tracks, and won 27 titles at the Australian track and field and walking championships.
