Lillian Barbara Board (13 December 1948 – 26 December 1970) was a British athlete. She won the silver medal in the 400 metres at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, and two gold medals at the 1969 European Championships in Athletics in Athens. Her career was cut short in 1970 when she developed the colorectal cancer that within months would claim her life at the age of 22.
Board was born in Durban, South Africa on 13 December 1948. Her parents, George and Frances Board, had emigrated from Manchester, England in April 1947 with their son, George Alfred. Growing homesick, shortly after the birth of Lillian and her fraternal twin sister, Irene, the family moved back to Manchester in February 1950.
In 1956, the family moved to Ealing, west London, where Lillian and Irene, then aged 7, started studying at Drayton Green School.
In 1960, at the age of 11, Lillian and her sister moved to Grange Secondary Modern Girls' School, also in Ealing and now part of The Ellen Wilkinson School for Girls. It was here in 1961 that Physical Education teacher Sue Gibson (a Middlesex county discus champion) spotted that Lillian, now aged 12, had a special talent for running. She took her to join London Olympiades, the leading all-female athletics club, which had a training base at Alperton, north-west London. Here she competed in relays and 100 and 150-yard sprints.
The following year, 1962, she began competing in the long jump and after training through that winter, improved markedly as both a sprinter and long jumper.
In 1963, aged 14, she won the junior long jump title at the All-England Schools Championships (now known as The English Schools Championships) with a leap of 17 ft 3 in (5.26 m), and then finished second (17 ft 5+3⁄4 in or 5.328 m) in the long jump at the Women's Amateur Athletic Association's national junior championships. She ended the season with victory in the long jump at the Southern Inter-Counties meeting, her leap of 17 ft 8+1⁄2 in (5.40 m) the best by a British junior girl that year.
Trained by her father George and inspired by an illustrious club-mate, international long jumper and pentathlete Mary Rand, she concentrated on the sprints from the 1964 season with an emphasis on strength work and with a view to eventually moving up from the short sprints to the 440 and 880 yards, where George felt sure her future lay. She made her debut over both 220 yds and 880 yds in 1964, winning both events in times of 26.2 and 2:30.8, respectively.
In 1965, aged 16, Board was a member of the London Olympiades squad that won the 4 × 100 m relay title at the Women's AAA junior championships. Later that year, she showed her versatility with a career best leap of 5.80 m in the Long Jump and indoor wins over 60 yards (7.2) and 300 yards (42.0). She also lowered her 100 y best time to 10.9 and her 220 y best to 24.7.
Due to age rules, Board was unable to make her debut at the 440 yds until April 1966 when, aged 17 and now a senior, she finished a close second in an inter-club meeting at Southall, London, in 58.1 seconds. She then ran 57.3 in the Southern Counties Championships, before taking fourth place in the Women's AAA senior 440 yds final in a time of 54.6, the fastest ever recorded by a 17-year-old in Europe. Meanwhile, she took a secretarial course at Chiswick Polytechnic after leaving school, and worked between training sessions as a typist.
Board's performances at 400 m in the 1966 season earned her a place in the England team for the Commonwealth Games held in Kingston, Jamaica, that August. Here, after winning her 400 m heat (54.7), Board finished fifth in the final in a time of 54.7 seconds, just outside her personal best. She was not chosen for the Great Britain team at the European Championships in Budapest, which were held from 30 August – 4 September. However, later in September, she made her Great Britain debut, achieving fourth in the 400 m (55.9) in a match against France in Lille.
Board became the national 440 yards champion after winning the British WAAA Championships title at the 1967 WAAA Championships.
Board announced her arrival onto the international scene when, at age 18, she won the 400 m race in a Commonwealth v USA match in Los Angeles, California on 9 July 1967. She came from last to first with a late surge and won in a time of 52.8 seconds, the second fastest ever recorded by a European woman. The race was broadcast live on British television and made her into a household name. This success marked a turning point in her career.
She followed this achievement with a run of four wins at 400 m in five international events, most notably securing the only victory for Britain's women (in a time of 53.7) in the 1967 European Cup final in Kyiv on 15 September. That season she also lowered her 200 m personal best to 24.6 and her 880 m best to 2.08.7. Following her successful season, she was chosen as Athlete of the Year by the Athletic Writers' Association.
Board began the 1968 season by winning the 440-yard race at an inter-club meeting in Brighton, her time of 54.8 meeting the Olympic qualifying standard. She then rose to the top of the world rankings after winning over 400 m (53.5) at an international meeting in Moscow. However, at the Women's AAA championships in July, she declined to participate in the 400 m and instead decided to contest the 800 metres. Board won her heat (2.05.7), running a 2:02.0, the second fastest ever by a British woman, to finish 2nd to the reigning European 800 m champion, Vera Nikolic of Yugoslavia, whose time of 2:00.5 was a new world record.
She continued her preparations for Mexico with a personal best of 23.5 when winning the 200 m in a match against West Germany in August and taking the 400 m (53.0) against Poland in September. She also anchored a British relay team to a new 4 × 110 y world record (45.0) later that month.
She went into the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City as favourite to win the 400 m gold medal. After finishing second in her 400 m heat (53.00), she won her semi-final with a personal best of 52.56. In the final on 16 October, she only took the lead about 100 m from the finish and maintained her advantage well down the home straight. She looked certain to win but was caught just before the line by Colette Besson of France and beaten into second place by 0.09 seconds. Although she placed second, her performance set a new UK record of 52.12.
1969 season and European Championships
In 1969, Board began the season with a personal best 11.9 for 100 metres and a 52.9 contribution to a 4 × 400 metres world record (3:37.6), but in early July she strained ligaments in her back, forcing her to miss five weeks of the season. She returned in August with a 52.5 anchor leg in the 4 × 400 m relay to help Great Britain beat the USA in an international match at London's White City; and then win the 400 m (53.7) in a match against France, whose team included her previous Olympic competitor Colette Besson, in Middlesbrough.