Sue Hearnshaw


Susan Christina Richardson is a British retired athlete who competed mainly in the long jump and won a bronze medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics.

Biography

Hearnshaw, born in Liversedge, West Yorkshire, graduated from Loughborough University. Her mother, Muriel Pletts, had competed in the first post-war Summer Olympic Games in London in 1948, finishing fourth as part of the British women's 4 × 100 metre relay team.
Hearnshaw represented England in the long jump event, at the 1978 Commonwealth Games in Edmonton, Canada and the following year became the British long jump champion after winning the British WAAA Championships title at the 1979 WAAA Championships.
Hearnshaw represented England again in the long jump event, at the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane, Australia.
Hearnshaw achieved her legal best in the long jump with 6.83 metres on 6 May 1984. She also jumped a wind-assisted 7.00 metres when winning the UK Championship title on 27 May 1984. Soon afterwards Hearnshaw regained the WAAA title at the 1984 WAAA Championships.
Additionally in 1984, she won the European Indoor title and competed for Great Britain at the 1984 Olympic Games held in Los Angeles, in the long jump, where she won a bronze medal. Her long jump best of 6.83 metres in 1984, ranks her eighth on the UK all-time list.
She subsequently qualified as a Chartered Accountant.