Sylvia Cheeseman

Sylvia Cheeseman’s track career began when she was a schoolgirl during World War II, and she won her first of six almost consecutive British national championships in the 200 metres in 1946 (from 1946-1952 she only came in second once, in 1950, behind Dorothy Manley). This lead to her making her international début at the 1946 European Athletics Championships, where she finished fourth in the 4×100 metres relay (with Maureen Gardner, Winnie Jordan, and the non-Olympian Joyce Judd) and fifth in the 200 metres. Her next stop was the 1948 London Olympics, where she was eliminated in the semi-finals of the 200 metres and was a non-competing reserve with the 4x100 metres relay that placed fourth.

Cheeseman experienced her first major international success at the 1950 British Empire Games, where she took silver in the 220-110-220-110 yards relay (with Doris Batter, Dorothy Hall, and Margaret Walker) and bronze in the 110-220-110 yards relay (alongside Hall and Walker). The pinnacle of her career came at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, where she took bronze in the 4x100 metres relay (with June Foulds-Paul, Jean Desforges, and Heather Armitage) and was again eliminated in the semi-finals of the 200 metres. Injuries hampered the remainder of Cheeseman’s career and in 1957 she married fellow Olympic bronze medalist John Disley. She later worked as a journalist.

Personal Bests: 100 – 12.0 (1954); 200 – 24.4y (1949).