Sue Scott-Reeve

Sue Reeve (née Scott) joined the crack Birchfield Harriers club as an 11-year-old and in 1967 made her Great Britain international début when just 15. She went on to represent her country for 14 years, competing at three Olympics, and that was after missing three years through injury between 1972-75.

A top-class long jumper, sprinter, hurdler, and heptathlete/pentathlete, Scott won both the English Schools and WAAA under-15 long jump titles in 1966. She also won that years’ WAAA under-15 pentathlon gold medal. She retained both titles the following year. In 1968 Scott finished second to Mary Peters in the senior WAAA pentathlon and won the first of six Midlands titles, the high jump. At the Mexico City Olympics pentathlon, Reeve finished tenth, just one place below Peters, with a personal best 4,786 points.

Scott married Birchfield Harriers jumps coach Kevin Reeve in 1971 and the following year suffered a non-athletics-related Injury that required ankle surgery. Unfortunately, the injury caused Sue to miss the 1972 Olympics, but she went to both Montréal and Moskva (Moscow), finishing ninth and tenth respectively in the long jump.

Reeve did enjoy long jump success on the international stage. She won the gold medal at the 1978 Edmonton Commonwealth Games and won silver (1969) and bronze (1978) at the European Athletics Indoor Championships. At home, Reeve won three WAAA long jump titles in 1976-77 and 1980, and four WAAA indoor titles in 1969 and 1976-78. She also won five more Midlands titles at long jump, pentathlon, and 100 metres hurdles in 1969 and 1970.

Reeve retired from competitive athletics in 1981 due to problems with her back. Although she briefly made a comeback a few months later, she turned to coaching and team management at Birchfield Harriers. A local government officer, Reeve married her second husband, Great Britain international discus thrower Gary Herrington in 1985, and that same year the new Mrs. Herrington was appointed the British women`s athletics assistant team manager.

Personal Bests: LJ – 6.69 (1979); Pen – 4786 (1968).