AM
- Born
- 2 June 1961
Young, New South Wales - Occupation
- Race walker and Track and Field Athlete
- Alternative Names
- Junna-Saxby, Kerry (married name)
Summary
Kerry Saxby became the most prolific world-record breaker in athletic history in Melbourne in February 1991 when she set a new record of 11 minutes 51.26 seconds in the 3 kilometer walk event. This took her number of world bests to thirty, which was one better than the previous mark, created by the distance runner Paavo Nurmi. Her world records have been established across a range of distances and venues, sometimes at mixed competitions. Saxby regularly trained with and competed against men and believes this contributed to her success. In the decade of competition when she was at her peak, she never finished outside the top five, and was only disqualified for losing foot contact with the track once.
Saxby's sporting achievements include representing Australia 24 times in major international competitions. She won 13 individual international medals, won a record 27 Australian National Championships, set 32 world records or world bests, and at 38 years of age she was the oldest athlete to win a medal at world level in 1999. She retired from competition in 2001, but not before achieving a very creditable 7th place in the 20 kilometer walk at the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000. In 2006, the Australian Institute of Sport selected her as one of their twenty-five 'Best of the Best'.
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