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Boyle, Raelene Ann (1951 - )

MBE, OAM

Born
24 June 1951
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Occupation
Commonwealth or Empire Games Gold Medalist, Track and Field Athlete and Olympian

Summary

Raelene Boyle represented Australia at four Olympic games as a sprinter. She was appointed a Member of the British Empire on 15 June 1974 for services to athletics, and was named ABC Sportsperson of the Year in 1974. Named by the National Trust as one of '100 Living Treasures in 1998', Raelene Boyle was an Olympic torchbearer at the Opening Ceremony of the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000.

Details

Raelene Boyle, daughter of Gilbert MacDonald and Irene Joy (née Wilkinson) Boyle was educated at Coburg High School. At 17 years of age she was selected to represent Australia in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. She won a silver medal in the 200-metre sprint and ran fourth in the 100m. She also won medals at the Munich (1972) and the Montreal (1976) Olympics. She did not complete in the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

At the Montreal Games in 1976, Raelene Boyle was the first Australian woman to be given the honour of carrying the Australian flag into the opening ceremony. She finished fourth in the 100 metre final after a slow start and was disqualified for a false start in the 200 metre semi-final. Raelene Boyle had been favourite to win the gold medal in her favourite event. The electronic starting device registered a clean start, but the starter, Jack Fisher, recalled the athletes. He claimed Boyle had jumped the gun. Film of the incident later showed she hadn't - even though she did move her shoulders.

Raelene Boyle completed in the Edinburgh (1970), Christchurch (1974), Edmonton (1978) and at Brisbane (1982) Commonwealth Games. After retiring from competitive athletics, she completed a horticulture course at the Victorian College of Agriculture and Horticulture (Burnley) and worked as a landscape gardener for the then Prahran Council. She has also been involved with coaching and television commentary.

Raelene Boyle was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1996 and has since assisted in raising awareness of the disease, becoming a founding member of Sporting Chance Cancer Foundation in 1997.

Events

1968
Silver Medalist at the Mexico City Olympic Games - Athletics - 200m Sprint Event
1970
Gold Medalist at Edinburgh Commonwealth Games - Athletics - 100 and 200 meters, 4 x 100m relay
1972
Silver Medalist at the Munich Olympic Games - Athletics - 100m and 200m sprint events
1974
Gold Medalist at Christchurch Commonwealth Games - Athletics - 100 and 200 meters, 4 x 100m relay
1976
Participated at the Montreal Olympic Games
1982
Gold Medalist at Brisbane Commonwealth Games - Athletics - 400 meters
2007
Order of Australia Medal

Sources used to compile this entry: http://www.national.com.au/Community/0,,2173,00.html accessed 06/02/2003, Who's Who in Australia 2002, p. 287 and Monash Biographical Dictionary of 20th Century Australia, p. 61.

Published resources

The Australian Women's Register Exhibitions

Newspaper Articles

  • Reed, Ron, 'On the Boyle', Herald Sun, Weekend, 29 March 2003, pp. 6-9. Details

Online Resources

See also

  • Andrews, Malcolm, Australia at the Olympics, ABC Books, Sydney, 2000. Details
  • Arnold, John and Morris, Deirdre (eds), Monash Biographical Dictionary of 20th Century Australia, Reed Reference Publishing, Port Melbourne (Vic.), 1994, 568 pp. Details
  • Herd, Margaret (ed.), Who's who in Australia 2002, 38 edn, Crown Content, Melbourne, 2002, 2020 pp. Details
  • Shepherd, Jim, Encyclopedia of Australia Sport, Rigby Publishers, 1980, 471 pp. Details

Anne Heywood and Nikki Henningham

Created: 18 October 2002, Last modified: 13 June 2007

Comments

Hi all,
It's am on June 24th 2010 - Australia has its first female Prime Minister. A good time to say Happy Birthday to a living legend - Raelene Boyle.

Kind regards
Dieter Fischer
Adelaide

PS I only ever had one hug from Raelene. I'll never forget it!

Dieter Fischer - 24 June 2010, 10:17 AM EST

I don't blame you for remembering that hug, Dieter. What a great woman Raelene is.

AWAP Administrator - 24 June 2010, 1:08 PM EST

Hi there, I'm a second cousin of Raelene's. Haven't seen her (in the flesh) since she was about
10 years old and visiting her grandfather's place in Barnard St. Bendigo, Victoria. I have some fairly recent photos of her Grandad's (Gil Boyle)place which had been maintained beautifully.
If you know where I can forward the photos I would appreciate it.

I'm not after her personal address but would like to know that she would get the Photos.

I aso remeber her brothers Ron and Ricky

Sincerely,

Graeme.

PS Happy Birthday Raelene.

Graeme McDonald - 24 June 2010, 6:26 PM EST

Sorry Graeme, I'm afraid we don't have personal contact details, so I can't really forward anything to her.

My experience is that if you contact organisations that are dear to the heart of public figures (with reasonable requests/messages) the administrative people will do their best to forward messages to the person concerned.

Perhaps you could find out the details of those organisations Raelene remains involved with and make contact through them? Anti Cancer Council might be a start..

AWAP Administrator - 25 June 2010, 10:57 AM EST

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National Foundation for Australian Women The University of Melbourne, eScholarship Research Centre

http://www.womenaustralia.info/biogs/IMP0176b.htm