Mary Rand

Mary Rand, English sprinter and long jumper

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Born: February 10, 1940
Age in 2026: 86
Zodiac sign: Aquarius
Birth year: 1940

About Mary Rand

Mary Denise Rand, MBE is a British former track and field athlete. She won the long jump at the 1964 Summer Olympics by breaking the world record, the first British female to win an Olympic gold medal in track and field. Until Emma Finucane in 2024, she was the only British female athlete to win three medals in a single Games. At 17, Rand set a British record of 4,046 points in the pentathlon. She excelled in all sports and won All-England Schools' titles. She was selected for England and won a silver medal in the 1958 Commonwealth Games the long jump and came fifth in the high jump.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Mary Rand timeline

1958She was selected for England and won a silver medal in the 1958 Commonwealth Games the long jump and came fifth in the high jump.
1964She won the long jump at the 1964 Summer Olympics by breaking the world record, the first British female to win an Olympic gold medal in track and field.

The world when Mary Rand was born

Mary Rand was born in 1940. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1940

#1 song"In the Mood" – Glenn Miller
Top movieRebecca
Best-selling bookFor Whom the Bell Tolls – Ernest Hemingway

Headlines and milestones

Major sports momentFirst televised college basketball game
Top headlineWinston Churchill becomes British Prime Minister
Technology milestoneFirst McDonald's restaurant opens
Defining fadSwing music hits its peak
Notable inventionJeep (military vehicle)
World population2.30 billion

United States snapshot

U.S. leaderFranklin D. Roosevelt
Sports championCincinnati Reds (World Series)
U.S. population132.2M

1940 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Mary Rand's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure	1940	2026
Gas	$0.18	$3.45/gal
Average home	$5,300	$435,000
Average income	$3,100	$67,500
Minimum wage	$0.30	$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket	$0.25	$11.95
Postage stamp	$0.03	$0.73
Population	132.2M	341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, International Olympic Committee, Olympedia. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.