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Profile - Diane Burge
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Di's South Australian state records for 100m and 200m lasted for three decades. | |||||
Diane Bowering ran for the Adelaide Harriers club under the coaching of Len Barnes. In the 1963 she shocked everyone when, as an unknown, she won the 100y National Championships and ended up ranked Number Three in the world for that year. She was initially known for her rocket start, but over her career developed more sprint endurance capabilities. She continued to improve at 100y and 220y, leading into the 1964 Nationals, but could only run second in the 100y in a hotly disputed photo-finish with Joyce Bennett. Selected in the Olympic team, she was not able to prepare as well as she would have liked, though she convincingly beat Bennett and 220y World record-holder Marg Burvill in pre-Games meets held in Sydney. At the Games, in her first international competition, Burge was run out in the second round of the 100m. Combining with Marilyn Black, Joyce Bennett and Margaret Burvill, Di led the Australian team to a sixth-placed run in the final of the 4x100m relay. The next year, at the Perth Nationals of 1965, Diane was surprisingly beaten in the 100y by Debbie Thompson (US) and Pam Kilborn, but provided a surprise of her own when she unexpectedly won the 220y. She was beaten by unknown Queenslander Joan Henricksen in the 1966 Nationals and could not make it past her heat in the 220y. Later in the season, though, she won at the Empire Games trials meeting in Melbourne and was duly selected in the Australian team. A preview of the Games did not favour her chances. Describing Diane as 'never at her best in international competitions', the journalist had to eat his words when she took three gold medals in Kingston. In 1967 she went on to beat the best American sprinters on their home turf in the USA vs Commonwealth meet. She took out both 100m and 200m in fast times, and comprehensively beat the Olympic champion, Wyomia Tyus. These performances made Di a favourite for the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City, especially when she set setting personal best times in winning both 100m and 200m in the 1968 National Championships. Burge looked to be in the form to challenge the best Americans, just a few weeks before the Olympics, but she was badly affected by severe gastro-enteritis in the Mexico City Village. She still performed amazingly well, setting a personal best time of 11.33 for the 100m on her way to finishing a brave sixth in the final. She also managed to make the semi-finals of the 200m and ran the last leg on Australia's relay team which placed fifth in the final. Diane Burge competed a few more times, at Adelaide interclub meets in late 1968, but a month later accepted money to do television commentary on a Victoria vs South Australia interstate match. Because of this, she had to retire from amateur competition, aged just 25. Diane's state records for 100m and 200m were not beaten for another thirty years, when Tania Van Heer finally set new South Australian standards. PERSONAL BESTS 60m 7.2 100y 10.4 18/03/66 Sydney 100m 11.33A 14/10/68 Mexico City 200m 23.0 10/03/68 Adelaide 400m 57.0 00/00/66 Adelaide 80mH 11.4 00/00/65 Adelaide INTERNATIONAL HONOURS COMMONWEALTH 1966 GOLD 100y 1966 GOLD 220y 1966 GOLD 4x110y Relay OLYMPIC 1964 Final 4x100m Relay 1968 Final 100m 1968 Final 4x100m Relay PROGRESSION Year 100y 100m 200m 1962 11.3 1963 10.5 1964 10.5 11.4w 24.0y 1965 10.9 11.5 24.2 1966 10.4 11.7 24.2 1967 23.5 1968 11.33A 23.0 1969 11.7 24.2 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS 100y/m 1963, 1967, 1968 200m 1965, 1968 |
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