Editing Marjorie Jackson-Nelson

{{Short description|Australian athlete and Governor of South Australia}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2011}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2015}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| image = Marjorie Jackson.jpg
| caption = Marjorie Jackson-Nelson in 2007
| honorific-prefix    = [[The Honourable]]
|name                 = Marjorie Jackson-Nelson
| honorific-suffix    = {{post-nominals|country=AUS|size=100%|AC|CVO|MBE|DStJ}}
| order               = 33rd
| office              = Governor of South Australia
| term_start          = 3 November 2001
| term_end            = 8 August 2007
| lieutenant          = 
| premier             = [[Rob Kerin]] <small>(2001–02)</small><br/>[[Mike Rann]] <small>(2002–07)</small>
| monarch             = [[Elizabeth II]]
| predecessor         = [[Eric Neal|Sir Eric Neal]]
| successor           = [[Kevin Scarce]]
| birth_date          = {{birth date and age|1931|9|13|df=y}}
| birth_place        = [[Coffs Harbour]], New South Wales, Australia
| spouse              = {{marriage|[[Peter Nelson (cyclist)|Peter Nelson]]|1953|1977|end=d.}}
| relations           =
| children            = 
| alma_mater          = 
| occupation          =
| profession          = 
| religion            =
| signature           =
| website             = 
| footnotes           =
|module=
{{Infobox sportsperson|embed=yes
| height = {{convert|1.72|m|ftin|abbr=on}}
| weight = {{convert|66|kg|lb|abbr=on}}
|sport    =Athletics
|event= 
|club=
|pb= 100 m – 11.4 (1952)<br>200 m – 23.59 (1952)<ref name=r1/><ref name=r4/>
|alma_mater=
| show-medals    = yes
| medaltemplates = 
{{Medal|Country|{{AUS}}}}
{{Medal|Comp|[[Athletics at the Summer Olympics|Olympic Games]]}}
{{Medal|Gold|[[1952 Summer Olympics|1952 Helsinki]]|[[Athletics at the 1952 Summer Olympics|100 m]]}}
{{Medal|Gold|[[1952 Summer Olympics|1952 Helsinki]]|[[Athletics at the 1952 Summer Olympics|200 m]]}}
{{Medal|Competition|[[Commonwealth Games|British Empire and<br> Commonwealth Games]]}}
{{Medal|Gold| [[1950 British Empire Games|1950 Auckland]] | 100 yards}}
{{Medal|Gold| [[1950 British Empire Games|1950 Auckland]] | 220 yards}}
{{Medal|Gold| [[1950 British Empire Games|1950 Auckland]] | 3 × 110/220 yd}}
{{Medal|Gold| [[1950 British Empire Games|1950 Auckland]] | 4 × 110/220 yd}}
{{Medal|Gold| [[1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games|1954 Vancouver]] | 100 yards}}
{{Medal|Gold| [[1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games|1954 Vancouver]] | 220 yards}}
{{Medal|Gold| [[1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games|1954 Vancouver]] | 4 × 110 yards}}
}}}}
'''Marjorie Jackson-Nelson''' {{post-nominals|country=AUS|size=100%|AC|CVO|MBE|DStJ}} (born 13 September 1931) is an Australian former [[Track and field|athlete]] and politician. She was the [[Governor of South Australia]] between 2001 and 2007. She finished her sporting career with two Olympic and seven Commonwealth Games Gold Medals, six individual world records<ref name=r1/> and every Australian state and national title she contested from 1950 to 1954.

== Early life ==
Jackson was born Marjorie Jackson on 13 September 1931 in [[Coffs Harbour]], New South Wales. Her parents are William Alfred and Mary (née Robinson) Jackson. Her father was a toolmaker and after the commencement of World War II, he moved to Lithgow to work at a factory manufacturing rifles. The family initially planned to remain in Coffs Harbour but as the war continued, they moved to Lithgow.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2022-05-14 |title=Marjorie Jackson's journey from Queen of Athletics to Queen's Governor of South Australia |url=https://archives1.sundayobserver.lk/2022/05/15/sports/marjorie-jackson%E2%80%99s-journey-queen-athletics-queen%E2%80%99s-governor-south-australia |access-date=2023-09-25 |website=Sunday Observer |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Melbourne |first=National Foundation for Australian Women and The University of |title=Jackson-Nelson, Marjorie - Woman - The Australian Women's Register |url=https://www.womenaustralia.info/biogs/AWE0350b.htm |access-date=2023-09-25 |website=www.womenaustralia.info |language=en-gb}}</ref> Her mother was hospitalised when Jackson was thirteen and she became responsible for running the household.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=2007-07-15 |title=Marjorie Jackson wins top Olympic Order |url=https://www.smh.com.au/sport/marjorie-jackson-wins-top-olympic-order-20070716-gdqmia.html |access-date=2023-09-25 |website=The Sydney Morning Herald |language=en}}</ref>

While in school, Jackson began to win local races and was nicknamed [[Bernborough]] after the race horse. She travelled to Sydney for the national championships when she was fifteen, where she won every race that she entered. After joining the South Sydney Athletics Club, she was invited to compete in the [[Australian Athletics Championships|1947–48 Athletics Championships]], which served as trials for the [[1948 Summer Olympics]]. During the race, she stayed in the [[starting blocks]] while the rest of the runners began the race, believing that they had [[False start|started before the gun]]; as a result, she missed selection for the Olympics.<ref name=":0" />

She began to work as a typist but she continued to train as an athlete. She ran on the Lithgow Oval until the town built her a [[cinder track]] and her father bought her [[track spikes]] and built her a set of starting blocks. Jackson trained at night, and her coach, Jim Monaghan, would use his car headlights to light the track.<ref name=":0" />

== Athletic career ==
In 1949, the famous Dutch athlete [[Fanny Blankers-Koen]] visited Australia on the assumption that she would compete in a series of races as an exhibition. In each of their three races, Jackson won. In their final encounter, the officials mowed the track lane for Blankers-Koen at the Sydney Sports Grounds but left the turf long in the other lanes; despite this, Jackson won the race and beat the Olympic record that had been set by Blankers-Koen at the 1948 Olympics.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite interview|url=http://www.abc.net.au/gnt/history/Transcripts/s1119665.htm|title=GNT History|subject-link=Marjorie Jackson-Nelson|type=transcript|last=Jackson Nelson|first=Marjorie|interviewer=[[George Negus]]|work=[[George Negus Tonight]]|publisher=[[ABC1]]|date=31 May 2004|access-date=21 October 2013}}</ref> Jackson set her first world record in January 1950, running 100 yards in 10.8 seconds in Adelaide. In the years between 1950 and 1954, she won every state and national title that she contested in the 100 yards and the 220 yards.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="CT">{{cite news |date=16 July 2007 |title=Olympic Order for Lithgow Flash |page=4 |newspaper=[[The Canberra Times]]}}</ref> She was nicknamed "The Lithgow Flash" after the town where she grew up.<ref name=":0" />

=== 1950 British Empire Games ===
She competed in the [[1950 British Empire Games|1950 British Empire and Commonwealth Games]] which was held in Auckland, New Zealand, where she received four gold medals in the 100 yards, the 200 yards, and two medley relays, the 3 × 110/220 yards (with Shirley Strickland and Verna Johnston) and the 4 × 110/220 yards (with Strickland, Johnston and Ann Shanley).<ref name=":0" />

=== 1952 Summer Olympics ===
[[File:Winnaressen dames 200m Puck Brouwer, Bestanddeelnr 905-2385 (cropped & rotated).jpg|thumb|Jackson (centre) with [[Bertha Brouwer]] and [[Nadezhda Khnykina-Dvalishvili|Nadezhda Khnykina]] following the [[Athletics at the 1952 Summer Olympics – Women's 200 metres|200 meters at the 1952 Summer Olympics]]]]
Following the 1950 Games, Jackson came to the [[1952 Summer Olympics]] as a favourite.{{Citation needed|date=September 2023}} On the plane to Helsinki, she won fellow Australian Olympian [[Peter Nelson (cyclist)|Peter Nelson]]. She won gold in the 100 m, in a then-world-record-equalling time of 11.5, with a margin of almost four metres, then the greatest winning margin in the history of the Olympics women's 100 m. Second place was won by Daphne Robb-Hasenjager, of South Africa, and third place was Shirley Strickland, also from Australia. In the 200 m, Jackson set world records of 23.6 seconds in the third heat and of 23.4 seconds in the semi-finals, before ultimately winning the gold medal with a time of 23.7 seconds. Second and third place went to Bertha Brouwer of the Netherlands and Nadezhda Khnykina of the Soviet Union respectively.<ref name=":0" /> 
Jackson was the anchor in the Australian 4 × 100 m relay, with a team made up of Strickland, Johnston, and Winsome Cripps. The team won the first heat of the relay with a world record beating time of 46.1 seconds.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=1952-07-28 |title=AUSTRALIA LOSES WOMEN'S RELAY AS BATON FALLS |pages=1 |work=Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995) |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2860489 |access-date=2019-05-12}}</ref> The team were expected to win but during the final handoff of the relay baton, Jackson's hand hit Cripp's knee and she dropped the baton. The American team, anchored by [[Catherine Hardy Lavender]], won in an upset, setting a new world record time of 45.9 seconds.<ref name="r1" /><ref name=":0" /> The team ultimately placed fifth.<ref name=":0" />

Jackson was the first Australian woman to win an Olympic gold medal in athletics and the first person to win an Olympic gold medal in athletics for Australia since [[Edwin Flack]] in 1896. After the Olympics, the song "Our Marjorie" by [[Jack O'Hagan]] appeared in the charts. Upon her return from Helsinki, she rode from Sydney Airport to Lithgow, a journey of more than 150&nbsp;km, in an open-topped car.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite book |last1=Van Straten |first1=F |title=O'Hagan, John Francis (1898–1987) |chapter=John Francis O'Hagan (1898–1987) |chapter-url=http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/ohagan-john-francis-15406 |accessdate=7 December 2014 |website=Australian Dictionary of Biography|publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University }}</ref> At a meet on October 4, 1952, at Gifu, Japan, Jackson broke the 100 m world record with a time of 11.4 seconds. She was awarded the title of The Outstanding Athlete of 1952 by the Helms Foundation.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="r4" />

=== 1954 Commonwealth Games ===
Jackson-Nelson competed at the 1954 Commonwealth Games in Vancouver, Canada, where she won three gold medals in the 100 yards, the 200 yards and the 4 × 110 yards relay. She decided to retire from athletics after the Games at the age of 23, in order to focus on her marriage.<ref name=":0" />

== Later career ==
Jackson-Nelson became involved in sports administration. She became the first female manager of a multi-disciplined team for her role in managing the Australian team at the 1994 Commonwealth Games. She also helped the team with the 1996 Olympic Games and the 1998 Commonwealth Games. She was a board member for the Sydney Organizing Committee for the 2000 Summer Olympics and one of the eight-flag bearers of the Olympic Flag at the opening ceremony. For her role, a road was named after her at the Sydney Olympic Park, beside the Sydney Superdome.<ref name=":0" />

=== Governor of South Australia ===
In late 2001, Jackson-Nelson was appointed [[Governor of South Australia]]; she held the post until 31 July 2007.<ref name="r1" />

On 15 March 2006, Jackson-Nelson was one of the final four runners who carried the [[Queen's Baton Relay|Queen's Baton]] around the [[Melbourne Cricket Ground|MCG]] stadium during the [[2006 Commonwealth Games]] Opening Ceremony in Melbourne. On 6 June 2007, shortly before the end of her tenure, it was announced that the planned replacement for the [[Royal Adelaide Hospital]] would be named the "Marjorie Jackson-Nelson Hospital". On 18 February 2009, amidst criticism of the new hospital development, Jackson-Nelson asked that her name not be used.<ref>[https://www.abc.net.au/news/2009-02-18/marj-ditched-new-hospital-to-remain-royal-adelaide/300164 'Marj' ditched: new hospital to remain Royal Adelaide], ABC News, 18 Feb 2009</ref>

== Personal life ==
Jackson married Nelson on 7 November 1953, and the couple moved to Adelaide. They had three children.<ref name=":0" /> Her husband continued to pursue his cycling career but was diagnosed with [[leukemia]] at the age of 45. Jackson-Nelson served as his nurse for 22 months, until he died on 2 February 1977. That year, she created the Peter Nelson Leukemia Research Fellowship Fund, with the goal of curing leukemia.<ref name=":0" />

== Honours and legacy ==

* 1953: [[Order of the British Empire|Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE)]] in the Coronation Honours for her service to women's athletics.<ref>[https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/1084288 It's an Honour] – Member of the Order of the British Empire</ref>
* 1985: Induction into the [[Sport Australia Hall of Fame]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://sahof.org.au/hall-of-fame-member/marjorie-jackson-nelson/|title=Marjorie Jackson Nelson|publisher=Sport Australia Hall of Fame|access-date=26 September 2020}}</ref>
* 2001: [[Order of Australia|Companion of the Order of Australia (AC)]] upon appointment as governor.<ref>[https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/885473 It's an Honour] – Companion of the Order of Australia</ref>
* 2001: [[Victorian Honour Roll of Women]]<ref>{{Cite web |date= 27 May 2022|title=Marjorie Jackson AC MBE |url=https://www.vic.gov.au/marjorie-jackson-ac-mbe |access-date=2025-03-14 |website=State Government of Victoria |language=en-au}}</ref>
* 2002: [[Royal Victorian Order|Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO)]] in February 2002 during [[Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom|Queen Elizabeth II]]'s visit to South Australia.<ref>[https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/1130960 It's an Honour] – Commander of the Royal Victorian Order</ref>
[[File:MV Marjorie Jackson Rivercat Departing Sydney Olympic Park.jpg|thumb|MV Marjorie Jackson Rivercat Departing [[Sydney Olympic Park ferry wharf]]]]
Jackson-Nelson was awarded the [[Olympic Order]], the highest order bestowed by the [[International Olympic Committee]], which she was presented in [[Beijing]] in 2008.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=AOC |title=Lithgow flash wins highest Olympic honour |url=https://www.olympics.com.au/news/lithgow-flash-wins-highest-olympic-honour/ |access-date=2023-09-25 |website=www.olympics.com.au}}</ref> She is also a Dame of the [[Venerable Order of Saint John|Order of St John of Jerusalem]] and a [[Freedom of the City#Freedom of the City of London|Freeman]] of the [[City of London]]. In 1993, the [[State Transit Authority]] of New South Wales named a Sydney [[Sydney RiverCats|RiverCat ferry]] after Jackson-Nelson.

==References==
{{reflist|30em|refs=
<ref name=r1>{{cite Sports-Reference |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ja/marjorie-jackson-1.html |title=Marjorie Jackson |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417173355/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ja/marjorie-jackson-1.html |archive-date=2020-04-17}}</ref>
<ref name=r4>{{cite web |url=http://trackfield.brinkster.net/Profile.asp?ID=1165&Gender=W |title=Marjorie Jackson (née Nelson) |website=trackfield.brinkster.net}}</ref>
}}

==Bibliography==
*{{cite book|first=Peter|last=FitzSimons|author-link=Peter FitzSimons|year=2006|publisher=Harper Collins Publishers|isbn=0-7322-8517-8|title=Great Australian Sports Champions}}
* {{cite web|last=Prentis|first=Malcolm|url=http://nsw.uca.org.au/presbyterian100/greataussies.htm|title=Great Australian Presbyterians: The Game|publisher=Uniting Church in Australia|access-date=7 March 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061211164227/http://nsw.uca.org.au/presbyterian100/greataussies.htm|archive-date=11 December 2006}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071009122355/http://www.governor.sa.gov.au/html/governor.html Biography at the Governor of South Australia website]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110217214948/http://cancersa.org.au/aspx/peter_nelson_leukaemia_research_fellowship_fund.aspx Peter Nelson Leukaemia Research Fellowship Fund]
* {{Australian Women and Leadership|WLE0397b|Jackson-Nelson, Marjorie (born 1931)}}
* {{sports links}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-gov}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Eric Neal]]}}
{{s-ttl|title= [[Governor of South Australia]]|years= 2001–2007}}
{{s-aft|after= [[Kevin Scarce]]}}
{{s-end}}
{{Governors of South Australia}}
{{Footer Olympic Champions 100 m Women}}
{{Footer Olympic Champions 200 m Women}}
{{Footer Commonwealth Champions 100 metres Women}}
{{Footer Commonwealth Champions 200m Women}}
{{IAAF Hall of Fame}}
{{Footer Australia NC 100m Women}}
{{Japan Championships in Athletics women's 100 metres champions}}
{{Japan Championships in Athletics women's 200 metres champions}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson-Nelson, Marjorie}}
[[Category:1931 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People from Coffs Harbour]]
[[Category:Australian female sprinters]]
[[Category:Olympic female sprinters]]
[[Category:Olympic athletes for Australia]]
[[Category:Olympic gold medalists for Australia]]
[[Category:Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field)]]
[[Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1952 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1952 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia]]
[[Category:Commonwealth Games gold medallists in athletics]]
[[Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1950 British Empire Games]]
[[Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games]]
[[Category:Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees]]
[[Category:Australian Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order]]
[[Category:Australian Members of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Companions of the Order of Australia]]
[[Category:Dames of Justice of the Order of St John]]
[[Category:Governors of South Australia]]
[[Category:Australian Presbyterians]]
[[Category:Commonwealth Games competitors for Australia]]
[[Category:Sportswomen from New South Wales]]
[[Category:Medallists at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games]]
[[Category:Australian Athletics Championships winners]]
[[Category:20th-century Australian sportswomen]]
[[Category:Women governors of the Australian states]]