1978 Commonwealth Games 4x400m relay - Donna Hartley, Verona Elder

A great tussle with Australia!

[@sanderslongdrive]

Fine, fine fillies! Donna was REALLY SPECIAL, and a great body builder. (Now looking down on us from above). No ladies, after all of these years you are NOT forgotten! Legends!!!

[@Logans3Run]

What a great women's 4x400m team England & GB had. Outstanding.

[@goodlife6145]

What a great race well won by the English team. Probably the first time I've seen this since 1978. Cheers.

[@williamsaxon7363]

Tragic to hear about Donna, she was one of my favourite women growing up. RIP.

[@ChristovMr]

Wow! Very impressive last leg by Donna. She looks so strong here! Thanks for posting!

[@andrewpaul7363]

great race! was a big fan of joslyn hoyte-smith and donna hartley. good 2 hear david coleman the best athletics commentater ever!

[@jmjmartin]

AWESOME WIN BY AN AWESOME LADY!!! God bless and keep her!

[@andrewpaul7363]

R.I.P lots of respect!!!! you where always one of my favourite athletes , i will always remember your last leg in the relay in moscow!

[@muddlepond]

I love athletics so imagine my surprise when, in 1981, I was in a local hospital in Manchester to have a cartilage removed when the girl in the next bed was having something done to her heel. I kept looking at her because I knew her face and it turned out she was Ruth Kennedy, the first runner in this relay and whilst we were both laid up Donna Hartley came to visit her. It was one of the most surreal times of my life, sat in the day room with two olympic athletes talking about athletics for a couple of hours. I kept in touch with Ruth for a few years then unfortunately lost touch.

[@angieD9674]

Wow .....I use to watch them all, Sonia, Donna, Kathy ....we don't hear enough about them back in the 7O's they were all good .......Today I'm watching athletics (Doha) on the TV, it was great to hear one of the GB girls mention Sonia Lannaman....

[@martydav9475]

@@angieD9674 Yes great names, and they were all up against East European drug cheats too.

[@stevecrocker6904]

and you caught the bug and became a 400m runner?

[@muddlepond]

@@stevecrocker6904 I wish! By then I was a wife and mother and my cartilages had gone because I'd done them in whilst shot putting at school! I wasn't built for running. lol

[@sonysakariah]

really admire the courage donna had in the last leg.... awsome athlete she is....

[@alexhughes3922]

commonwealth games gold with classic commentary from david coleman great memories

[@MikeKeel]

God bless Donna!

[@markguest36]

gr8 race! jos,verona and donna just gr8 memories

[@wexlerchick]

I'm American and even I know the fastest split ever by a brit female came in 2007 from Nicola Sanders in Osaka with a time of 48.8.

[@supernffc]

RIP Donna Hartley, I dont mind admitting I used to fancy her something rotten!

[@Logans3Run]

Ditto...

[@Fatima502]

I just noticed that the winning English time shown here (3:27.21) was exactly the same as England clocked at the Commonwealth Games 40 years later

[@stevecrocker6904]

that's amazing given the advancements in training, tracks, shoes etc.

[@SimonJohn67]

R.I.P Donna.

[@timrobinson100]

great commentator [ from david coleman to jeanette kwachi [ thats bbc for you

[@MatthewJManks]

Donna has just passed away. Sorry to say :(

[@athlete5399]

I was just watching the womens 4x400m from 1984 LA and Gladys Taylor was times at 50.0 - that's what the commentator said, i dont know if thats the official split or not.

[@johnwalters4792]

One thing we English are is fighters we never give up 💖

[@MrStevecro]

welllll, except for the ones that DO. There are all kinds of people in all nations so all this empire flag waving sounds a bit daft

[@johnwalters4792]

@@MrStevecro Waving the flag with pride

[@fergusalex]

donna Hartley.....golden girl??? just because she had dyed blonde hair and false tan??? but she was a lovely woman and it was so sad to hear of her death

[@redrum4100]

Is there a copy of the women's 4x400m at moscow on KZbin, anyone?

[@yescanto]

Was that Helen Golden running for Scotland on the last leg ? I know it was Rachel Campbell running for Canada.

[@MadMax-dr6mf]

See, this confuses me. I remember Donna Hartley as being this blonde English athlete from the 70s. So who is the black woman I've seen being interviewed on TV as 'Donna Hartley'? Or have I got the name wrong?

[@waynehentley4332]

Donna Fraser?

[@mikey6538]

Canada so cute.. celebrated like they won the gold

[@WorldSacred]

Why on earth would you jog over the line to give your anchorwoman only a couple metres head start on your opponent? She could have helped her anchor runner exhaust the English anchor runner for another 3 meters and then made her move on the final bend. Complacency at its best.

[@MrStevecro]

have you run 400 metres at a competitive level? When the monkey "lactic acid" climbs on your back it's like the petrol tank running out

[@waynehentley4332]

Rubbish!

[@WorldSacred]

@@waynehentley4332 I must have been a lot more critical 4 years ago than I am today. The third runner did give a good effort on her leg and would have been tired by the end of her 400 metres. The Australian runner would have had to draft her run behind the English runner for most of the way and made her move.

[@waynehentley4332]

There you go. I really don't understand your original statement.

[@WorldSacred]

@@waynehentley4332 Me neither. I had a different train of thought 4 years ago.

[@timrobinson100]

i love athletics [ but bbc coverage is detrioating with sub standard semi literate presenters

[@johnwalters4792]

Talking all the time. Your right

[@fergusalex]

where is england? I thought I was in the UK...…….. not fucking ENGLAND

[@timrobinson100]

Well done Canada beating Scotland