Ms Glynis Nunn OAM

For two days in August 1984 she ran and jumped and threw. Then she ran and jumped and threw some more. And ran some more again. It all came down to 2.5 seconds. The difference between Olympic gold and sporting immortality...and not. 

It was sporting torture in the Los Angeles Coliseum. The heptathlon. Seven disciplines, each an Olympic event of its own, back to back...the 100m sprint, high jump, shot put, 200m sprint, long jump, javelin and a gut-wrenching 800m.

Having two years earlier won the first Commonwealth Games heptathlon gold in Brisbane, she carried the hopes of Australia against US star and hot favourite Jackie Joyner in the first Olympic heptathlon. 

She was fourth after day one, but by the last event on day two was within striking distance. She needed to beat the hometown favourite by 2.5 seconds in the 800m to win gold. 

It was the event she liked least, objecting to the idea of crossing the finish line and having go around again. But she clocked a personal best 2min 10.57sec to pop Joyner by 2.46 seconds and win by the narrowest of margins. 

She was the first Australian to win an Olympic track & field title since Mexico in 1968 and is the only Australian to win a multi-discipline track & field event. 

It was the highlight of a 30-year career for the ever-smiling from Toowoomba as an athlete, coach, selector, administrator and commentator in which she competed in four Commonwealth Games. 

The 1984 Australian Sportswoman of the Year, she was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in '85, was an inaugural member of the Queensland Sport Hall of Fame in 2009, and now, joining the elite of the elite. Glynis Nunn is the the 20th Legend in the Queensland Sport Hall of Fame.