{{Short description|British athlete (1928–1974)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2014}} {{Use British English|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox sportsperson | name = | image = British Favourite, Maureen Gardner. Olympic Games, London, 1948.jpg | image_size = | caption = Gardner at the 1948 Olympics | birth_name = Maureen Angela Jane Gardner | full_name = | nationality = | residence = | birth_date = 12 November 1928 | birth_place = Oxford, England | death_date = 2 September 1974 (aged 45) | death_place = North Stoneham, England | height = 1.72 m | weight = 59 kg | country = | sport = Hurdles | club = Oxford LAC | retired = | olympics = | highestranking = | show-medals = yes | medaltemplates = {{MedalSport | Women's athletics}} {{MedalCountry |{{GBR2}} }} {{MedalCompetition|Olympic Games}} {{MedalSilver| 1948 London|80 m hurdles}} {{MedalCompetition|European Championships}} {{MedalSilver| 1950 Brussels|80 m hurdles}} }}
'''Maureen Angela Jane Dyson''' (née '''Gardner''', 12 November 1928 – 2 September 1974) was a British athlete who competed mainly in the 80 metres hurdles. She won silver medals at the 1948 Summer Olympics and 1950 European Athletics Championships, both times losing to Fanny Blankers-Koen. She was coached by Geoff Dyson, whom she married one month after the 1948 Olympics.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oxonblueplaques.org.uk/plaques/gardner_speech.pdf |title=Unveiling of blue plaque to Maureen Gardner, 17 Maidcroft Road, Cowley, 7 July 2012 |quote=Speech given by her brother, Michael Gardner}}</ref>
Maureen Gardner grew up in the Florence Park area of Temple Cowley, Oxford, and went to Donnington Junior School, Florence Park, Oxford. Her former home at 17 Maidcroft Road now has a blue plaque in her honour.<ref name=oxfordshireblue>{{cite web |url=http://oxonblueplaques.org.uk/plaques/gardner.html |title=Maureen GARDNER (1928–1974) |publisher=Oxfordshire Blue Plaques Board |date=7 July 2012 |accessdate=7 August 2012 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>
== Running == thumb|left|300px|Maureen Gardner, Fanny Blankers-Koen and Micheline Ostermeyer – the 80 m hurdle medalists of the 1950 European Championships Gardner became the national 100 metres champion after winning the British WAAA Championships title at the 1946 WAAA Championships.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000669/19460715/054/0003 |title=Women's Titles Change Hands |work=Birmingham Daily Gazette |date=15 July 1946 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |access-date=26 January 2025 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003214/19460722/122/0004 |title=AAA results |work=Daily News (London) |date=22 July 1946 |via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |access-date=26 January 2025 }}</ref> The following month, Gardner competed in flat running at the 1946 European Athletics Championships and finished fourth in the 4×100 m relay (with Sylvia Cheeseman, Winifred Jordan and Joyce Judd) and fifth in the 100 m sprint.
At the 1948 Summer Olympics she came second in the 80 metre hurdles to Fanny Blankers-Koen, both of them recording the same time of 11.2 seconds. She also helped Great Britain place fourth in the 4×100 m relay. Two years later she again lost the 80 metre hurdles to Blankers-Koen at the 1950 European Athletics Championships.<ref>{{cite Sports-Reference |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ga/maureen-gardner-1.html |title=Maureen Gardner |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20161203052946/http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ga/maureen-gardner-1.html |archivedate=3 December 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In addition to her 1946 national 100 metres title, Gardner was four time WAAA national 80 metres hurdles champion (1947, 1948, 1950,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0004941/19500709/271/0010 |title=Shaky start by Maureen ended well |work=Sunday Express |date=9 July 1950 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |access-date=14 February 2025 }}</ref> 1951<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003359/19510708/152/0009 |title=High Jump record is Britain's again |work=Weekly Dispatch (London) |date=8 July 1951 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |access-date=15 February 2025 }}</ref>).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nuts.org.uk/Champs/AAA/index.htm |title=AAA, WAAA and National Championships Medallists |website=National Union of Track Statisticians |access-date=26 January 2025 }}</ref>
== Ballet schools == She started a ballet and dance school in Oxford. On moving to London she started a new school in Wanstead, and both of them continued for a number of years until, in 1962, the Dyson family moved to live in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. She founded another school in that city.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://oxonblueplaques.org.uk/plaques/gardner.html |title=Oxfordshire Blue Plaques Scheme |website=oxonblueplaques.org.uk |accessdate=29 January 2014 }}</ref>
Maureen's involvement with ballet when she returned to England from 1968 onwards, was mainly as an examiner for the Royal Ballet School. Two years before she died of cancer she was made the Chief Examiner of that organisation.<ref name=oxfordshireblue/>
==Family== Gardner married Geoff Dyson at St Mary Magdalen's Church, Oxford, and they had two children. Her son was born in 1949,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.trackandfieldnews.com/general/back_track/40.html |title=Fanny Blankers-Koen |publisher=Track and Field News |year=1949 |accessdate=7 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120204113514/http://www.trackandfieldnews.com/general/back_track/40.html |archive-date=4 February 2012 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref> and after his birth she started training again with the 1952 Summer Olympics as her goal; but when she became pregnant again, she decided to retire from her athletics career. She died from cancer on 2 September 1974, aged 45, and is buried at Winchester’s Magdalen Hill cemetery alongside Geoff <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.hampshirechronicle.co.uk/news/24528762.great-olympians-grave-found-winchester-dog-walker/ |title=Dog walker stumbles across long-lost grave of Olympian in Winchester cemetery|accessdate=21 August 2024}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
== External links == * {{Olympics.com|maureen-angela-jane-gardner|Maureen Angela Jane Gardner|org_id=maureen-gardner|org_name=Maureen Gardner|org_archive=20190617171432}} * {{Team GB}} * {{Olympedia}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gardner, Maureen}} Category:1928 births Category:1974 deaths Category:Sportspeople from Oxford Category:British women hurdlers Category:English women hurdlers Category:Olympic athletes for Great Britain Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1948 Summer Olympics Category:Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain Category:European Athletics Championships medalists Category:Medalists at the 1948 Summer Olympics Category:Olympic silver medalists in athletics Category:20th-century English sportswomen