When Yvette Williams stepped onto the victory rostrum at the 1952 Helsinki Games, it was remarkable for two reasons.
She had just become the first New Zealand woman to win an Olympic gold medal - something that wouldn't be repeated for another 40 years.
It was also the first time God Defend New Zealand - not yet the official anthem - had been played at the Olympic Games.
Former rhythmic gymnast Angela Walker captures Williams' journey in a new book called Ideals are like Stars: The Yvette Williams story.
Photo: Supplied
Being asked to write the biography was quite literally a dream come true for Walker, who shared the same coach as Williams.
"I'd been thinking how much I'd love to tell the story, and Yvette's daughter Karen Corlett suggested to her, unbeknownst to me, that perhaps I'd be the ideal biographer to write a long overdue biography about her."
She had a treasure trove of archive material to rely on and, alongside interviews with Williams' brother because Williams had already passed, obtained enough details to turn it into a creative non-fiction book.
Yvette Williams in mid-air during a long jump at Carisbrook Park, Dunedin, in front of Queen Elizabeth II and Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, 26 January 1954. Photo: Alexander Turnbull Library Reference: PAColl-8163-10
"Yvette was this meticulous record-keeper and she had these two massive scrapbooks that were absolutely jam-packed with thousands and thousands of newspaper articles. She also wrote a daily diary ... she really wrote these gripping accounts of what she'd been doing, thinking.
"She even liked to sometimes explain a conversation that she'd had and so I could even use that to create real dialogue. There were letters and of course other people had written - there were chapters and anthologies.
"So there really was a lot of information and a lot of never before seen information because of the personal nature of what was in her diary and letters."
The title is based on a Carl Schurz quote which Williams had stuck in her diary and inspired her trail-blazing vision that was unheard of for a young woman in the late '40s, Walker says.
"She didn't really have any role models around her to show her how to do it, and a vision is I think what she did have and drew upon, certainly initially."
While Williams had to deal with antiquated ideas of a woman's role in society, there was no denying her natural talent after coming to national attention just two months from when she joined an athletics club to stay fit.
"There was talk about the fact that her friends were getting engaged and the fact that once you got married, your job was to look after your husband not to be out playing sports.
"For Yvette, I don't think she worried about that sort of thing, she was somebody that didn't really worry about much at all so she did her own thing and if she wanted to be training every day, that's exactly what she did.
"She had such instant success, she went to the nationals in her very first athletic season and became the national shotput champion, and yeah, her mum was somewhat worried that throwing shotputs was going to be making her as she worded it 'unlady-like', but I suppose alongside of that was the fact that well now they had the daughter that was suddenly a national champion and was loving what she was doing."
Her pioneering story shows how far we've come in viewing athletes, Walker says.
"For a young woman to be donning army boots and running through the domain, to be training six days a week intensively, that was unheard of. In fact, I remember reading an article that talked about the fact she even worked harder than the sportsmen, which was considered quite noteworthy in the day."
Still, the pressure at the 1952 Helsinki Games was great; there was an expectation she would deliver a historic gold medal for the country, going up against Soviet competitors during the Cold War, and staring down the barrel of elimination if she didn't make the next jump.
Photo: Photosport
"The pressure was absolutely immense, and I suspect many an athlete would've crumbled under the accumulating pressures but not Yvette, she was someone who could always rise to the occasion. She, under the most extreme pressure, managed to pull out an Olympic-breaking record jump."
What struck Walker the most was Williams' fearless attitude and competitive temperament.
"I really kind of envied her in a way - this ability to just sail through life and not let things bother her too much. But it was something you just saw time and time again, no matter what she was confronted with."
In contrast, Walker says wasn't blessed with the same temperament but managed to nab a gold medal at the 1990 Commonwealth Games in part thanks to the boost from a previous bronze medal.
"I had this really rare experience of being able to go out and just perform almost as if it was a display and not really feel as much pressure as I normally would've felt and that enabled me, I think, to win the gold and two more bronzes.
"But I do envy Yvette for the way she could, not matter what the situation was, no matter how much pressure there was, she always performed."
Ideals are like Stars: The Yvette Williams story will be launched on 14 April at a virtual Facebook event.
