Tessa Sanderson

Speaker 10:00

Hello, I'm Kirsty Young, and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs archive. For rights reasons we've had to shorten the music. The programme was originally broadcast in nineteen ninety six, and the presenter was Sue Lawley.

Presenter0:29

My castaway this week is a sportswoman. This year, at the age of 40, she competed in her last Olympic Games. She didn't win a medal, but set a record for the number of times she's competed in the event. She throws the javelin, and it was against her parents' better judgment that she made athletics her career. She first represented her country at the age of 17, and in 1984, at the Los Angeles Olympics, threw her javelin 69.86 metres, becoming the first and so far the only British woman to win an Olympic throwing gold. There's a lot of pain to suffer, she says, but it's a pain I enjoy because I love performing. She is Tessa Sanderson. Tessa, there are numerous stories about you, you know, with sort of burst wounds and open tendons and socks soaked in blood. I mean, obviously, you've suffered a lot of honest to goodness physical pain, haven't you?

Tessa Sanderson1:17

Yeah, absolutely. I went through all that mainly because I really felt the first time I got injured that um I had to get over this, I had to fight it, take the time out, then bounce back again.

Presenter1:27

But there's the other sort of pain, isn't there? The pain, the misery of defeat, really.

Tessa Sanderson1:31

Oh, absolutely. I mean, to sit and and watch T V and see your mum and dad, your your mother especially crying, that's a pain that uh you know, it caused a lot of hurt.

Presenter1:41

What you as the athlete see.

Tessa Sanderson1:42

Yeah, me as the athlete, and and that was one incident in nineteen eighty when I failed to to make the qualifying mark for the Olympic final. Although I was up as the the third best athlete in the world, I should have really made the final and I didn't. That was Moscow nineteen eighty Moscow in nineteen eighty one.

Presenter1:55

That was Moscow 1980, wasn't it? Because I remember those pictures of you on the television, just curled up in tears. We all saw you.

Tessa Sanderson2:01

We all saw you. I did. I wanted the ground to open up and take me away.

Presenter2:06

Yeah.

Tessa Sanderson2:07

And then they interviewed me and I was tearful and then they showed me my mom at home, you know, as television do here, and she was tearful and it it really broke my heart.

Presenter2:16

And they wrote you off after that for a while, didn't they? They called you a choker, somebody who just couldn't perform at the big events.

Tessa Sanderson2:18

I called you a ch

Tessa Sanderson2:20

perform at the big events. God, it was unbelievable because every press headlines was how could a girl who's thrown sixty nine metres can't make sixty meters for the final? Da da da and this and that and all those, you know, kept on coming and hitting you and hitting you in the face and you just wanted to die.

Presenter2:34

But I suppose because of all of that pressure, yes, the humiliation of of failure is terrific, but also it makes the success all the sweeter, doesn't it?

Tessa Sanderson2:44

Oh.

Presenter2:45

I presume Los Angeles nineteen eighty four was the sweetest moment of all, wasn't it?

Tessa Sanderson2:45

Yeah.

Tessa Sanderson2:49

It was wonderful. From the first time I released my javelin in the first round, I won in the first round, I set a new Olympic record. I threw it and I felt my whole body go into the throw and I thought, yes, that's it. But immediately after that I realised there's six more rounds to go, you know, let's just keep calm. So I dragged all my gear on in the blazing sun, didn't matter how hot it was, I just had to keep warm, keep composed. And it wasn't until the final round, you know, that I actually felt the wind sort of coming back in my face and think, oh my god, you know, I've won the Olympic Games. I have won the Olympic Games. I've beaten them all. You know, you know, I've kicked their butts. They didn't kick mine this time. And then after that, to get on the podium, I mean, you started crying before you go on because there was 97,500 people in the stadium and they marched us through the um sort of alleyway to come to get onto the podium and as soon as I got out there it was like a world of your own. You became very frightened still and everybody started clapping and shouting Tessa, Tessa, it was like a big football match. But you

Presenter3:46

You'd prayed for that moment as a small child had.

Tessa Sanderson3:48

A child, hadn't you?

Presenter3:52

Well, now, you're off to a desert island, away from all of that. You've only got music and books to keep you company on this island. Tell me about the first record that you play on the old wind up gramophone there.

Tessa Sanderson3:57

It's a month later.

Tessa Sanderson4:02

Well, you know you have friends that friends you tend to forget, and sometimes you sit in a quiet moment and and remember all this. My family in Jamaica, my Gran, and those who I live with. It's so fantastic to sit back and reminisce about it, and this record just takes you back, I think, to those times and wonderful times.

Speaker 24:26

Like the corners of my mind

Speaker 24:34

Misty watercolour memories

Speaker 24:41

On the way.

Speaker 24:43

We were

Presenter4:48

Ladys Knight and the Pips and The Way We Were.

Presenter4:51

You didn't in fact come to this country, Tessa Sanderson, until you were seven. You came from Jamaica, where you were born.

Tessa Sanderson4:57

Can jump.

Presenter4:57

Tell me about the day you arrived. How did you come? Who were you with?

Tessa Sanderson5:00

I was with my older sister, Pat, but um it was an incredible move because I don't know if you know sort of the life of of black kids in Jamaica, but the majority of us who come here would have already been living with our grandmothers or grandparents because my parents had to leave to come and find work.

Tessa Sanderson5:18

So when I heard the news now that I was coming to this country that we've always been taught that it's so cold that if you touch your ears it falls off and all this sort of thing, I'm being utterly serious. I thought, no way, you know, we're leaving all the sunshine to come to that. But also it would break your heart.

Presenter5:33

But also it would break your heart.

Tessa Sanderson5:34

Yeah.

Presenter5:34

Uh

Tessa Sanderson5:34

Believe you

Presenter5:34

Yeah, another person

Tessa Sanderson5:35

The person.

Presenter5:35

The

Tessa Sanderson5:36

Been your mother, really? Well, she'd been my mother, yes, my my grandmother, and also my my my granddad.

Presenter5:36

Been your mother, really.

Tessa Sanderson5:41

But eventually, you know, we we had to up and leave and um

Tessa Sanderson5:45

got to Manchester Airport and it was unbelievable. The first thing that struck me was, you know, there were so many white faces, and then the language opened their mouths and started speaking and think

Tessa Sanderson5:58

And then it was so freezing cold and the fog and everything like that, and the smoke was coming out of my mum's mouth. And I thought, God, what's happening here? You know? But her breath on the air. Yeah, the breath and air. It was almost like she was a smoker. You must have been terrified. I was. I mean, my sister was the stronger one, but I was quite terrified. But the thing is, I was just really happy to see them that somebody actually came and wanted us and took us. So this was in Manchester.

Presenter6:07

The breath on the air.

Presenter6:23

So this was in Manchester, and then th you travelled south to the Midlands where you were going to live. What give me your first impressions of the land you saw around you that you had come to live in?

Tessa Sanderson6:26

Do you

Tessa Sanderson6:30

I hated it.

Tessa Sanderson6:32

I hated it. I mean, there was so much smoke, smoke coming out of chimney pots and it was very bleak and it was snowing as well. I'd never seen snow before in my life. Didn't you think that was fun? Well, no, because I thought it was darn cold and the thing was in it going like that. We thought like this is incredible. And then what was even more incredible, as soon as we got home to Wolverhampton, brick houses, you know, and and the heating, you had to put heating on, all these sort of things was just incredible because you don't have this in Jamaica in most places then. So how long did it take you to accommodate?

Tessa Sanderson7:06

Um, it was a little while. It took us to adjust because we're only young and we're crying like for days on end. We were like little kids starting school, you know, and you didn't really want to go. I mean, I remember crying for like weeks and ends, Oh, I want to go back home, uh, this and that, back to Jamaica, but then you settle in, we accepted, we were here with our mother and father, they loved us just as much and we just had to, you know, adopt. Tell me about your second record. One love. Not just because it reminds me of Jamaica and all the running about and all the togetherness that family have when they're in Jamaica, because I just loved Bob Marley.

Tessa Sanderson7:40

His hair was so bright and rich out in flames like this and I thought, God you know, he's heaven.

Tessa Sanderson7:46

And he does depict Jamaican reggae for me.

Speaker 27:53

Want to love

Speaker 27:56

All the heart.

Speaker 27:58

Let's get together and feel alright. Hear the children crying. Hear the children crying. Saying give thanks and praise to the Lord. And I will be alright.

Presenter8:17

Bob Marley and the Wailers and One Love.

Presenter8:20

So it was nineteen sixty five, Tessa, when you arrived in Woodend Road in Wensfield in the Midlands. And of course at that time there'd been a large influx of West Indians to that part of England and and feeling against them was running high. Were there times when you got caught up in the back?

Speaker 18:25

Doing it.

Tessa Sanderson8:33

With it

Tessa Sanderson8:36

Absolutely. From the moment I started school. But um my parents also warned us of of these things that um you know might happen and that

Tessa Sanderson8:47

we shouldn't really get too upset about it because they'd more or less say, Well, you know, it's life, but uh try not to get into fights so, you know, I'd let my own dad fight my battles for me if there was any to be done at the time. Uh

Presenter8:58

W was that, do you think, one of the reasons that your parents didn't want you to concentrate on athletics? Because they because you were black, really, then they wanted you to prove that West Indian girls could all

Tessa Sanderson9:07

Also, achieve academic. That was exactly the reasons. And my mother and father told me themselves they wanted me to be a nurse because a lot of the black people's people or black women were nurses and it was like a career move for them and setting a precedent for a lot of other people. But the thing is, I knew in coming on now to the 1970s that I wasn't a bookworm. You have to study darn hard for nursing. I wasn't that.

Tessa Sanderson9:32

um you know sort of a person

Presenter9:34

And you knew you were very good at sport because you were captain of everything at school and so on. But but at what point did it become obvious that you were capable of sporting achievement at really a a high high class?

Tessa Sanderson9:37

Yeah.

Tessa Sanderson9:45

At the age of 14, 14, 15, I had a very, very good physical education teacher. She was excellent. She would help me in the sense that if I couldn't even afford my boss fare to the track, she saw the window that was open and said, Look, you know, girl, you can be good. But do you remember the first time you actually picked up a javelin and threw it? Yes. And you know what? The first real time was against a girl called Noreen Morgan. She was the best at javelin thrown at school. And I did good at everything else. And I thought, right, you know, let's have a go at this. So one day she said to me, because she used to speak to a real black country, oh, it arisa. God, I don't do it very well now. But she said, let's have a javelin competition. I thought, okay then. And we made a deal that the one that won on Sports Day would carry on training up till Sports Day, but the one that won would buy the bag of chips for the whole week, lunchtime. So I thought, well, this is great. I mean, I can save all my school dinner money. She can pay for it in the week if I want. Came Sports Day.

Presenter10:00

But do you rem

Speaker 110:39

Did a money

Tessa Sanderson10:43

And I went out and I thought, cool, you know, I really want this badly But it was a secret battle between Noreen and myself, and I won, and it was incredible. And I not only won, it qualified me to go to the county championships, and then after the county championships to the All England schools, and it was heaven.

Presenter10:59

Yeah.

Tessa Sanderson10:59

Record number three.

Tessa Sanderson11:01

I'm very much a family person and a lot of the things I do is for me and my family and people close to me because I think it's important to have a family bond and my mother and father really is my backbone, so I I really think this is for them.

Speaker 211:15

Don't tell me, it's not worth trying for

Speaker 211:22

Can tell me

Speaker 211:24

Not worth dying for

Speaker 211:29

No, it's true.

Speaker 211:33

Everything I do

Speaker 211:36

Do it for you.

Presenter11:40

Brian Adams and I Do It For You, which was the theme music from the film Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves. So, Tessa Sanderson, you started competing in all England schools competitions and so on, and eventually you started competing at an international level. But how much was your determination to win fueled by the idea of escape, really, of travel, of broadening your li and perhaps eventually of money?

Tessa Sanderson12:05

Well, first and foremost, um

Tessa Sanderson12:08

Why I really, really started athletics to do athletics because I mainly wanted to travel.

Tessa Sanderson12:13

You see, in the seventies again, a lot of the the the black families would always go back to Jamaica or to Africa or something and then back here. I felt I wanted to do a little bit more than that. And also in my school days, my my mother and father was a very working class family. We didn't have a lot of money. I remember my my first training gear, remember I had to borrow. And when the school decided to go to Potheli at that time, remember those trips to Wales, Potheli? There a couple of them I couldn't even go to. And I felt very, very downhearted about it. And I thought, well, you know, there's something more. I've got to do something here to be able to go and see the world, which is what I want to do.

Presenter12:50

It's said that you came of age as a world-class athlete in Dublin when you were twenty-one. It was the semi-final of I think the seventy-seven European Cup was.

Tessa Sanderson12:58

Yeah, that's right, against Ruth Fuchs, East Germans, because they were tough as heck. Well, it was always the East Germans who.

Presenter13:02

Well it was always the East Germans who who won the javelin, wasn't it? I mean the British never got a look in in that event.

Tessa Sanderson13:05

Muslim

Tessa Sanderson13:07

I know. But what happened on that occasion? I remember I knew it was going to be a tough one. So I went out into the competition to cut a whole long story short. And although we'd been throwing with the Apollo javelins at the time, there was a new javelin called the Held, which was like steel, and I wasn't really sort of astute to that yet because, you know, being here and British athletics didn't have so much money at the time, so they claimed. So we just got like the dregs. So I thought, let me clinch to the Apollo. That's the best one going at the moment. So I was training and throwing with that like heckers, while these Germans had already been practicing with this dick held, so that was unfair at the start. So we got out and out of the competition, and all they had was Held Javelin. Well, I went ballistic. You know, me went one of my little tantrums. And I remember getting to the top of the runway, and I thought, damn, you know, I'm I'm really gonna go for this. And I came running in like bat out of hell and I launched this javelin and it went sixty-seven and a half metres. And it was the first time the world record holder had been beaten in 12 years. Well, I mean, I thought I was living in another world, so I thought, God, I've won this, I've beaten her. And I think that's when I really, really came alive. But that proves, doesn't it, that it

Presenter14:15

Doesn't matter what the javelin is, it's all in the throw.

Tessa Sanderson14:18

Yeah, absolutely.

Presenter14:19

It's all in the coordination.

Tessa Sanderson14:20

And it's all in your inner self, how how much you believe in yourself, how mentally and how how much you want it.

Presenter14:26

But what it also proves is that actually uh size doesn't have a lot to do with it, because again, the East Europeans were often kind of big, beefy numbers, weren't they? And you're really quite small. I didn't know how tall are you?

Tessa Sanderson14:33

Beefy numbers, weren't they?

Tessa Sanderson14:37

I'm five foot six, and at the moment I'm wearing a little bit small, but I have been a bit bigger. But the small.

Presenter14:43

But small for a javelin thrower.

Tessa Sanderson14:45

In comparison, one of the smallest javelin throwers out there. And I used to feel a little bit inferior with that sometimes. And also, with all the drugs that was rife at the time, you know, because I knew there were certain athletes who were out there taking drugs, and I wouldn't sort of go near anything like that because I knew it was dangerous, it was damaging your health, and also psychologically, I don't think it did any good at all.

Presenter15:08

Because what you're saying, it seems to me, is that a good throw is all in the technique and not in brute strength or any any other kind of inspiration. It's just the coming together in that moment of the perfect

Tessa Sanderson15:14

Any other kind of inspiration it's just the

Tessa Sanderson15:18

Well I always knew that I was a technique thrower and and was never a muscle-bound thrower. And do you know the minute it leaves your hand that it's a good one? Yeah, yeah. The majority of good throwers know. You also know the minute it leaves your hand whether it's going to be a dodgy throw, whether it's going to be bad. But most of the times when it's good, there's just an awe. It's like it's so smooth you feel like your whole body has been stretched to the limit, but it doesn't hurt.

Tessa Sanderson15:46

Great feeling. Record number four.

Tessa Sanderson15:49

Well, number four, Gloria Stefan. This is the Olympic theme to enreach and for this year. Now I think this is fantastic because you know we we can't all be winners. And I think the words say it brilliantly. You know

Tessa Sanderson16:02

You try, and we all hope

Tessa Sanderson16:05

To succeed, but if you don't, you know, you you try and try again, and I just thought the wording of this was fantastic.

Speaker 216:11

If I could bring

Speaker 216:15

Higher, just for one moment towards the sky. From that one moment in my life, I'm gonna be stronger. Know that I've tried my very best and put my spirit to the test if I

Presenter16:37

Gloria Estefan singing the song of the nineteen ninety six Olympic Games, Reach. So to go back to the Los Angeles Olympics, Tessa, the the big psychological pressure there was Fatima Whitbread. She'd become the golden girl. She'd emerged as a serious rival on the British scene a couple of years earlier.

Speaker 116:48

Red sheet

Presenter16:54

Everybody was saying that she was going to win. How much did that

Tessa Sanderson16:56

How much

Presenter16:57

Sense of competition power your elbow.

Tessa Sanderson17:00

It it's oh, spurred me on a hundred percent. And to be quite honest, what I might say now, Sue, I miss Fatima at this stage here. You never thought you'd live to see her. I never thought I would live to see, but I miss her. Miss her in the competitions, let's say, this year, because um

Presenter17:07

Yeah, this is lived to see.

Tessa Sanderson17:15

There's not so many athletes uh who are throwing over sixty meters now, but at least competing with Fatima in those early days it it kept me, you know, on my on my website.

Presenter17:24

But it did become like war, didn't it? I mean, it was sort of youthful rivalry that that developed into pretty acrimonious jealousy. Now, why? You were fighting for your life in a sense, for your professional existence, wasn't it?

Tessa Sanderson17:35

Well it's it you know I think to be quite honest if I didn't sort of get a grip on my life I think probably all the Fatima syndrome would have ruined it, my my career. But why? It was because you were after the same sponsors. We're after well not particularly the same sponsors, we're both in the same event and so I had a hard time trying to prepare myself for a lot of competitions because a lot of the competitions came through, went through to Fatima first and that became very one-sided and very upsetting. So I complained to the British Athletics Board and I said, you know, this is totally wrong because we're both there competing for our country. Why am I getting the knockbacks? After I won the Olympic Games in 1984 and beat Fatima for instance, I was told that I'd be paid £5,000 less than she'd be getting paid for this competition. Well I won for God's sake. And so I I stood firm and got very upset. There was a lot of tears in those years too because it was like a war between us. You didn't speak to each other. It was pretty bitchy stuff wasn't it? It was, yeah, you can say handbags are being thrown, but you know, um hers may be a little bit bigger, but I threw mine further.

Presenter18:31

Any less you

Presenter18:33

It

Presenter18:41

Yeah.

Tessa Sanderson18:41

Uh

Presenter18:41

But did you in the end perform better than you otherwise would have done because that edge was there? Yes.

Tessa Sanderson18:48

I did. I can honestly say that because you see when you have a rival, you don't ever want that rival to become to be better than you. You either out there head to head or you know you try and make yourself that little bit better. You have to believe that you are the best. Even if you go into the competition and you you lose that comp, you've got to feel you know that you are better than the next person. So Fatima being there kept me on my toes and I'm sure that it kept her on her toes. And do you speak these days now you're both retired? Yeah we do. We do. I don't know if it's old you.

Presenter19:15

And you speak these days now you

Presenter19:19

Yeah.

Speaker 119:20

Uh

Tessa Sanderson19:22

More music.

Tessa Sanderson19:24

Well

Tessa Sanderson19:25

The next record is Tina Turner. She is just great. She's very punchy, rocky, looks fit. And that tells, you know, just because you're over thirty-five you don't have to be sort of sagging away at the waistline and she looks great. And I chose simply the best because I think, you know, whenever you're going to do anything, it's like your exams or anything like that, it doesn't have to be competition. You've got to feel that you are up there because you are just as good as the next man and you might come out being better than they are.

Speaker 219:51

Your eyes, I get lost, I get washed away.

Speaker 220:00

Just as long as I'm here in your mouth, I could be in no better place.

Speaker 220:08

You're simply the best!

Speaker 220:15

Now the rest

Presenter20:22

Tina Turner and The Best.

Presenter20:25

The other very public argument in your life, Tessa Sanderson, took place in nineteen ninety when you uh sued Mirror Group newspapers for libel. They said that you'd stolen Derek Evans, GMTV's Mr. Motivator, from his wife. I think most people would agree that to sue for libel is quite a courageous thing to do because you can often do yourself more harm than good. Why did you do it? Why did you feel so strongly about a piece of gossip which would have been forgotten in a matter of days?

Tessa Sanderson20:51

Well, I don't think you would have been forgotten in this sense. And also, you see, what you have to realize is that sometimes when you strongly believe that you've been wrongly done by, then you have to stand up and have your say. But why did you feel it so deeply is really what I want to know.

Presenter21:05

But why

Tessa Sanderson21:08

Because it was wrong. I I I w it was something that I would never have done, and also because I had been working with a lot of young people at the time who who really, um, I suppose, in one term, put me as an example or something to learn from, and I felt, no, this is definitely wrong.

Presenter21:24

And your parents must have been upset by the scandal of it all.

Tessa Sanderson21:26

My parents were were very upset, I mean, you know, about the whole situation and it was first blacklisted I'd had against me and it it was very much a wrongdoing and I felt it was just tabloids who wanted to make a story for ten days.

Presenter21:40

But does that that moral code tie up somewhere as well and you were saying earlier on that you that you never touch drugs and never would have gone near them and so on does it all tie up somewhere in that

Tessa Sanderson21:48

Uh

Presenter21:51

Olympian ideal, as it were, this desire for a healthy body and a healthy mind to to be

Tessa Sanderson21:55

Well, you know, I don't chose to be a hundred percent goody two shoes. I have sort of like tried smoking one of the times and I thought, well, it's disgusting. I've tried drinking alcohol, I thought it was disgusting and put that away. But, you know, um

Presenter21:55

Yeah.

Tessa Sanderson22:07

There are certain things, as I say morally, that, you know, me and my family really are against in a way, and and this was one of them. So you felt tainted by it?

Presenter22:16

Tainted by it.

Tessa Sanderson22:17

Yeah, I did. And I felt I had to def

Presenter22:18

And you were vindicated in the end, you won, and you were awarded thirty thousand pounds. Yes.

Tessa Sanderson22:21

Yeah.

Presenter22:23

You must have suffered a lot of pain along the way.

Tessa Sanderson22:26

I did. There was a lot of tears and it it was just devastating. So, was it all worth it? Would you do it again?

Tessa Sanderson22:32

Oh, well, the the thing is, um

Tessa Sanderson22:36

At the time, as I say, it was someone who I met and I cared for, and the rel rela the relationship has broken down now. In the end, what we went through at the time, okay fine, but on the whole it wasn't worth it because

Tessa Sanderson22:50

He's not a person now that I know that I would like to spend the rest of my life with. So as it turns out it wasn't worth it, but just the principle of the thing. Would you go through that again? Yes, I would. I would. If it meant sort of defending my morals and defending my rights, I I would go through it again.

Presenter22:56

Principle of the thing, would you go through that again?

Tessa Sanderson23:06

You know, because the press was totally, totally wrong.

Tessa Sanderson23:11

Record number six.

Tessa Sanderson23:14

Janet Jackson, when I think of you, I just love this because now and then you like to go out and kick your heels up, like I did for my fortieth birthday this year, I had a whale of a time, and I just love Tempo Records and she's great.

Speaker 223:28

Crazy, all I have to do.

Speaker 223:32

Carl it

Speaker 223:34

It's just think of you, Cause when I think of you.

Speaker 223:40

Yeah.

Speaker 223:43

It all seems the matter, just when I think I do.

Speaker 223:50

All I think about is a dynamic

Presenter23:54

When I think of you from Janet Jackson.

Presenter23:56

As I said at the beginning, Tessa, you competed at the Atlanta Olympics this summer, aged forty. You're sixth and therefore a record. It's amazing, isn't it? Because in your first Olympics, I think Harold Wilson was Prime Minister, so it's kind of twenty met him.

Tessa Sanderson24:08

to let him do

Presenter24:10

You've been there a long time.

Tessa Sanderson24:13

But you

Presenter24:14

But you'd actually been retired for some years before you went out to Atlanta this time, before you started getting ready for Atlanta. Why did you do it? It was a very long shot, wasn't it?

Tessa Sanderson24:19

Four and a half years.

Tessa Sanderson24:23

Yes, it was. And I I'll tell you what happened. In February last year, Sir Anthony Tippett, who used to be chairman of Great Ormond Street Hospital, wrote me a letter and said he wanted to see me. And I took my manager down with me and we sat walked in this room and Sir Anthony's wife was here. Sir Anthony was there and and Mary Ann and another girl were sitting in and I thought, Go, I'm in for it now. What have I done? you know.

Tessa Sanderson24:46

Anyway, he sat me down and he started talking about this new charity called um Children in Hospital and they were trying to raise money for it and and all that sort of thing. And I said, Oh, great, great, you know and he said, But what's happened? They've spoken to a number of kids and a number of people and they want me to head a campaign for the summer.

Presenter25:03

Did you realize that what he really wanted you to do was to go to the Olympics?

Tessa Sanderson25:06

No, I didn't because I thought it was going to be for two weeks. And then when he said to me, No, my dear, he said, We want you to make the Olympic try and make the come out of retirement, try and make the British Olympic team and and hopefully get a medal. Well, I mean, I nearly fell off my chair. I just could not believe it. How long did it take you to design? I went to Jamaica and talked to my parents and more or less when they said, Yeah, you know, you look fit, whatever, go for it. So more or less it took nine months.

Presenter25:21

Callo

Tessa Sanderson25:32

How creaky was the body when you started to

Presenter25:34

Okay.

Tessa Sanderson25:35

Oh god, you know. Let me tell you, if you've never felt or heard an old door creaking, this was one of them because when I went on the field.

Presenter25:35

Oh God.

Tessa Sanderson25:43

And I started to I thought, let me take it a little bit easier, so I throw very close to my feet. So the point would go in the grass and be able to stick. But you know, once you've been there at such a level, you never really lose it. It's just a matter of getting back into the routine again.

Presenter25:59

Yeah. But in the end, of course, all the hard work didn't pay off and you didn't qualify for the final, which was v very sad. But what it did do was bring you into the company of modern day athletes and you were working and training with them. So what's your view, Tessa? I mean

Tessa Sanderson26:05

Yeah, so

Speaker 126:05

Uh

Speaker 226:08

I've got no

Presenter26:14

They just don't compare with the people you were up there with in your heyday. Why not? What do they lack?

Tessa Sanderson26:20

I have to honestly say that I it it comes in two stages. Money the money section, I fear that a lot of the young athletes in the British team now are not being looked after properly. One of the girls are out there complaining to me that you know she had to leave her job. They gave her an ultimatum, you either go to the Olympics or stay here and do your job. You know, it used it didn't used to be like that then.

Presenter26:41

I'm sure I'm sure that's true, but I wonder if it's also something to do with them personally. You were describing earlier on how hungry you were, how you needed it. Are they that hungry? Do they have that application?

Tessa Sanderson26:47

How you speed it up?

Tessa Sanderson26:50

I think they are hungry, but the thing is they've also got to live. They've also got to live. And people have got to realise this, you know, that there's a lot of time involved in training here. And if you're not giving the incentive to do that, if you're out there representing your country and having to come back and try and rush into work the next morning, sometimes it's a bit hard. I did that, yes, but then at the time, you know, you never got, there wasn't a lot of sponsorships out there, so you accepted that you've got to work anyway. But now there is. Having got back on the team also this year, one other thing that I do notice, I think, not just a camarager, the closeness that we used to get from team managers and other athletes are not there. Team managers will, well, team managers now will stand up and they'll probably say something like, Yeah, well, good luck, and you know, we want you to do well. That's not what it's all about. I stood up in the

Speaker 127:07

So you did pop.

Speaker 127:27

Why not?

Tessa Sanderson27:39

team meeting for the Olympic Games, myself and there was Kelly Holmes and said to them, Listen, don't let someone else take your medal. Fight for it to the bitter end. I mean, although I didn't get to the final, I'll tell you what, I hated those girls getting through without me. But they deserved to because they had the competition fitness. I'd been training for five months. How dare I try and creep into their spot? But that's what I wanted. So what you're saying in all of that

Presenter28:00

What you're saying?

Presenter28:01

That is But there's a lack of money, there's a lack of leadership, and there's a lack of determination.

Tessa Sanderson28:07

Absolutely. Looks like

Tessa Sanderson28:10

More music.

Tessa Sanderson28:11

Well, we've got Mo Mo, Michael Bolton. He's nice. I mean, he's got lovely long hair. His nose is a bit big though. You know, I I it's a bit funny that old nose, but I suppose the character on his face is like they call Barbara Streisand, isn't it? The prettiest ugly woman, and she is, but her voice is wonderful. But I've chosen soul provider because, again, you know, my family, I provide a lot for my family, and I'm happily happily doing that because my sister, more or less, although not financialist or well up there, she does everything for me and she is just fantastic. So, you know, it's like being from one soul provider to the other. So this is for her.

Speaker 228:45

La la la

Speaker 228:48

I stay.

Speaker 228:49

Wait.

Speaker 228:52

For the longest time

Speaker 228:55

Baby, I won't be.

Speaker 229:01

So ladder.

Speaker 229:05

They say you let me.

Speaker 229:09

Callum highway.

Presenter29:13

The title song from Michael Bilton's album Soul Provider. So you've done well by your family, Tessa. You've helped your parents now living in a smart bungalow in the Jamaican countryside.

Speaker 129:20

Uh

Speaker 229:20

Beginning

Tessa Sanderson29:21

Uh

Speaker 229:22

Yeah.

Tessa Sanderson29:22

Don't you sound

Presenter29:23

And your family support system goes on because Sister Pat does your washing on your island. Oh, she's brilliant. You're going to miss her on your desert island, aren't you?

Tessa Sanderson29:30

Oh, I will actually because I hate washing, I hate ironing, ironing has got to be the worst. So yeah, I will definitely miss her.

Presenter29:38

And you've got your own company now and you do appearances and so on. But so far you've remained single, but you're not dedicated to singleness, are you?

Tessa Sanderson29:46

No, I mean, it's all about meeting the right person. And to be quite honest, I've if I met the right person and everything sort of added up. No, I'm not looking for Mr Perfect because I don't think they're out there. I honestly really don't. But, you know, what I'm looking for is for someone who um can relate to what I'm doing and someone with a sense of humour. Doesn't have to be loaded, but if you are, well, thank you. Are you looking forward?

Speaker 229:49

Yeah.

Presenter30:09

To that kind of solitary existence on the island. I mean, there th there'll be perhaps a little pain, but there'll be no pressure. None of the pressure we've been.

Tessa Sanderson30:16

I think it'll be wonderful. I think sometimes, you know, you need time out to take this little ti moment to relax, explores the niceties that surround you that you pass by and you don't appreciate. And being on this island would be wonderful. Yeah, I think I'll love it.

Tessa Sanderson30:32

Last record.

Tessa Sanderson30:34

My last record. Oh, I've chosen Whitney Houston because she to me is one of the best female vocalists out. I mean this girl came up from church and as you will know a lot of the black singers I think will have come up from church and she is just fantastic. I loved the film The Bodyguard. I like there's two men that I really sort of like when I watch this film. Kevin Costner is just divine and also Denzel Washington. He is just heavenly. So actually do you know I think I'll play this for Denzel Washington and I must say and for all the fans and people who's really kept my career going as well.

Speaker 231:11

We both know I'm not what you

Speaker 231:15

Ah!

Speaker 231:17

Yeah.

Presenter31:41

Whitney Houston singing I Will Always Love You. Now, Tessa, if you could only take one of those eight records, which one would it be?

Tessa Sanderson31:47

Yeah.

Tessa Sanderson31:49

Actually, do you know, I think it might be Whitney Euston's because it's the people that I'm going to be thinking of. And although one would think, Oh, well, you know, that's that's a little bit lovey dovey, but it is. Everybody who's been close in my life I've really, really loved and cared for and hopefully they've really, really loved and cared for me.

Presenter32:05

Then what about a book? Because you've got the Bible there on the beach and the complete works of Shakespeare. So what what what other book would you like?

Tessa Sanderson32:10

Yeah.

Tessa Sanderson32:12

Yeah.

Tessa Sanderson32:13

The history of the world, I think, because so many times I've travelled to other countries and it's just been off the airport, out of the suitcase, come peek, come back home. And I think all this will give me the time to sit and read up on things that's gone on in those countries, what's happening in the countries, it'll teach me about how to make things, you know, so I don't miss out on anything. And, you know, that will give me a good challenge too. And the

Presenter32:37

What about a luxury?

Presenter32:40

It's got to be nothing practical at all. Something that would give you great pleasure, whether it's something to look at or.

Tessa Sanderson32:43

Something that would keep

Tessa Sanderson32:49

I'm I'm never ever rescued. I think I'd like to have a whole sort of like tons and tons of euthymal toothpaste and maybe a maybe maybe a foundation.

Presenter33:00

Oh no, you can't have two.

Tessa Sanderson33:01

Oh, okay. You can tooth have a toothbrush to go with a toothpaste.

Presenter33:02

You can to have a toothbrush to go with a toothpaste.

Presenter33:06

Okay.

Presenter33:08

Jessica Sanderson, thank you very much indeed for letting us hear your desert island discs.

Tessa Sanderson33:11

Thank you. It's been wonderful.

Speaker 133:19

You've been listening to a podcast from the Desert Islandists archive. For more podcasts, please visit bbc.co.uk slash radio four.