Susan Christina "Sue" Richardson (née Hearnshaw, formerly Telfer, born 26 May 1961) is a British retired athlete who competed mainly in the long jump. She won the 1984 Olympic bronze medal in the long jump, having won the European Indoor title a few months earlier. Her long jump best of 6.83 metres in 1984, ranks her eighth on the UK all-time list.
Born Susan Hearnshaw in Liversedge, West Yorkshire, she competed for Great Britain at the 1984 Summer Olympics held in Los Angeles, U.S. in the long jump where she won the bronze medal. Her mother, Muriel Pletts, had competed in the first post-war Summer Olympic Games in London in 1948, finishing fourth as part of the British women's 4 x 100 metre relay team.[1]
She represented England in the long jump event, at the 1978 Commonwealth Games in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.[2] Four years later she represented England again in the long jump event, at the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.[3] [4] Hearnshaw achieved her legal best in the long jump with 6.83 metres on 6 May 1984. She also jumped a wind-assisted 7.00 metres when winning the UK Championship title on 27 May 1984.
A graduate of Loughborough University, she subsequently qualified as a Chartered Accountant.
| Representing / | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | European Junior Championships | Donetsk, Soviet Union | 12th | Long jump | 5.54 m | |
| 1978 | Commonwealth Games | Edmonton, Canada | 4th | Long jump | 6.40 m | |
| European Championships | Prague, Czechoslovakia | 16th (q) | Long jump | 6.25 m | ||
| 1979 | European Junior Championships | Bydgoszcz, Poland | 3rd | Long jump | 6.46 m | |
| 1980 | Olympic Games | Moscow, Soviet Union | 9th | Long jump | 6.50 m | |
| 1981 | Universiade | Bucharest, Romania | 5th | Long jump | 6.53 m | |
| bgcolor=silver | 2nd | 4 × 100 m | 43.86 | |||
| 1982 | Commonwealth Games | Brisbane, Australia | 5th | Long jump | 6.50 m | |
| 1984 | European Indoor Championships | Gothenburg, Sweden | bgcolor=gold | 1st | Long jump | 6.70 m |
| Olympic Games | Los Angeles, United States | 3rd | Long jump | 6.80 m (w) | ||
| (q) Indicates overall position in qualifying round | ||||||