Where are they now? Ann Packer
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Your support makes all the difference.VICTORY in the 1992 Olympics opened lucrative doors for Sally Gunnell. After Ann Packer won the 800 metres in Tokyo in 1964, she and her fiance, Robbie Brightwell, the 400m runner, retired.
'We said we would finish, win or lose,' she recalls. 'Athletes had jobs then. We were teachers and wanted to pursue our careers.'
In the event, Packer never returned to the classroom. The couple were married in December that year and by the following October were celebrating the birth of their first son. Two other boys soon followed.
Today, they live in Congleton, in a three-storey Georgian townhouse 100 yards from the centre of the Cheshire market town but overlooking a golf course. 'The house is still the centre of all that's going on,' she said. 'The boys all live within a mile or so of us and pop in most days. They bring their girlfriends for family meals.'
The boys inherited their parents' athleticism: Ian, 25, and David, 22, both play football for Manchester City. 'We try to watch all their games, home and away, even reserve games. Our oldest, Gary, who is 27, was second in the national 400m. He loves to train but never had the motivation to compete.'
(Photograph omitted)
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