Michelle Mason-Brown says she competed in high jump just for the fun of it.
It’s an unusual admission for an Olympic and Commonwealth Games medallist, but perhaps it was her no-pressure approach, aided by her famous scissor technique, which took her to the pinnacle of her sport.
The 82-year-old is sitting relaxed in Rosewood as she talks with me about the days when she was selected to compete for Australia in two Olympic Games (Melbourne and Tokyo) and three Commonwealth Games (Wales, Perth, Jamaica).
While her fame is not part of her dialogue, there are many who wrote about her outstanding athletic ability and her penultimate performances which won her an Olympic Silver in Tokyo at the 1964 Summer Olympics.
In what was then known as the British Empire and Commonwealth Games, Michele won Gold in Cardiff, Wales in 1958; Gold in Kingston, Jamaica in 1966; and Bronze in Perth in 1962.
Michele’s entry into high jumping began in 1956, when her father encouraged her to try to overcome her health problems with asthma and bronchitis by becoming involved in athletics.
She was 16-years-old when she joined the Ryde Hornsby Athletics Club in Sydney early in 1956. It was the year she was studying for her Senior Certificate and she was determined to score high marks.
Before too long, Michele was also scoring high marks in high jump.
“I balanced my studies with athletics training and before too long I gained a place in the Australian Olympic team in 1956 where I travelled to Melbourne with the coach of the athletics club, Mr Vern Rundle,” she recalled.
“This experience was overwhelming.
“It was like nothing I had ever experienced before.
“I met many athletes from all over the world.
“It was exciting, friendly, lovely and [it gave me] a feeling of elation.”
In her first Olympic Games, Michele cleared a jump of 1.67 metres and finished in sixth place on a count back.
It was a jump equivalent to the silver medal - the count back rule means the athlete with the fewest attempts at the last height wins the placing.
Michele’s ability did not go unnoticed. To achieve what she had achieved in her first year of trying the sport was counted as remarkable.
And it became the first of many.
In the year after the Olympics, she won the New South Wales title and in 1958 at a National Women’s Championships in Sydney she was selected to compete in the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff. She jumped 1.70 metres and took home the gold.
“My technique that I stood by was the scissor jump, this is how I felt most comfortable,” Michele said.
“That the feeling of taking off to clear the bar with a powerful spring in my step - I still remember it now.”
While she was considered a premier athlete, she still needed a day job to support herself.
“Alongside competing I also worked full time in areas such as a laboratory, in taxation, in secretarial roles and I was also trained as an assessor.” she said.
“I really loved helping people and meeting new people within the workforce every day.”
In 1962 Michele accomplished a personal best jump of 1.75 metres and won a place in the Commonwealth Games team headed for Perth. There she cleared 1.73 metres and won the Bronze medal.
It was at those games that Michele met her future husband, Bob Brown.
“Bob was a Queensland champion hammer thrower … from the moment I met him he made me feel special,” she said.
“We spent a lot of time together in the athlete’s village, dining, dancing, training and getting to know each other.
“When Bob had to return home from the Games, he continued to write to me.
“He would say ‘move to Queensland and I will marry you’, I responded saying ‘move to Sydney and I will think about it’.”
And so, Bob moved to Sydney.
They were married in January 1964 in the Catholic Church in Waitara.
Michele continued her competitive career as Michele Mason-Brown and was selected to compete in the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
There she cleared 1.80 metres to win the Silver medal.
“I knew I was really at my best because during the training sessions at Tokyo I recall coaches from other countries standing around my training area watching me,” she said.
“One Russian coach approached me after he witnessed me clear 6 foot 2 inches to try and convince me to join his team and to learn to jump in the straddle technique. But, no way, I was content with jumping scissor style for Australia.”
Self-trained for the majority of her career Michele said that sometimes she was labelled as a lazy athlete because she would only dedicate a couple of hours to her training per week.
“My husband Bob would smile and call me lazy girl sometimes, he would always support me through the years, our marriage was so special, one of a kind and I was so blessed to have him by my side,” she said.
On returning to Sydney from Tokyo, Michele became the second woman in history to clear 1.835m.
Her next major competition was the Commonwealth Games in Jamaica in 1966, where she again won Gold.
Throughout her career, Michele travelled to countries all over the world, walking beside fellow Olympic champions such as Dawn Fraser, Betty Cuthbert, Marlene Matthews and Shirley Strickland.
She describes this experience as humbling, a journey that will remain with her forever, yet she says nothing compares to the love that she shared with her husband and her four children.
“In 1967 after retiring in 1966 we moved to Marburg, Bob’s home town,” she said.
“As a city girl at heart this was quite the shock to me.
I was introduced to such things like, the dunny out the back, the steam train instead of electric and the laid-back lifestyle that was far from the fast pace of Sydney.”
Adjusting to her new surroundings Michele, fell in love with the country lifestyle.
Their children attended Marburg State School and as a family they enjoyed day trips in their Combi and spending quality time together.
“Family life was good, and I was blessed with a terrific marriage that brought with it a lifetime of love and happiness,” she said.
Michele was known as “an enormous talent” and a modest and kind lady who despite her great achievements always competed in high jump just for fun.
Recognition as an Australian Great came in 2010, when she was inducted into the Athletics Australia Hall of Fame.
