Jannette Roscoe

Jannette Veronica Roscoe (née Champion; born 10 June 1946) is a female British retired sprinter who competed at two Olympic Games.^[1]

Jannette Roscoe
née Champion

Personal information
Nationality	British (English)
Born	(1946-06-10) 10 June 1946 (age 79) Royal Tunbridge Wells, England
Height	169 cm (5 ft 7 in)
Weight	56 kg (123 lb)
Sport
Sport	Athletics
Event	Sprinting/400 metres
Club	Stretford AC
Medal record Athletics Representing  England Commonwealth Games 1974 Christchurch 4x400m relay

Biography

Champion, born with two sets of six toes,^[2] grew up in Hale, Greater Manchester and in June 1970 taught at Weaverham Secondary School.^[3]

Champion represented England in the 400 metres, at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, Scotland.^[4][5] Shortly after the Commonwealth Games, Champion married Dennis Roscoe, a discus athlete, was from Woodland Avenue, Widnes Cheshire.^[6][7] on 19 August 1970 at Altrincham and competed under her married name thereafter.^[8]

Roscoe became the British 400 metres champion after winning the British WAAA Championships title at the 1971 WAAA Championships.^[9][10]

At the 1972 Olympics Games in Munich, she represented Great Britain, Roscoe competed in the women's 400 metres.^[11]

She lived at 102 Leicester Road in Fleckney in Leicestershire. Both her and her husband were teachers, where they drank 49 pints of milk a week - one pint at each meal, on a diet with lots of meat and cheese. She ate one pound of meat each day. Their food cost £8 a week. But Kraft Foods had sponsored the Olympic team, giving £2 of cheese a week to the 139 athletes. The couple found it difficult to afford their food each week. She trained 10 hours a week at Saffron Lane sports ground, and he trained 10 hours a week. At the weekend they trained at Loughborough, and in Charnwood Forest. If they lived in Germany, as an A-class athlete, she would receive £100 a month funding, and as a B-class athlete, he would receive £70 a month.^[12] She taught PE at Countesthorpe College. The village parish council offered to fund their food.^[13]

Roscoe regained the 400 metres title at the 1973 WAAA Championships.^[14]

Roscoe represented England and won a gold medal in the women's 4 × 400 metres relay with Ruth Kennedy, Sue Pettett and Verona Bernard, at the 1974 British Commonwealth Games in Christchurch, New Zealand.^[15][16][17]

At the 1976 Olympics Games in Montreal, she represented Great Britain in the 4 × 400 metres Relay.^[11]

By 1977 she was teaching PE at Trent Polytechnic, and by 1978 she was at Widnes.^[18] She taught Widnes Sixth Form College, now Riverside College, Widnes.^[19]