Yvonne Margaret Danson (born 22 May 1959 in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

) is a former long distance track and road running

Road running

Road running is the sport of running on a measured course over an established road . These events would be classified as long distance according to athletics terminology, with distances typically ranging from 5 kilometers to 42.2 kilometers in the marathon. They may involve large numbers of runners...

 athlete. She represented England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 at the 1994 Commonwealth Games

1994 Commonwealth Games

The 1994 Commonwealth Games were held in Victoria, in the province of British Columbia in Canada, from 18 August to 28 August 1994.The XV Commonwealth Games marked South Africa's return to the Commonwealth Games following the apartheid era, and over 30 years since the country last competed in the...

 in Victoria

Victoria, British Columbia

Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, winning the bronze medal in the women's marathon

Marathon

The marathon is a long-distance running event with an official distance of 42.195 kilometres , that is usually run as a road race...

.

After the 1994 Commonwealth Games, Danson, who was married to a Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

an, took up Singapore citizenship in order to represent Singapore in international competitions. At the 1995 Southeast Asian Games

1995 Southeast Asian Games

The 18th Southeast Asian Games were held in Chiang Mai, Thailand in 1995. It was the first time that a non-capital city hosted the biennial sports event. The games were opened by His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej...

 in Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai sometimes written as "Chiengmai" or "Chiangmai", is the largest and most culturally significant city in northern Thailand. It is the capital of Chiang Mai Province , a former capital of the Kingdom of Lanna and was the tributary Kingdom of Chiang Mai from 1774 until 1939. It is...

, Thailand

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

, she was the favourite to win the gold medal in the marathon and entered the stadium in first place. However she mistakenly believed that she had to complete one lap of the stadium in order to finish the race, and stopped after doing so. In fact she was required to complete two laps, but by the time she realised this and started running again, Ruwiyati of Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

 was already part way through her second lap leaving Danson to cross the finish line in second place and claim the silver medal. Her time of 2 hours, 34 minutes and 41 seconds remains the Singapore national record

Singaporean records in athletics

The following are the national records in athletics in Singapore maintained by Singapore Athletic Association .-Men:-Women:-Men:-Women:ht = hand timing-External links:* *...

. She also set a Singapore national record of 36 minutes 27.39 seconds in the 10,000 metres at Chiang Mai to win the bronze medal.

Danson represented Singapore at the 1996 Olympic Games

1996 Summer Olympics

The 1996 Summer Olympics of Atlanta, officially known as the Games of the XXVI Olympiad and unofficially known as the Centennial Olympics, was an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States....

 in Atlanta, finishing in 38th place in a field of 86 runners.

Danson also holds the Singapore national record for the 5,000 metres, having run the distance in 17 minutes 35.3 seconds in Singapore in 1997.

Danson's personal best for the marathon was 2 hours, 30 minutes and 53 seconds, set in 1995 at the Boston Marathon

Boston Marathon

The Boston Marathon is an annual marathon hosted by the U.S. city of Boston, Massachusetts, on Patriots' Day, the third Monday of April. Begun in 1897 and inspired by the success of the first modern-day marathon competition in the 1896 Summer Olympics, the Boston Marathon is the world's oldest...

.

Achievements

• All results regarding marathon, unless stated otherwise

  Representing
  1994	Commonwealth Games 1994 Commonwealth Games The 1994 Commonwealth Games were held in Victoria, in the province of British Columbia in Canada, from 18 August to 28 August 1994.The XV Commonwealth Games marked South Africa's return to the Commonwealth Games following the apartheid era, and over 30 years since the country last competed in the...	Victoria, Canada	3rd	2:32:24 Athletics at the 1994 Commonwealth Games At the 1994 Commonwealth Games, the athletics event were held in Victoria, BC, Canada, at the Centennial Stadium on the grounds of the University of Victoria. A total of 44 events were contested, of which 22 by male 19 by female athletes...
  Representing
  1996	Olympic Games Athletics at the 1996 Summer Olympics At the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, 44 events in athletics were contested, 24 by men and 20 by women. There were a total number of 2053 participating athletes from 191 countries.-Men:...	Atlanta, United States Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...	38th	2:39:18