Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy with Karen Corlett receiving the insignia for athletics great Yvette Corlett, nee Williams, DNZM for services to athletics. Photo: supplied
Dame Yvette, born in Dunedin in 1929, became the first New Zealand woman to win an Olympic gold medal when she won the long jump at the 1952 Games in Helsinki.
She won four Commonwealth Games gold medals in three different disciplines, as well as representing New Zealand at basketball.
The Queen approved Dame Yvette’s promotion to damehood on April 12 last year, a day before the athletics great died.
Dame Yvette’s daughter, Karen Corlett, represented her late mother at the ceremony in Auckland yesterday.
