Jannette Veronica Roscoe (née Champion; born 10 June 1946) is a female British retired sprinter who competed at two Olympic Games.
Biography Champion, born with two sets of six toes,Leicester Chronicle Friday 5 May 1972, page 6 grew up in Hale, Greater Manchester and in June 1970 taught at Weaverham Secondary School.Runcorn Guardian Thursday 25 June 1970, page 22
Champion represented England in the 400 metres, at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, Scotland. Shortly after the Commonwealth Games, Champion married Dennis Roscoe, a discus athlete, was from Woodland Avenue, Widnes Cheshire.Widnes Weekly News Friday 11 August 1972, page 21Liverpool Echo Thursday 20 August 1970, page 7 on 19 August 1970 at Altrincham and competed under her married name thereafter.
Roscoe became the British 400 metres champion after winning the British WAAA Championships title at the 1971 WAAA Championships.
At the 1972 Olympics Games in Munich, she represented Great Britain, Roscoe competed in the women's 400 metres.
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.Leicester Mercury Wednesday 16 February 1972, page 28 She taught PE at Countesthorpe College. The village parish council offered to fund their food.Leicester Mercury Friday 10 March 1972, page 14
Roscoe regained the 400 metres title at the 1973 WAAA Championships.
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.
At the 1976 Olympics Games in Montreal, she represented Great Britain in the 4 × 400 metres Relay.
By 1977 she was teaching PE at Trent Polytechnic, and by 1978 she was at Widnes.Liverpool Echo Wednesday 21 June 1978, page 20 She taught Widnes Sixth Form College, now Riverside College, Widnes.Widnes Weekly News Friday 9 July 1982, page 18
References