Anita Neil: Britain’s first Black female Olympian – who was forced to quit in her prime

She broke world records and competed in two Olympics before being forced into retirement at 23 and forgotten. Now her achievements are finally being recognised
Anita Neil was just a toddler when she discovered two things: who her father was, and that she could run fast. Really fast. “I was introduced to my father when I was three,” Neil tells me over Zoom from her home in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire. “He knocked on the door and I ran to it with my mum, and I saw this tall,