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Lillian Barbara Board (December 13, 1948 – December 26, 1970) was an athlete who won the silver medal in the 400 metres at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, who grew up around Ealing. Board was born in Durban South Africa after her English parents emigrated there in 1947. But a few years later they returned home to Manchester before the family settled in Ealing. Lillian and her twin sister Irene attended Drayton Green School and later Grange Secondary Modern Girls’ School. It was at her secondary school that her talents developed. She was trained by her father and Mary Rand, the first British female to win an Olympic gold medal in track and field. After the Olympics she won two gold medals at the 1969 European Championships in Athletics in Athens. But her career was cut short in 1970 when she developed colorectal cancer that within months would claim her life. She is also commemorated in Munich with an avenue bearing her name that leads to the Munich Olympic Stadium. This is one of a small cluster of roads named after sports men and women. The roads are laid out over former sports grounds, which included tennis courts, a swimming pool and pavilion.
