Where were you when Mary Peters struck gold at Munich Olympics in 1972?

“It’s like when President Kennedy was shot – people remember,” she told the News Letter.

“It was so unexpected. I was 33, the Troubles were at their height, I was only fifth in the ranking, everything was against me and yet in my mind I felt I was good enough to win.

“It was partly my coach (Buster McShane) who believed in me and built up my confidence.”

Mary went on to say that as the years pass the number of people who remember the events of Munich in 1972 become fewer and fewer.

Mary herself is 83 and those old enough to clearly remember her victory over German favourite Heidi Rosendahl would be in their mid-to-late sixties at the youngest.

Fortunately the News Letter was able to speak to some of those who remember our Golden Girl’s triumph.

Northern Ireland pole vaulter Mike Bull, who was awarded an OBE in 2012, had broken the UK record on six occasions in 1972 and was seen as a major contender going into the Munich Games before injury put paid to his medal hopes.

He said: “I watched most of Mary’s five events from the physio room at Munich, where I was desperately trying to rehab my ruptured ankle from falling outside the landing area in the GB vs Finland match in Helsinki.

“I spent a lot of time in that physio room to no avail. Seeing Mary win gold gave me hope as we were training partners. It gave the entire Olympic team a great boost.

“Mary’s Munich gold was the single greatest achievement of the Games and I was proud to be associated with it.”

Joan McCloy, a former hockey and badminton player who is a long-time friend of Mary’s, said: “I spent that weekend at home glued to the TV, like most of Northern Ireland, watching Mary’s every move in the Olympic Stadium.

“It was an occasion none of us shall ever forget.

“Of all her events, I remember most vividly her wonderful life-time best performance in the high jump and of course the final event, the 200 metres, with the tension waiting for the result.”

She said: “I just burst into tears when the world record score finally came through. I was filled with enormous pride at the wonderful success of our Belfast girl knowing that her dreams, and ours, had come true.

“Mary’s gold medal was a shining light amid the mayhem on the streets of Belfast with bombs and bullets going off around us. It was a few short weeks after Bloody Friday.

“Mary gave us unforgettable moments over that September weekend in 1972 that we celebrate on this 50th anniversary.”

Former television journalist and Ulster Unionist Party leader Mike Nesbitt was a 15-year-old aspiring middle-distance runner in 1972.

He said: “I was quite obsessed with watching the athletics events at Munich. I watched it at home and felt pure agony after the 200 metres, waiting to hear if she had done enough to beat Heidi Rosendahl.

“I found it hard to process the fact that someone from our little postage stamp on the world map was an Olympic gold medallist. It was inspirational.”

DUP MP for Strangford Jim Shannon was 17 when Mary won gold.

He said: “I can well remember the 1972 Olympics.

“Whilst for many the abiding memory of those Olympics may have been the Munich massacre of the Israeli Olympic team, which I can well remember and the horror of which stays with me until this day, for me I can well recall the joy of Mary Peter’s victory in the pentathlon.

“Plastered all over the news, our golden girl brought home the gold and on the occasions that I have since met Dame Mary I can honestly say that the smile remains golden.

“In Northern Ireland, we were in the midst of the Troubles, our feeling of national pride was not on a high and yet single moments like that honestly lifted the spirit of the community and it is a joy to remember and celebrate this achievement in a year that we have seen the golds, silver and bronze flowing from our Commonwealth superstars and the next generations of Northern Ireland’s finest sporting heroes.”

Senior News Letter journalist Billy Kennedy was a reporter in Portadown when Mary won gold in 1972.

Billy recalled: “Although Mary came from an English family background, she lived in Portadown town, attended Portadown College under the principalship of Dr Donald Woodman and she was deservedly considered ‘a local girl done good’.

“My Portadown News editor, the late Douglas Sloan, knew Mary well and her sports coach at Portadown College, the late Kenny McClelland.

“Kenny called with us on a weekly basis at our Thomas Street office to update on Mary’s meteoric progress in local and international athletics and, when she won the gold medal, she deservedly got the full spread in our subsequent editions over that summer.

“Mary has always come across as a bubbly engaging person, and with her Olympic success she really endeared herself to the proud people of Portadown.

“Our newspaper rival in the early 1970s was the Portadown Times, just across the street in the town centre, and the Times intrepid chief reporter, the late Victor Gordon, ferociously vied with us for the best in-depth news and sports coverage on what Mary achieved in Munich that year.”

Billy said: “Happily, in later life Mary has been appropriately recognised by Her Majesty the Queen. She has been a tremendous ambassador for sport in Northern Ireland.

“1972 was a dark year in Northern Ireland with the Troubles - Mary Peters’ global sporting success brought much joy and light to countless people in our society who admired her outstanding sporting prowess.”