London 2012 brings back a host of happy memories for those British stars who competed for Olympic glory on home soil. However, the experience was tainted for Judy Murray after organisers failed to provide her with any kit.
The mother of tennis great Andy Murray was selected to captain the women’s players at those Summer Games, where Britain managed to medal in two events. But while the quality was evident on the court, Judy fell victim to certain standards falling short off of it.
The 64-year-old lifted the lid on the moment she realised she’d been forgotten about altogether when it came to dishing out the team apparel. And it left her with a bad taste in her mouth as she sought to play her part in Britain’s summer of sporting success.
I was the captain of the Fed Cup team, so therefore I was the captain of the tennis team at the Olympics and we had four girls playing in it,” said Murray Sr on Sky Sports’ ‘Rise With Us’ programme in 2021. “I remember going to the team house, which was very close to Wimbledon so we could just walk across.
“I remember going there with the team to pick up the kit a couple of days before the event started and everything was laid out in piles with players’ names upon them. So there was [kit for] all the coaches, the players, the fitness trainers. And I walked round the whole thing and thought, ‘There isn’t one for me, there isn’t one with my name on it.
So I took my time and then I said to the guy who was the team manager: ‘Where’s my kit?’ And the look on his face! ‘I forgot about you. . .I forgot. I haven’t got any for you.
Murray said she thought it was a gag at first, but she sought answers after realising it was a genuine error. She scrambled together a uniform of her own from various other team members, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that she “didn’t matter” and “wasn’t important.”
“It wasn’t in their psyche to have a female coach and I really sucked it up because of the team spirit thing,” she continued. “I didn’t want the girls to see a row or anything like that going on, but, internally, that was an incredibly tough thing for me and just another example of men seeing things with men’s eyes and not being used to having women in ‘their’ workforce.
“It was such a massive moment in my life to be the captain, and I wanted to look the part along with the girls, and I couldn’t.
Team GB went on to win two tennis medals at London 2012, both of which involved Judy’s youngest son, Andy. The Scot won the first of two Olympic gold medals in the singles event after beating Roger Federer, but he also teamed up with Laura Robson to bring home a silver in the mixed doubles.
Judy can claim some credit for that latter triumph considering her involvement mentoring Andy and those female contenders in action more than a decade ago. However, the same can’t be said for London 2012’s organisers after forgetting to kit the elder Murray out in her shining moment.
