Charlene Rendina
Charlene Rendina is a retired Australian athlete who specialised in sprint and middle distance events.
She set her personal best time of 1:59.0 hand timed in the 800 metres in 1976, which remained the Australian record for 43 years until Catriona Bisset broke it in July 2019.In her first Olympic competition in Munich, 1972, Rendina set an Olympic record on her way to the 400 metres final, where she eventually finished in sixth place in 51.99 seconds. She was also in the final of the 4 × 400 m relay where she ran a 50.7 leg for the Australian team that came in 6th in 3:28.84.
At the 1974 Commonwealth Games, she moved up to the 800 metres distance and took gold.
At the 1976 Olympics she was eliminated after finishing 5th in her semi-final in 2:00.29 at 800m. She was part of the Australian 4 × 400 m relay team that finished 4th in 3:25.56 – her leg being timed at 51.6 seconds.
In her career, she won five Australian Championships in Athletics at 800m and two at 400m.
