This DigitalNZ story celebrates Yvette Williams becoming NZ's first female to win an Olympic gold medal on 23 July 1952. Yvette was born in Dunedin on 25 April 1929 and became a celebrated household name overnight at age 23. When competing at the 1952 Olympic Games at Helsinki, she had won the gold medal for the long jump (known as broad jump) and set a new Olympic record of 6.24 metres. The next day, Yvette also won a silver medal for the javelin. She had become New Zealand’s first female Olympic medallist; the first New Zealander to win an Olympic field event; and the third New Zealander and first woman to win a gold medal — an achievement not repeated for another 40 years! 

Yvette has also been involved in other track and field events and representative netball and indoor basketball (including the Tall Ferns) for which she has been awarded a range of awards/accolades. After retiring from track events in November 1954 and marrying Charles "Buddy" Corlett in December, Yvette taught physical education at secondary schools and coached at athletic clubs. She was posthumously awarded the honour of 'Dame' in the 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours after passing away on 13 April 2019 aged 89 years.

In a nutshell:

Yvette's sporting achievements (1950-1955) included:

• Represented Otago and South Island at netball and indoor basketball (was appointed captain in 1950 and won the national championship)

• Member of the NZ indoor basketball team, the Tall Ferns (1950, 1952-1955)   

• 21 national titles in track and field events in five disciplines between 1947-1954: shot put (1947-54), long jump (1948-54), javelin (1950), discus (1951-54), and 80m hurdles (1954)

• British Empire Games at Auckland (1950): Gold medal (long jump with a Games record of 5.91 m) & Silver medal (javelin)

• Olympics at Helsinki (1952): Gold medal (long jump), Silver medal (javelin), & two Olympic records for the long jump: 6.16 m followed by 6.24 m

• NZ pentathon record (1952) - shot put, long jump, high jump, javelin and 100m - scoring 4219 points which was unbeaten for ten years

• World record in the long jump at Gisborne, leaping 6.29 m (20 Feb 1954)  

• British Empire and Commonwealth Games at Vancouver (July/Aug 1954): 3 Gold medals - Long jump, discus & shot put - all of which achieved Games records.

Retirement from athletics aged 25 years, marriage, teaching & coaching:

Yvette announced her retirement from athletics in November 1954, aged twenty-five years.  Later, in December 1954, she married Charles "Buddy" Corlett, a Canadian who became a New Zealand basketball and softball representative. They lived in Auckland and raised a family of four children. Yvette taught physical education at secondary schools for fifteen years, and coached at athletics clubs. 

Yvette's awards/accolades:

Over the years, Yvette has been awarded various sporting accolades, including New Zealand Sportsman of the Year (1950, 1952) - the first woman to receive that award. In 1987, she was named "Athlete of the Century" on the 100th anniversary of Athletics New Zealand, and was inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame in 1990. Yvette also received two New Year's Honours - an MBE (Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) for services in women's athletics in 1953 and the CNZM (Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit) for services to athletics in 2011. 

After Yvette received the news that she was to be made a Dame in the Queen's Birthday Honours, she passed away on 13 April 2019 aged 89 years. She received the award posthumously and her daughter Karen attended the investiture ceremony held on 3 June 2019. (See photo on The Governor-General: Investiture ceremony 23 July 2020)

Backstory:

Early years

Yvette Winifred Williams was born in Dunedin on 25 April 1929 to Winnie and Tom Williams. She had a younger brother, Roy, who was born five years later. A photograph of Yvette and Roy with their mother taken around 1937, can be seen in this newspaper article: Bruce Munro, "Running on air" (Otago Daily Times, 11 April 2022). Her mother was a highland dancing champion and her father was a grenade-throwing champion in the Australian army during World War One. Both became ballroom dancing instructors in Dunedin.

Athletics Club, 1947 -

In early 1947, Yvette accompanied a work colleague to the Otago Ladies Amateur Athletics Club. She began training at the Caledonian Ground and competed successfully in track and field events.  At the same time, she continued to play netball (known as outdoor basketball) and was a representative for Otago and the South Island. She then switched to playing indoor basketball after receiving a shin injury from playing on asphalt.    

Netball & indoor basketball: Provincial & National

Yvette was a representative for the Otago and the South Island netball teams. After switching to indoor basketball, she represented Otago and was appointed captain in 1950.  Her busy training schedule in playing indoor basketball as well as participating in track and field events, is captured in this Papers Past newspaper article: "Empire champion has eyes on Olympics", Otago Daily Times, Issue 27494, 14 September 1950, Page 4. 

Yvette's Otago indoor basketball team won the national championship and she also represented the South Island and New Zealand (Tall Ferns) (1950, 1953-55). One of her teammates was Lois Muir (b. 16 April 1935) who had also attended Otago Girls' High and played with Otago at both netball and basketball from 1950 until 1964. Lois played for the Tall Ferns (1952-1962) and the Silver Ferns (1960-1964), and later became head coach of the Silver Ferns (1974-1988).

In an interview during 2017, Yvette said that indoor basketball was her favourite of all sports, "I loved the team environment more than competing on my own."  Source: Suzanne McFadden, "A national treasure who should have been a Dame", RNZ, 15 April 2019

Track & field: National & InternationaL, 1947-1954

After joining the Otago Ladies Amateur Athletics Club in early 1947, Yvette competed in the Otago championships during her first season. She won the 22 yards sprint and the shot put, and came second in the 100 yards and the long jump (known as broad jump). Yvette competed in her first national championships that same season and won the shot put. This was to be the first of her 21 national titles across five disciplines over the next eight years until she announced her retirement from competitive sport in November 1954, aged twenty-five years. Yvette continued to play indoor basketball for the Tall Ferns until 1956.

21 national titles:

 •   Shot put (1947–54)

 •   Long jump (1948–54)

 •   Javelin (1950)

 •   Discus (1951–54)

 •   80 m hurdles (1954). 

Also won the pentathon in 1952, recording a score of 4219 points, which was a New Zealand record that stood for ten years. 

Source: 

• Athletics new Zealand: National champions, 1887 - 2021

• Ron Palenski, "One of New Zealand's greatest athletes" (Otago Daily Times, 27 April 2019)

When attending the nine-day National Athletics School in Timaru at the end of 1947, Yvette met sports coaching couple Jim and Emilie (Emmy) Bellwood. After the Bellwoods, who were living in Wellington, moved to Dunedin, they became coaches for Yvette in field events. Jim (1912-1994) was a Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) physical welfare officer and part-time track & field athletics lecturer at Otago University. Emmy (née Tökke) (1916-1987), who was born in Estonia, became one of the founding lecturers at the University of Otago School of Physical Education and taught athletics and gymnastics.

Find out more:

• Anglea Walker, "The Estonian refugee who helped mould a Kiwi legend". Newsroom, 14 January 2020 (Also includes photo of Emmy & Jim Bellwood)

• Angela Walker, "The stars align again for Dame Yvette",  Newsroom: Locker Room, 11 April 2022 (Includes photo of Emmy Bellwood and Yvette mirroring the same pose -  bending backwards, face to the sky, arms extended well behind.)  

Both Yvette and her brother Roy would attend the training with Jim and Emmy Bellwood. On Sundays, Roy recalled, "We would start by running along the tops of the sandhills to St Kilda then on to Chisholm Park Golf Course, run to the end of the course, then down to the beach at Lawyers Head and back to Kettle Park. That was our warmup.  After that we practised our various techniques of the track and field events - hurdles, discus, shot, javelin etc - then spent time jumping off the tops of the sandhills where we learnt the hitchkick or runninginthe air style of jumping".  Source:  Ron Palenski, op cit.

Jim Bellwood was described by track and field athlete Les Mills: 

"Jim was six feet tall with dark hair and brown eyes. Uncompromising in his attitude to training, achievement and good health practices, he expected his students to exercise self-reliance and maintain the highest standards of physical fitness. Any athlete who spent time with him soon became familiar with his sayings, two of which were: ‘It’s not practice that makes perfect, but correct practice’ and ‘The important thing in life is not triumph but the struggle’."   

Source:  Les Mills, 'Bellwood, James Charles', Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, first published in 2000. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/5b22/bellwood-james-charles 

British Empire Games held Auckland, 4-11 Feb 1950

After being controversially left out of the New Zealand team travelling to London for the 1948 Olympic Games, Yvette was selected for the British Empire Games held in Auckland in 1950. The Commonwealth Games were known as the British Empire Games from 1930 to 1950, the British Empire and Commonwealth Games from 1954 to 1966, and British Commonwealth Games from 1970 to 1974.  The Games had not been held since 1938 due to the Second World War, giving the Auckland games extra significance. 

Yvette competed in two events at the 1950 British Empire Games: the long jump and javelin. She won the gold medal for the long jump and her winning leap of 5.91 m broke the British Empire and the national record. She also won the silver medal for the javelin with a throw of 37.97 m (the winning throw for the gold medal was 38.84 m).

Source: Commonwealth sport: New Zealand Auckland 1950

Canterbury Centennial Games, 26 Dec 1950 - 3 Jan 1951

The Canterbury Centennial Games were held in Christchurch from 26 December 1950 - 3 January 1951. The sporting event was part of the centennial anniversary of the arrival of the ‘Charlotte Jane’, the first of  four ships from the Canterbury Association. 

National titles, 1951

NZ CHAMPIONSHIPS & PENTATHLON, 1952

At the New Zealand championships held in 1952, Yvette became the first woman in history to jump over 20 feet (6.10 m) more than once, winning the long jump title with a distance of 20 feet 7+3⁄4 inches (6.29 m). However, the distance was not recognised as a world record as it was wind-assisted.  (A wind gauge is placed 20 metres before the take-off line to measure wind speed which is permitted up to 2 metres per second.)

That same year, Yvette recorded a score of 4219 points in the pentathalon held in Dunedin, setting a New Zealand record that stood for 10 years.  

Olympic gold medallist at helsinki, 1952

Living & training in Auckland:

In 1952, Yvette's coaches Jim and Emmy Bellwood moved to Auckland for a warmer climate as Emmy had contracted a respiratory illness, and Jim obtained a teaching position at Avondale College. Yvette followed them to Auckland, boarded with an aunt and uncle in Devonport, and worked at a secretarial job. In the buildup to the Olympic games, her training routine included early morning callisthenics, hill running during her work lunch break, and meeting Jim after work for three more hours of training.  (Source: Ryman Healthcare: Ryman Pioneer - Dame Yvette Williams (DNZM, MBE)

Yvette had said that while she had natural ability, she built on it with hard work:

"I used concrete blocks and sandbags for weights. I'd do an hour of weight training at home in the morning. My uncle, in whose house I was living in Auckland, had built a sort of gym in the spare room, so I'd spend an hour doing callisthenics before I went to work.  At lunchtime I'd train at the Domain. I ran in army boots for 30-45 minutes. The theory was that when I didn't have the boots on, I'd feel like I was flying. It certainly did feel good without them! Then after work I'd be back at the Domain, or at one of the other parks. I'd be watched by Jim Bellwood, my coach. He'd supervise my jumping technique, or my throwing. This session would last a couple of hours."  

Source: New Zealand Olympic Committee: Yvette Williams, ttps://www.olympic.org.nz/athletes/yvette-williams/

An outline of Yvette's experiences waiting to hear if she would be selected for the Olympics and her training schedule, which included receiving written training programmes from Emmy Bellwood who was convalescencing in hospital, can be viewed on Newsroom: Locker Room (12 April 2022). Also included is a photo of Yvette alongside her trophies received up until 1951. 

Competed in 3 Olympic events at Helsinki, July 1952:

Yvette was New Zealand Olympian #76 and the ninth ever female Olympian. She competed in three events over 5 days. The following results are listed on the Olympian database:

>  First event: Discus (20 July) - qualified in fourth place with a throw of 41.32 m and placed 10th in the final round (40.48m)

>  Second event: Long jump (23 July) - qualified in first place (6.16 m) and placed first in the final round (6.24 m)

>  Third event: Shot put (24 July) - qualified in 10th place (12.64 m) and placed sixth in the final round (13.35m)  

Yvette's height was recorded as  1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) and her weight as 143 lbs (65 kg).  (Source: Sports reference: Olympic Sports: Yvette Williams)  

Drama during the long jump!

When warming up for the long jump event in the morning of 23 July, Yvette wrenched her knee. Although in pain with sprained ligaments, she led the qualifying round with an Olympic record of 20 ft 2½ inches (6.16 m). She wrote in a postcard to her family, "I think I tried extra hard because there was a band of Russians out watching."  (Source:  Ron Palenski, op cit.) 

The final round was held in the afternoon and Yvette was the 20th of 24 women to jump.  She began her first of three leaps with a jump of more than 21 ft, but had fouled by overstepping the mark. Then followed another foul when she overstepped the mark again. Facing elimination, Yvette shifted her pegs back about four inches to make certain she wouldn't overstep the mark a third time. Yvette successfully leaped 5.9 m which tied her for third, making the top six jumpers who continued for three more jumps each. 

On her next leap, Yvette jumped 6.24m, which was 28 centimetres clear of her nearest competitor. She set an Olympic record and was 1 cm short of the world record held by Fanny Blankers-Koen since 1943.  

Olympic NZ firsts:

Yvette was the first NZ woman to win an Olympic medal and the first New Zealander to win a track event at the Olympics.  She was the only New Zealander to win gold at the Helsinki Games, and was the third individual New Zealander to ever become a gold medallist.  Her winning leap of 6.24m was also a new Olympic record.

 Yvette's father wrote in a letter:

"I decided after coming home from work on Wednesday to stay up all night. Russell Oaten [sports broadcaster at 4ZB], his wife, [Otago Daily Times sports reporter] Teddy Isaacs, two Times reporters and Charlie stayed all through the night with me... At about quarter to six the final result came through, saying that you had won. Well that was the start of a day never to be forgotten in Dunedin... Our old telephone rang continually all that day and night... Telegrams started coming in, right from [Prime Minister] Sid Holland down to people who were complete strangers." Quoted by Bruce Munro, "Running on air" (Otago Daily Times, 11 April 2022). 

Yvette:  

“After having two no jumps I had the fear maybe I would have another no jump again and everybody back home would be so disappointed and I would have a fear to go back home again. Fortunately the third jump was legal and put me in fourth place. The top six competitors could have another three jumps and on the fourth jump I hit the board and first of all, the judge put up a red flag and then changed it for the white. The New Zealand supporters who were in the stand came down on to the track and carried me shoulder high from the pitch with the New Zealand flag draped behind me. I then had to go to the dais and stand on the number one place and to see the New Zealand flag go up and our national anthem play, that was the highlight of my career.”  

Source: Athletics New Zealand: Dame Yvette Corlett (nee Williams)

A photograph of Yvette and the other two long jump medallists holding their medals and bouquets of carnations can be viewed on Athletics New Zealand (18 Dec 2020). Another photograph of Yvette in action competing in the shot put can be viewed in an article (13 April 2019) on the New Zealand Olympic Committee website. 

In 2002, Yvette returned to Helsinki for the 50th anniversary of the 1952 Games, receiving a standing ovation from a crowd of 20,000.  

World record in long jump, 26 Jan 1954

In a Gisborne Herald article written in 2020 by Grant Miller about the highlights from the Gisborne Athletics Club over the previous 100 years, Yvette breaking the world record in 1954 was one of them.  He reflects that back in 1954, the Gisborne Herald has reported that "on the side of a specially-prepared jumping pit were two flags — a green one to mark the New Zealand record held by Yvette and a red one for the world record".

“In perfect form she sailed through the quiet air. After she had landed and it could be seen even from the packed stand (in which her mother and father shared the tenseness of the occasion) that she had landed beyond the far-off red flag, wave after wave of cheering and hand-clapping burst from the spectators. As for the record-breaker herself, her first reflex action was to jump from the pit and leap into the air . . .”

"With a mark of 20 foot, seven and a half inches, Williams had exceeded the red flag by an inch and a half."

Source: Grant Miller, "100 year of athletics" (Gisborne Herald, 15 Feb 2020)

British Empire and Commonwealth Games, 30 July -       7 Aug 1954

Yvette competed in four events at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games which were held at Vancouver from 30 July to 7 August. She won three gold medals - all achieving Empire Games record performances: long jump (6.08 m), discus (45.01 m) and shot put (13.96 m). She also finished sixth in the 80 m hurdles. 

Notably, Yvette competed in the long jump and discus events on the same day at the same time. This required dashing back and forwards between each event which were held 100 metres apart, and changing her shoes twelve times - from long jump spikes to discus throwing shoes.  Yvette had said, "Considering the circumstances I believe that winning the two events at the same time was probably the best performance of my career."  Winning two gold medals simultaneously at international level is the first known feat by a competitor.  

Source:  

• Bruce Munro, "Running on air" (Otago Daily Times, 11 April 2022)
• Commonwealth Sport: Inside the Games: Yvette Williams
• Wikipedia: 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games

1954: RETIREMENT FROM COMPETITION AGED 25 YEARS

Yvette had kept a diary from the time she was fourteen. On her 18th birthday, she received a scrapbook with newspaper articles on her first track and field season compiled by her parents, to which she began adding articles. Yvette then compiled a second scrapbook with thousands of articles about her sporting career. Yvette's diaries, two scrapbooks and audiotapes were loaned by her daughter Karen to author Angela Walker whom Karen had asked to write her mother's story. The end result was The Dame Yvette Williams Story: Ideals Are Like Stars which was published by David Bateman Ltd on 11 April 2022. 

See:  NZ Women's Weekly, "Beloved Olympian Dame Yvette Williams lasting legacy" (5 June 2022)

marriage and family: 

By 1950, Yvette was dating a guy whom she had met at a Dunedin Town Hall dance, and they became engaged in October 1951. Her sporting aspirations, however, created tensions as he was wanting to get married and start a family, like their friends had done. Yvette had written in her diary: "One year today is the opening of the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki, so I'll just wonder if I'll be there. Either that, or doing housework, I suppose."  The outcome was Yvette breaking off the engagement. She learnt later that she was selected to attend the Olympics being held in Helsinki in July 1952.

After following her coaches to Auckland, Yvette met Charles "Buddy" Corlett (1921 - 2015) at the Auckland YMCA during the summer of 1953-54. Buddy was a Canadian who had emigrated to New Zealand. He became a basketball and softball player, representing Auckland and New Zealand.  After Yvette competed successfully at the Vancouver Games in August 1954, they announced their engagement. Later that year, Yvette announced her retirement from athletic sports in November, when aged twenty-five years, and continued to play for the Tall Ferns until the following year.  At the time, she ranked number one in world track and field history in the long jump, fifth in the pentathlon, 12th in the discus throw and 19th in the shot put.  Yvette married Buddy in December 1954 - see wedding day photograph in NZ Women's Weekly, ibid.  

Yvette and Buddy lived in Auckland and raised a family of four children - Neville, Peter, Karen and Bruce. Neville became a national basketball representative and Peter was a NZ junior decathlon champion and record-holder who went on to represent Pakuranga and Auckland as a rugby union player and was an All Blacks triallist. Karen represented New Zealand in rhythmic gymnastics at the 1977 world championships. She had also received training from Yvette's former coach, Emmy Bellwood, when attending her gymnastics club. Bruce also played rugby for Pakuranga and coached rugby in Wales. In the 1974 New Years Honours, Buddy was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire, for services to the community. In 2008, he was inducted as a Legend of Auckland Softball, and he was also named as one of the 10 most outstanding New Zealand basketball players of the 20th century. Buddy died on 9 May 2015.  

Yvette's sporting prowess inspired her five years younger brother Roy Williams (born 9 September 1934). He won the gold medal for the decathlon at the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Kingston, Jamaica.   

TEACHING & COACHING CAREER:

Yvette taught Physical Education for 15 years, firstly at Otahuhu College for two years and then at Diocesan School for Girls in Auckland -  one of her pupils being Sarah Ulmer, Olympic cycling gold medallist and world record holder.  

In the mid 1950s, Yvette was involved with organising a campaign to raise funding for the new YMCA facility in central Auckland. In early 1960s, she was a coach at the Panmure Athletic Club.  Yvette also founded the Pakuranga Athletic Club in 1967, which she helped run and and taught gymnastics, coached basketball and athletics. She also became involved with Special Olympians - people with intellectual disabilities. In addition, Yvette volunteered her time coaching at the Panmure Young Citizens Centre. 

Yvette served on the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame Board of Governors from 1990 to 1995, was Patron of Athletics New Zealand from 2003 to 2006, and was Patron of Counties Manukau Regional Sports Trust for 17 years until 2009.  She served for 40 consecutive years on the selection panel for the New Zealand Herald Junior Sports Awards.  In 2010, Yvette officially opened the Yvette Williams Track, an all-weather track at Lloyd Elsmore Park Pakuranga, named in her honour.

AWARDS / ACCOLADES

1950:   New Zealand Sportsman of the Year (first woman to be named)

1952:   New Zealand Sportsman of the Year

1953:   In New Year's Honours: Member of the Order of the British Empire, for services in women's athletics

1954:   Received a plaque commemorating her athletics success, including the world record for long jumping in 1954, which                    was presented by Mr S G Leeder, president of the New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association (NZAAA) 

1987:   Named "Athlete of the Century" on the 100th anniversary of Athletics New Zealand. 

1990:   Inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame  

2000: Otago Sportsperson of the Century. Sports writer Peter Heidenstrom, author of the book Athletes of the Century, rates             her as New Zealand's top athlete of the 20th century.

2002: Yvette returned to Helsinki for the 50th anniversary of the 1952 Games, receiving a standing ovation from a crowd of             20,000    

2011:   In New Year's Honours, appointed a Companion of the New Zealand order of Merit for services to athletics  

2011:   Appeared twice in the Otago Daily Times' list of the top 150 moments in Otago sporting history. Her Olympic gold effort            was surpassed only by Danyon Loader's double Olympic golds in 1996. Her triple gold medal effort at the 1954            Vancouver Commonwealth Games - in which she won the long jump, shot put and discus - landed in 26th spot. 

2011:   Ryman Healthcare named a retirement village, the "Yvette Williams Retirement Village", in the Dunedin suburb of Roslyn            in her honour

2013:  The New Zealand Olympic Committee, in association with the Glenn Family Foundation, established the Yvette Williams             Scholarship, to assist young athletes displaying both exceptional talent and need

2019:   In Queen's Birthday Honours, posthumously promoted to Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for             services to athletics. (After learning of the Award, Yvette had passed away on 13 April 2018, aged 89 years.)

2020: Inaugural Yvette Williams Memorial Meet held in Dunedin on 11 January. 

Source:  NZHistory: 'Yvette Williams', URL: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/people/yvette-williams, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 15-Apr-2019  

Latter years

In her latter years, Yvette faced setbacks to her health which she overcame: heart surgery to replace her aortic valve, surgery for colon cancer, and a brain abscess that affected her speech and mobility. Her husband Buddy had also suffered a stroke in 2000 and passed away on 9 May 2015, aged 93.  

After receiving a letter from the Government she was to be made a Dame in the Queen's Birthday Honours, Yvette passed away on 13 April 2019, aged 89 years.   

Olympic athlete and gym owner Les Mills spoke at Yvette's funeral, "Yvette to me was a beacon. She led the way for so many sports men and women ... She was proof that almost anything was possible." 

Source: 

• Athletics New Zealand: Obituary Yvette Williams CNZM  MBE (15 April 2019)

• Bruce Munro, "Running on air", (Otago Daily Times, 11 April 2022)

• James McOnie, "Former Olympic champ battles back after brain op paralysis" (NZ Herald, 3 June 2006)

• John Lazo-Ron, "Sporting royalty honoured again" (Howick and Pakuranga Times, 20 November 2008)  

"Yvette Williams was a trail blazer and a true beacon of what is possible for women in sport," said New Zealand Olympic Committee president Mike Stanley. "She was a truly humble New Zealander who was deeply passionate about sport and young athletes. Her place in New Zealand's history is unique and her contribution to sport has opened doors. She was a treasured member of the New Zealand Team and is one of our greatest-ever athletes, she will be missed by all who knew her." 

Source: Stuff.co.nz: "Olympic gold medallist Yvette Corlett (Williams) has died, aged 89" (14 April, 2019)

Find out more

This DigitalNZ story was compiled in July 2022 & updated in July 2024