Rita Ridley (née Lincoln; 4 November 1946 – 12 February 2013) was an English middle- and long-distance runner.

[1][2][3][4] She started in athletics at school in Essex with her twin sister Iris.

Aged 18, she finished second to Joyce Smith in the mile race at the WAAA Championships.

She represented England and won the gold medal in the 1,500 metres[5] at the 1970 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh.

[6][7][8][3] In a fiercely contested race, New Zealand's Sylvia Potts tripped and fell just one metre from the finish line, with Ridley avoiding the falling athlete on her outside, to take the title.