A sporting VIP brought the spirit of the Olympics to Okehampton last Thursday.

Dame Mary Peters, a pentathlon gold medallist at the 1972 Olympics Games was in the town officially to open the retirement living development Rivers Edge Court, on Oaklands Drive.

Dame Mary had a career as an international athlete spanning almost two decades. In both the pentathlon and the shot, she turned in performances of a consistently high standing in international competition.

She took fourth place in the 1964 Olympic Games, second in the shot at the 1966 Commonwealth Games, and first in the pentathlon in both the 1970 and 1974 Commonwealth Games.

But her crowning glory came in 1972 when she won pentathlon gold at the Olympics in Munich. She edged out the hot favourite, Germany's Heide Rosendahl.

Rosendahl finished the event with 4,791 points, which set the world record points total in the pentathlon. That record was beaten 1.12 seconds later by Dame Mary, who bested it by ten points as she finished the 200 metre race in 24.08 seconds.

Dame Mary visited Rivers Edge Court as part of her role as ambassador for McCarthy and Stone, the developer behind the complex. She is also an ambassador for the 2012 London Olympics.

She told residents of the complex and staff: 'I have been round a lot of the developments for McCarthy and Stone and just last week I was in Pitlochry in Scotland. They have a lovely development there but they don't have a lovely river running by like the development here in Okehampton.

'I live on River Road in Dunmurry, and have flown over this morning. To have the river here is delightful, as I have a similar view from my own home. So it's a real pleasure for me to be here today.'

She then did the honours of cutting the ribbon for the complex with Derek Field, McCarthy and Stone's regional operations director.

Speaking about Dame Mary, he said: 'She is without doubt one of our best remembered and well loved sporting legends, and it's a privilege to have her here today.

'That fantastic achievement came just 24 hours before the Games were struck by terrorism when the Black September group took a lot of lives.

'I'm still a great fan of the Olympics and was in 1972. It made the gold medal all the more special, and gave it a special resonance.

'It represented what the Olympics are all about, which is fair sporting competition in the spirit of international fraternity without any barriers of race or creed.'

Rivers Edge Court is a retirement living development offering people over the age of 60 continued home ownership, independence and security in a low maintenance property. The development comprises a collection of one and two bedroom apartments.