Olympic Champ Born 98 Years Ago

[Double R Bar]

Today (Friday) marks the 98th birthday for this Olympic champion who set a world record in winning the gold medal. The person who took the silver medal also set a world record. Our birthday athlete was born in Pennsylvania and died some eleven years ago. This athlete finished fourth place in the Olympic Games before striking gold four years later. Hint: This gold medalist was not a runner and won the gold medal in Los Angeles. Anyone know the name of our birthday athlete for today?

[Per Andersen]

That would be HJer Jean Shiley. She was 4th in '28 and won in '32 with a WR. 1.65.

This was when Babe Didrikson clearance at 1.67 was disallowed for "diving"

[Double R Bar]

That would be correct Per Andersen. Yesterday was the birthday of Jean Shiley. Jean won the high jump gold medal in Los Angeles some 77 years ago. Nice job Per.

[lovetorun]

That would be correct Per Andersen. Yesterday was the birthday of Jean Shiley. Jean won the high jump gold medal in Los Angeles some 77 years ago. Nice job Per.

Yes, Per is one of the best when it comes to T&F history. I have a question for Per...is most of this info in your head, or do you have a resource for looking up data?

[dj]

I've jumped in the same high jump pit (newer sawdust or turned dirt, of course) in which Shiley first cleared 5-0 back in 1927. It's where we held our county high school championships.

But before then, I was playing second base in a junior high baseball game.
Home plate was on the infield, near the sprint start. The high jump pit (and it was still a pit in the mid-'60s, no bag of foam rubber strips yet), was down the left field line outside the track, and that's where the visiting team sat and where we warmed up.

Several of us got in trouble with the coach for fooling around with something as risky as trying to see how high we could jump! I think I cleared four feet and a little more.

[Per Andersen]

That would be correct Per Andersen. Yesterday was the birthday of Jean Shiley. Jean won the high jump gold medal in Los Angeles some 77 years ago. Nice job Per.

Yes, Per is one of the best when it comes to T&F history. I have a question for Per...is most of this info in your head, or do you have a resource for looking up data?

No need to look this up. He gave it away when he said it was not a runner. I sure did not know Shiley's birthday but it fit too well.
Besides, it has always annoyed me that they disallowed Didrikson's jump but allowed McNaughton's jumps in winning the mens' gold medal. They both used the Western roll technique. Or, maybe they thought Didrikson was "diving" on 1.67 but not on 1.65 jumping the same way! Well, by the next year the no diving rule was eliminated.