Myrtle Cook

Myrtle Alice Cook, after marriage McGowan ( born January 5, 1902 in Toronto, Ontario, † March 18, 1985 in Elora, Ontario ) was a Canadian track and field athlete and Olympic champion.

Myrtle Cook was active in many sports such as tennis, hockey, basketball, bowling and cycling. At the age of 15 she was accepted into the national track and field team. Cook was one of those who pulled down in the 1920s, the barriers of women in politics and sport. In 1923 she was one of the co-initiators of the Toronto Ladies Athletic Club, exclusively for women. The public debate about the posting of six women through the COC (Canadian Olympic Committee) were abruptly terminated after the successes of the ladies. Cook built in Halifax on one of the first world records in the 100 -meter run and was the favorite in this discipline for the upcoming Olympic Games. She, however, was disqualified after two false starts. After the return of the Canadian team parades were held for women in Toronto and Montréal. The press reported that 200,000 people in the stadiums and 100,000 along the parades. Cook was Canadian champion in the 100 meters and more than 60 yards until 1931.

Cook was with Fanny Rosenfeld, Jean Thompson, Ethel Smith, Florence Bell, and Ethel Catherwood at the Summer Olympic Games in 1928 in Amsterdam to which ridiculed at the start of the press The Matchless Six. At the end of the Olympics, however, put out that precisely these six ladies of the Canadian Olympic team had brought the most medals for their country, even more than the men.

In this Olympics Cook won the gold medal in the 4 x 100 - meter relay along with teammates Fanny Rosenfeld, Ethel Smith and Florence Bell in front of the team of Americans ( silver) and the team of Germans ( bronze).

In 1932 she founded together with Hilda Strike, the Olympic silver medalist from 1932, the Mercury Athletic Club. From this time, she worked in the promotion of female athletes and the promotion of sport for ladies. Shortly after, she was appointed as assistant coach of the Montreal Royals, a professional male baseball team to practice with them with their training. She was also in demand as a sports journalist and got in the Montreal Star own column, which in the Women 's Sport Light. From 1932 to 1972 she was a permanent member of the committee of the Commonwealth Games and the Canadian National Olympic Committee.

Swell

• McDonald, David - " Golden Age of women and sport in Canada". - Canadian women 's studies.
• Palmason, Diane - " In memory of Myrtle ." - Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women and Sport newsletter.