Shirley Strickland
Shirley Strickland statue outside the Melbourne Cricket Ground
Shirley Strickland de la Hunty (nee Shirley Barbara Strickland, born July 18, 1925 in Northam, † 11 February 2004 in Perth ) was an Australian athlete. At Olympic Games, she won three gold medals, one silver and three bronze.
Life and career
Strickland was born in the state of Western Australia and attended the universities in Applecross Melville and they 1945 and 1946 ended with two accounts. The following year she devoted her training and was 1948 Australian champion in the 80 m hurdles. Thus, they belonged to the Australian Olympic team for the Olympic Summer Games in London. Here she finished fourth in her Olympic debut, a 3rd place in the 100 - meter race behind the Dutch Fanny blanker - Koen ( gold) and the British Dorothy Manley (silver), a 3rd place in the 80 m hurdles discipline behind the Dutch Fanny blanker - Koen ( gold) and the British Maureen Gardner (Silver ) and a 2nd place with the team in the discipline 4 x 100 m relay.
After three gold medals at the British Empire Games in 1950 she married Laurence de la Hunty, a geologist, she had taught in physics. She continued her athletic career and she won at the Olympic Summer Games in Helsinki in 1952 her first Olympic gold medal in the 80 m hurdles before the Soviet athlete Marija Golubnitschaja ( silver ) and the German Maria Sander (bronze). In addition, they achieved a bronze in the 100 m behind Marjorie Jackson ( Gold) and Daphne Hare Jager from South Africa (silver).
In 1955 she introduced in Poland a new world record in the 100 m, and at the Summer Olympic Games in Melbourne in 1956, she won the gold medal in the 80 m hurdles before the German Gisela Köhler ( silver) and the Australian Norma Thrower ( Bronze) again, also team gold in the 4 × 100 m relay with their team-mates Norma Croker, Fleur Mellor and Betty Cuthbert before the teams from the UK and the USA.
After the last gold medals Strickland de la Hunty ended her active international career as an athlete, but still took until 1962 to national championships and was dedicated to her family and with her experience the Australian team, they also at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City and 1976 accompanied in Montreal. They also actively increased as a candidate of the Australian Democrats in politics and was spokesperson of several associations and committees.
Strickland de la Hunty won in their active sports career more Olympic medals than any other Australian athlete in a run - discipline and set in the years 1952-1956, 13 new world records.
At the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000, she starred opposite Betty Cuthbert, Raelene Boyle, Dawn Fraser, Shane Gould and Debbie Flintoff -King is one of six outstanding women of the Australian sporting history, carrying the torch with the Olympic Flame through the round of the Olympic Stadium, before Cathy Freeman lit the flame.