Shirley Strickland
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Shirley Barbara Strickland (July 18, 1925 – February 11, 2004), later Shirley Strickland de la Hunty, was an Australian athlete. She won more Olympic medals than any other Australian in the running sports.
Biography
Strickland, a native of Northam, Western Australia, graduated from the University of Western Australia with a Bachelor of Science in 1945 and, in 1946, won honours with physics. Only the following year she took up running seriously, but with great success. She won the national title in the 80 m hurdles in 1948, and was part of the Australian delegation for the 1948 Summer Olympics in London. There, Strickland finished third in both the 100 m and 80 m hurdles and won a silver medal in the 4x100 m relay.After winning three gold medals in the 1950 British Empire Games, she won her first Olympic title at the 1952 Games in Helsinki. She earned her gold medal in the 80 m hurdles, blitzing the field in world record time (10.9 s). An unfortunate baton mix up cost her a second gold in the 4x100 m relay. In the 100 m, she again won the bronze.
She set a new world record of 11.3 s for the 100 m in Poland in 1955, and in the 1956 Olympics she won gold again in the 80 m hurdles and with the Australian 4x100 m relay team.
She maintained her Olympic involvement in athlete administration with the Australian teams, during the 1968 and 1976 Olympics in Mexico City and Montreal. Also, she was active in politics: standing as a candidate for the Australian Democrats and being a spokesperson for a number of environmental groups.
She was one of the bearers of the Olympic Torch at the opening ceremony of the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. As one of the runners for the final segment, she carried the Olympic Torch at the stadium, before the lighting of the Olympic Flame.
In 2001, she again attracted media attention by auctioning all her sporting memorabilia, including her Olympic Gold medals. She was criticised by some for doing this; but she asserted that she had a right to do so and that the income generated would help pay for her grandchildren's education, as well as allowing a sizeable donation to assist in retaining old growth forests from developers. Her memorabilia was eventually acquired, for the MCG Museum in Melbourne, by a group of anonymous businessmen who shared Shirley's wish that the memorabilia would stay in Australia.
Her body was found on 16 February 2004, on her kitchen floor, but there was ample evidence to suggest she had died on the evening of 11 February. There was no full autopsy, and the coroner said the cause of death was "unascertainable". Her family believed it was caused by a stroke or a heart attack brought on by stress. In 2005, a request by some members of her family to the West Australian coroner to hold an inquest was denied.
External link
Other Sources
- Death of a Golden Girl article, Jane Cadzow, Sydney Morning Herald "Good Weekend" magazine, 21 January 2006
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