Betty Cuthbert (1938-)
The 'Golden Girl' who was the first to win an Olympic gold medal on Australian soil.
Early Life
In 1938 in the town of Maryland Betty
Cuthbert was
born along with her twin
sister, Marie. Betty was raised through the Depression. She went to Ermington
Primary School. Ever since she was eight Betty was able to beat all the boys. After the
encouragement of her teacher she decided to join a running club. At the age
of 13 she started to win the 75 yard Jubilee school races and from then on
she won the state championships. At the age of 15 she created a sensation
by breaking the Australian Junior 100 yards record. After that she was invited to bigger
meetings and won all of her races until... she was invited to the biggest event
of all, THE 1956 MELBOURNE OLYMPICS!!
Career Achievements
Betty Cuthbert was only
18 when she
participated in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.
She won three gold medals for the 100 metres, 200 metres and 4 x 100 metres
relay. Her time for the 100 metres was 11.5 seconds and 23.4 seconds for the 200
metres. The last leg of the women's relay was entrusted to Betty, already winner
of two medals. In a heart stopping finish she led her country to victory and
established a new Olympic and world record time of 44.5 seconds. From her gold
coloured hair she got the nickname of 'The Golden Girl'. In the 1960 Rome
Olympics the Golden Girl unfortunately didn't receive any medals due to a torn
leg muscle. She emerged again in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics winning the 400 metres
in 52 seconds. She retired with many honours to her credit not the least of
those being the first person to win gold on Australian soil and in 1965 she was
awarded an MBE.
Life After Athletics
Sadly in later life Betty developed Multiple Sclerosis and now spends time raising money for research in this terrible disease, when her health permits.
Shirley Strickland