Debbie Arden Brill, (born March 10, 1953) is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

athlete who at the age of 16 became the first

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n woman to clear 6 feet. Her reverse jumping style—which is now almost exclusively the technique of elite high jumpers—was called the Brill Bend and was developed by her when she was a child, around the same time as

Dick Fosbury Richard Douglas Fosbury (March 6, 1947 – March 12, 2023) was an American high jumper, who is considered one of the most influential athletes in the history of track and field. He won a gold medal at the 1968 Summer Olympics, revolutionizing t ...

was developing the similar Fosbury Flop in the US. Brill won gold in the high jump at the

1970 Commonwealth Games The 1970 British Commonwealth Games were held in Edinburgh, Scotland, from 16 to 25 July 1970. This was the first time the name British Commonwealth Games was adopted, the first time metric units rather than imperial units were used in all eve ...

, and at the

Pan American Games The Pan American Games, known as the Pan Am Games, is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas. It features thousands of athletes participating in competitions to win different summer sports. It is held among athletes from nations of th ...

in 1971. She finished 8th in the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and officially branded as Munich 1972 (; ), were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. It was the ...

, then quit the sport in the wake of the Munich massacre, returning three years later. She won gold at the IAAF World Cup in 1979 and at the

1982 Commonwealth Games The 1982 Commonwealth Games were held in Brisbane, Australia, from 30 September to 9 October 1982. The Opening Ceremony was held at the QEII Stadium (named after Elizabeth II), in the Brisbane suburb of Nathan. The QEII Stadium was also the ...

. She has held the Canadian high jump record since 1969, and set the current record of 1.99 metres in 1982, a few months after giving birth to her first child.

Career

Brill was born in

Mission, British Columbia Mission is a city in the Lower Mainland of the province of British Columbia, Canada. It was originally incorporated as a district municipality in 1892, growing to include additional villages and rural areas over the years, adding the original T ...

, one of five children of a Canadian father and an American mother. She developed her style of jumping as a preteen on the family farm when her father made a landing pit containing foam rubber. Fifty years later she described it as "a natural extension of what my body was telling me to do. It was physical intuition; it wasn't anything taught." The technique, which involved jumping over the bar with her face to the sky and landing on her back, was dubbed the "Brill bend". Her clubmates thought it was unique until they learned that an older American athlete,

, was becoming known for using the same technique. Brill started competing provincially in British Columbia in 1966 at age 13. The following year, she competed at the Canadian national level. Her first international competition was in 1968 at age 15. In 1970 at age 17, she became the first woman in the western hemisphere to jump 6 ft (1.83 m).She gets her back up: Only five women in history have jumped higher than Canada's Debbie Brill, who gives it a twist
Sports Illustrated (Vault), Anita Verschoth, Feb. 22, 1971. Brill has held the Canadian National High Jump record since 1969, establishing her first Canadian High Jump record when she was 16. She set her final Canadian outdoor record in September 1984 with . Her indoor record of was set in 1982. As of 2017, Brill's Canadian records still stand. She won the gold medal at the first Pacific Conference Games in 1969. She would again win the Pacific Conference Games title in 1977. Brill won the 1970 Commonwealth Games in

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, Scotland, UK, and was presented with the gold medal by Queen Elizabeth. She won the 1971 Pan Am Games. Brill came in eighth at the 1972 Olympics in Munich. She campaigned to have the Games stopped after the Munich massacre and retired afterwards, becoming disillusioned with the Olympic experience. She returned to competition in 1975 and placed 4th at the Pan Am Games. At the

1976 Montreal Olympics The 1976 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Montreal 1976 (), were an international multi-sport event held from July 17 to August 1, 1976, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal w ...

, she was eliminated after failing three times at the opening height and was criticized for laughing in a subsequent interview, although she wrote afterwards that she was disappointed by her failure. She placed 3rd at the first World Cup in 1977, and won a silver medal at home in

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

at the 1978 Commonwealth Games. In 1979, Brill won a gold medal in the athletics World Cup held in

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, Canada. She was the world's number one high jumper for 1979. Having been ranked number one in the world by Track and Field News in 1979, Brill was one of the favourites going into the 1980 Olympics which Canada boycotted because of the U.S.S.R.'s military involvement in Afghanistan. In January 1982, Brill established a World Indoor High Jump record of 1.99 meters in Edmonton, Alberta, 5 months after giving birth to her first son Neil. She has a daughter Katelin and another son Jacob. She is married to physician Dr. Douglas Coleman. She was again Commonwealth Champion in 1982 at the games in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

. From 1970 to 1985 in the annual Track and Field News merit rankings, Brill was ranked in the world's top ten for the high jump twelve times (the exceptions being 1973, 74, 76 and 81; with 76 being the only active year of the four). She was ranked in the top 5 six times. The only female high jumpers with more top ten rankings are Inha Babakova and Stefka Kostadinova, both with thirteen. In 1983, Brill was made an Officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

in recognition for being "Canada's premier woman high-jumper". In 2012, she was awarded the

Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal () or The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal was a commemorative medal created in 2012 to mark the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's accession in 1952. There are four versions of the medal: one iss ...

. In 1999, at the age of 46, Brill broke the world masters record (age 45+) when she cleared 1.76 metres in

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. In 2004, she broke the age 50+ masters record by clearing 1.60 m in Langley. As of 2016, Brill's world age group records still stand.

Achievements

Records

* Canadian National High Jump Record – 1.98 m (1984, has held national record since 1969) * Canadian National Indoor Record – 1.99 m (1982, former world indoor record) * World Masters Record (W45+) – 1.76 (1999) * World Masters Record (W50+) – 1.60 m (2004)

National titles

* 11 times Canadian National High Jump Champion – 1968-71,1974,1976,1978,1980,1982-1984 * 2 times United States National High Jump Champion – 1979, 1982 * WAAA National (UK) High Jump Champion – 1971

International competitions

Note: At the 1976 Olympic Games, Brill had three failures at her opening height of 1.75 m in the qualifying round. ¹Representing the Americas.

References

External links