Dorothy Ada Emerson (née Shirley) (born 15 May 1939) is a former British athlete, who mainly competed in the women's

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 ...

event.

Biography

Shirley represented

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in the high jump at the

1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games The 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games (Welsh: ''Gemau Ymerodraeth Prydain a'r Gymanwlad'' 1958) were held in Cardiff, Wales, from 18 to 26 July 1958. It was the sixth edition of what would come to be known as the Commonwealth Games, the ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

, Wales. Shirley became the national high jump champion after winning the British

WAAA Championships The WAAA Championships was an annual track and field competition organised by the Women's Amateur Athletic Association (WAAA) in England. It was the foremost domestic athletics event for women during its lifetime. Since 1880, the Amateur Athl ...

title at the 1960 WAAA Championships. Shortly afterwards Shirley competed for

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

in the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad () and commonly known as Rome 1960 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 25 August to 11 September 1960 in Rome, Italy. Rome had previously been awar ...

held in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, Italy, where she won the silver medal in the high jump jointly with

Jarosława Jóźwiakowska Jarosława Jóźwiakowska, later Jarosława Bieda (born January 20, 1937, in Poznań) is a Polish Athletics (sport), athlete who mainly competed in the high jump. She competed for Poland at the 1960 Summer Olympics held in Rome, Italy in ...

. It was the fifth straight silver medal for Britain in this event. After successfully retaining her national title at the

1961 WAAA Championships The 1961 WAAA Championships were the national track and field championships for women in the United Kingdom. The event was held at White City Stadium, London, on 8 July 1961. Results + Held on 29 July at Birmingham University See also ...

she competed for

in the high jump at the

1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games The 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games were held in Perth, Western Australia, from 22 November to 1 December 1962. Athletic events were held at Perry Lakes Stadium in the suburb of Floreat and swimming events at Beatty Park in North ...

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, Western Australia. After winning the British WAAA title at the 1966 WAAA Championships, Shirley won a silver medal at the

1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games The 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games were held in Kingston, Jamaica, from 4 to 13 August 1966. This was the first time that the Games had been held outside the so-called White Dominions. The event was followed by the 1966 Commonweal ...

Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long spit (landform), sand spit which connects the town of Por ...

Shirley continued to perform at the highest level in the high jump and won two more WAAA titles in 1968 and 1970 respectively. A fourth consecutive Games appearance came in 1970 during the

1970 British 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 ...

in Edinburgh. Shirley became a teacher and worked as a PE teacher at

Bentham Grammar School Bentham Grammar School was an independent school A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a State school, public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent up ...

in the West Riding of Yorkshire in the early 1970s. Later, she taught as a Primary School Teacher at St. Michael's Primary School in Alkrington, Middleton.

References

External links

* 1939 births Living people Athletes from Manchester British female high jumpers English female high jumpers Olympic athletes for Great Britain Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 1960 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1968 Summer Olympics European Athletics Championships medalists Athletes (track and field) at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games silver medallists for England Medalists at the 1960 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Medallists at the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games 20th-century English sportswomen Commonwealth Games silver medallists in athletics {{England-highjump-athletics-bio-stub