Ethel Catherwood (April 28, 1908 – September 26, 1987) was 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 ...

Olympic athlete.

Biography

Born in

Hannah, North Dakota Hannah is a city in Cavalier County, North Dakota, United States. The population was 8 at the 2020 census. Hannah was founded in 1897. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all land. This clim ...

, United States, Ethel Catherwood was raised and educated in

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...

, Canada, where she excelled at

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

and track and field athletics. In 1926, as a student at

Bedford Road Collegiate Bedford Road Collegiate is a public high school on the west side of the city of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. It is Saskatoon's second oldest high school, opened on February 12, 1923. It is also known as BRCI (Bedford Road Collegiate Institute), or Bed ...

, she equalled a Canadian record for the

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 ...

at the Saskatoon city track and field championships. On Labour Day of the same year, she broke the

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-held high jump

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...

. In 1928, she became a member of the Matchless Six, a group of 6 Canadian women who competed at the

1928 Summer Olympics The 1928 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the IX Olympiad (), was an international multi-sport event that was celebrated from 28 July to 12 August 1928 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The city of Amsterdam had previously bid for ...

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, the first Olympics to allow female competitors in athletics. Catherwood took home a

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

in the high jump, clearing . There was considerable focus on her physical attributes during the Games earning her the nickname "Saskatoon Lily". As well, a

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correspondent dubbed her the "prettiest girl athlete" at the 1928 Olympics. However, much more than a pretty face, Ethel Catherwood took home the world's first ever gold medal awarded to a female high jumper and held the title as the only Canadian female athlete to have won an individual gold medal in an Olympic track and field event, until Camryn Rogers' win at the hammer throw in 2024, 96 years later. Catherwood's sister Generva, known as Ginger, was an

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

player for the

University of Saskatchewan The University of Saskatchewan (U of S, or USask) is a Universities in Canada, Canadian public university, public research university, founded on March 19, 1907, and located on the east side of the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon, Saskatch ...

, considered by some to be among the greatest women's hockey players of her day. They lived together in

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while Ethel was training for the 1928 Games, to which Ginger served as her chaperone. Catherwood also held national titles in

javelin throw The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about in length, is thrown as far as possible. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's de ...

, but this event became Olympic only in 1932, whereas she retired from competitions a year earlier. Upon her return from the 1928 Olympics, Catherwood was offered a movie contract, but declined the offer. She took a business course, married, and moved to

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. In 1955, she was inducted into

Canada's Sports Hall of Fame Canada's Sports Hall of Fame (; sometimes referred to as the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame) is a Canadian sports hall of fame and museum in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Dedicated to the history of sports in Canada, it serves as a hall of fame and mu ...

, the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame in 1966, and the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame in 1986. Catherwood had an enigmatic life. After the Olympics, where she was feted as the beauty of the games, she was surrounded by scandal. Her secret marriage to and speedy

Reno Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada–California border. It is the county seat and most populous city of Washoe County, Nevada, Washoe County. Sitting in the High Eastern Sierra foothills, ...

divorce from James McLaren, and later marriage to Byron Mitchell (whom she divorced in 1960) had the press following her every move. She refused to give interviews. She even considered trying out for the US Olympic team in 1932.

Death and legacy

Catherwood died in California on September 26, 1987. She is the subject of a short graphic (i.e., comic) biography by David Collier entitled "The Ethel Catherwood Story," collected in ''An Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons, and True Stories''. In 2022, the Canadian government declared Catherwood a

person of national historic significance Persons of National Historic Significance (National Historic People) () are people designated by the Canadian government as being nationally significant in the history of the country. Designations are made by the Minister of the Environment on the ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Catherwood, Ethel 1908 births 1987 deaths Sportspeople from Haldimand County Canadian female high jumpers Olympic gold medalists for Canada Athletes (track and field) at the 1928 Summer Olympics People from Cavalier County, North Dakota Track and field athletes from Saskatoon Medalists at the 1928 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) American emigrants to Canada World record setters in athletics (track and field) Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada) Track and field athletes from North Dakota 20th-century Canadian sportswomen