Mable Fergerson (born January 18, 1955 in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wo ...

) is an American athlete who mainly competed in the 400 metres. She made the Olympic team just weeks after graduating from

Ganesha High School Pomona Unified School District or PUSD serves approximately 30,000 Pre-K-12 students and 17,000 adult learners at 44 schools in Pomona and Diamond Bar, California. It is located 30 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, and is the third-largest schoo ...

Pomona, California Pomona is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, California. Pomona is located in the Pomona Valley, between the Inland Empire and the San Gabriel Valley. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city's population ...

. At the time before

Title IX Title IX is the most commonly used name for the federal civil rights law in the United States that was enacted as part (Title IX) of the Education Amendments of 1972. It prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or any other educa ...

, high schools had no athletic programs for girls. Her 51.91 from the semi-final of the Olympics was the fastest on record for a high school girl to that point in time. She competed for the United States at the

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

held in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

she won the silver medal in the 4 x 400 metres where with her teammates

Madeline Manning Madeline Manning Mims (born January 11, 1948) is a former American runner. Between 1967 and 1981 she won ten national titles and set a number of American records. She participated in the 1968, 1972, and 1976 Summer Olympics. She likely also woul ...

Cheryl Toussaint Cheryl Renee Toussaint (born December 16, 1952) is an American athlete who mainly competed in the 800 metres. She grew up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, where she attended Erasmus Hall High School, setting the in ...

and

Kathy Hammond Kathryn "Kathy" Hammond (born November 2, 1951) is an American athlete who mainly competed in the 400 meters. Hammond was born in Sacramento, California. She was a child prodigy, winning the National Indoor Championship at 440 yards in 1967, w ...

. That year she also finished fifth in the

400 metres The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor running track, it is on ...

References

External links

Official profile
1955 births American female sprinters Olympic silver medalists for the United States in track and field Athletes (track and field) at the 1972 Summer Olympics Track and field athletes from Los Angeles Living people Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics Olympic female sprinters 21st-century American women {{US-athletics-Olympic-medalist-stub