Margaret "Meg" Elizabeth Stone Ritchie (born 6 July 1952) is a retired Scottish

discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field sport in which the participant athlete throws an oblate spheroid weight (object), weight called a discus in an attempt to mark a further distance than other competitors. It is a ...

er and

Shot put The shot put is a track-and-field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical Ball (sports), ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. For men, the sport has been a part of the Olympic Games, modern Olympics since their 1896 Summer Olym ...

ter. She reached the Olympic finals at discus in

Moscow 1980 The 1980 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad () and officially branded as Moscow 1980 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1980 in Moscow, Soviet Union, in present-day Russ ...

(9th) and

Los Angeles 1984 The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the ...

(5th). She also won the 1982 Commonwealth Games title. Her discus best of 67.48 metres has stood as the British record since 1981, while her shot put best of 18.99 metres has stood as the Scottish record since 1983.

Athletics career

Born in

Kirkcaldy Kirkcaldy ( ; ; ) is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It is about north of Edinburgh and south-southwest of Dundee. The town had a recorded population of 49,460 in 2011, making it Fife's second-largest s ...

Fife Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...

, Ritchie won the Scottish championships in discus seven times and in

shot put The shot put is a track-and-field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical Ball (sports), ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. For men, the sport has been a part of the Olympic Games, modern Olympics since their 1896 Summer Olym ...

she won three Scottish titles. She also won the UK Championships four times in the discus, and three AAA discus titles. Her personal best throw was , achieved in April 1981 in

Walnut A walnut is the edible seed of any tree of the genus '' Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, '' Juglans regia''. They are accessory fruit because the outer covering of the fruit is technically an i ...

. This is the current NCAA Women's Outdoor Track and Field and British record.UK All-Time Lists: Women - Throws
- GBR Athletics Ritchie finished second behind fellow Scot

Rosemary Payne Christine Rosemary Payne (née Charters; born 19 May 1933) is a British female retireddiscus thrower. She represented Great Britain at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich and won the gold medal for Scotland at the 1970 Commonwealth Games. Bio ...

in the discus event at the

1973 WAAA Championships The 1973 WAAA Championships were the national track and field championships for women in the United Kingdom. The event was held at the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre, London, from 20 to 21 July 1973. The 200 metres hurdles was replaced ...

. Two years later she became the British discus 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

1975 WAAA Championships The 1975 WAAA Championships were the national track and field championships for women in the United Kingdom. The event was held at the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre, London, from 18 to 19 July 1975. The 3,500 metres walk was increased ...

and successfully regained the title at the

1977 WAAA Championships The 1977 WAAA Championships were the national track and field championships for women in the United Kingdom. The event was held at the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre, London, from 19 to 20 August 1977. 1977 saw the introduction of the ...

and the

1981 WAAA Championships The 1981 WAAA Championships sponsored by Sunsilk, were the national track and field championships for women in the United Kingdom. The event was held at the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre, London, from 24 to 25 July 1981. The Pentathlo ...

. Representing the Arizona Wildcats track and field team, in 1982 she won the NCAA Division 1 Championships shot/discus double in America. Later that same year she won the discus gold medal 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 ...

in Brisbane. In the shot put her personal best was , achieved in May 1983 in

Tucson Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...

. This is the current Scottish national record

Personal life

Ritchie is married to Dr. Michael H. Stone. She is the Director of East Tennessee State University Sports Performance Enhancement Consortium (SPEC), the Director of the Center of Excellence for Coach Education, and Assistant Coach for Men's and Women's Track and Field at ETSU (Throws). Under her tutelage, the male throwers from ETSU have proceeded to break the indoor shot, discus, hammer, 35 lb weight, and outdoor shot school records. The women have set new records in the 20 lb weight throw and the hammer throw.

International competitions

References

External links

*
Profile
at Sporting Heroes * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ritchie, Meg 1952 births Living people Sportspeople from Kirkcaldy British female discus throwers British female shot putters Scottish female shot putters Scottish female discus throwers Olympic athletes for Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 1984 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1980 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Scotland Athletes (track and field) at the 1974 British Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1978 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1982 Commonwealth Games World Athletics Championships athletes for Great Britain Medallists at the 1982 Commonwealth Games NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners Arizona Wildcats women's track and field athletes NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships winners 20th-century Scottish sportswomen Commonwealth Games gold medallists in athletics