Competitor for

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Myrtle Alice Cook (also competed as Myrtle McGowan) (January 5, 1902March 18, 1985) was a Canadian

athlete An athlete is most commonly a person who competes in one or more sports involving physical strength, speed, power, or endurance. Sometimes, the word "athlete" is used to refer specifically to sport of athletics competitors, i.e. including track ...

who won the gold medal in the women's 4 × 100 metres 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 ...

Career

Born in

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, she competed for Canada at the

held in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

where she won the gold medal in the women's 4 × 100 metres with her teammates

Fanny Rosenfeld Fanny "Bobbie" Rosenfeld (December 28, 1904 – November 14, 1969) was a Canadian athlete, who won a gold medal for the 4 × 100-metre relay and a silver medal for the 100-metre at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam. She was a star at baske ...

(also 100 m silver medallist), Ethel Smith (100 m bronze medallist) and Jane Bell. In 1929, Cook began a career writing for the ''

Montreal Star ''The Montreal Star'' was an English language, English-language Canada, Canadian newspaper published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It closed in 1979 in the wake of an eight-month pressmen's strike. It was Canada's largest newspaper until the 1950 ...

'', where she contributed the column "In the Women's Spotlight" for the next 40 years. Cook was involved in

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 ...

and served as president of the

Dominion Women's Amateur Hockey Association The first instances of organized women's ice hockey in Canada date back to the 1890s when it was played at the university level. The Women's Hockey Association claims that the city of Ottawa, Ontario hosted the first game in 1891. In 1920, Lady ...

prior to 1937. Cook equalled

Betty Robinson Elizabeth R. Schwartz (née Robinson; August 23, 1911 – May 18, 1999) was an American athlete and winner of the first Olympic 100 metres for women. Early life Robinson was born in Riverdale, Illinois. She was a student at Thornton Township ...

's Women's 100 m World Record on August 1, 1931. Cook contributed significantly to women's sports in Canada, helping to establish the Toronto Ladies Athletic Club, serving as director of athletics for the Canadian Ladies Athletic Club, and founding a branch of that club in Montreal. During the Second World War, she was active in fundraising and assisted in training military recruits. She died in

Elora, Ontario The Historic Village of Elora is a community in the township (Canada), township of Centre Wellington Wellington County, Ontario, (Wellington County) in the Ontario, Province of Ontario, Canada. It is well known for its 19th-century limestone arc ...

on March 18, 1985.

References

External links

Library and Archives Canada: Myrtle Cook
1902 births 1985 deaths 20th-century Canadian sportswomen Athletes (track and field) at the 1928 Summer Olympics Canadian female sprinters Canadian people of British descent Medalists at the 1928 Summer Olympics Olympic female sprinters Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic gold medalists for Canada Olympic track and field athletes for Canada People from Old Toronto Track and field athletes from Toronto World record setters in athletics (track and field) {{Canada-Olympic-medalist-stub