Betty Robinson

Betty Robinson
Full name	Elizabeth M. Robinson
nation	United States
birthday	August 23, 1911
place of birth	Riverdale
size	167 cm
Weight	57 kg
date of death	May 18, 1999
Place of death	Denver
Career
discipline	sprint
society	Illinois Club for Catholic Women
Medal table
Olympic games 2 × 1 × 0 ×
Olympic games gold Amsterdam 1928 100 m silver Amsterdam 1928 4 × 100 m gold Berlin 1936 4 × 100 m

Elizabeth M. "Betty" Robinson (married Schwartz ; born August 23, 1911 in Riverdale , Illinois , † May 18, 1999 in Denver , Colorado ) was an American athlete and the first ever Olympic champion over 100 meters .

biography

Robinson took part in her first 100-meter run at the age of 17 and was only beaten by the American record holder. In the next race she equalized the world record , but her time was not officially recognized. At the Olympic Games in 1928 , the first with women's competitions in athletics, Robinson won the gold medal and again equalized the world record. She won the silver medal in the 4 x 100 meter relay .

In 1931 Robinson was critically injured in a plane crash. After she woke up from a coma lasting several weeks , her sporting career seemed to be over, as she was initially dependent on a wheelchair because of various broken bones and it took two years before she could walk normally again.

Although she still could not bend her knees properly, which is why she was denied a single start, Robinson was nominated for the 4 x 100 meter relay at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. After the highly favored Germans lost the baton at the last change, the Americans won. Robinson had become an Olympic champion for the second time.

Shortly afterwards, she resigned and served as a sports official for many years. She died of cancer and Alzheimer's at the age of 87 .

Web links

• Short biography on the IOC website
• Betty Robinson in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )

Individual evidence

1. ^ The Guardian : The Joy of Six: great Olympic moments . July 31, 2008