Sheila Lerwill

Sheila Lerwill , born Sheila Alexander , (born August 16, 1928 in London ) is a former British athlete . The high jumper was European champion in 1950 and Olympic runner-up in 1952.

The jumper achieved her first British record of 1.69 meters in 1950, starting under her maiden name. In the same year she won her first national championship. At the European Championships in 1950 , she won the title with 1.63 meters in front of her compatriot Dorothy Tyler and Galina Ganeker from the Soviet Union, who both jumped the same height.

On July 7, 1951, now married, she won her second league title at London's White City Stadium . At 1.72 meters she exceeded the nine-year-old world record set by Fanny Blankers-Koen . At the Olympic Games in Helsinki in 1952 , the South African Esther Brand won with 1.67 meters in front of Lerwill with 1.65 meters and Alexandra Tschudina (Soviet Union) with 1.63 meters.

1953 and 1954 Lerwill again won the British championship. In May 1954 Tschudina jumped a new world record with 1.73 meters. At the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Vancouver in 1954 , Lerwill, starting for England, was fourth with 1.57 meters. It won the up-and-coming Northern Irish Thelma Hopkins with 1.68 meters in front of Dorothy Tyler with 1.60 meters. The final at the European Championships in Bern took place 25 days later . While Tyler did not start, Hopkins won with 1.67 meters. Lerwill was fifth with 1.60 meters.

Sheila Lerwill was trained by George Pallett . The 1.71 meter tall jumper had a competition weight of 63 kg.

literature

• Peter Matthews, Ian Buchanan : All Time Greats of British and Irish Sports . Guinness, Enfield 1995, ISBN 0-85112-678-2 .