The first female gold-medal Olympian in Canada was from Saskatchewan, claiming the win in 1928.
It had been 96 years since a Canadian woman had won a gold medal in athletics but that trend stopped this year with Camryn Rogers claiming the top spot in hammer throw.
Ethel Catherwood was part of the Matchless Six — a group of six female track athletes who were the first Canadian women to compete in the track and field events at the Olympics.
“There was certainly lots of local support, I’m sure, a lot of pride,” said Matthew Gourlie, Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame communications co-ordinator.
Catherwood grew up in Scott, Sask., and finished high school at Saskatoon’s Bedford Road Collegiate.
She was well-known for her skills in high jump.
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Catherwood got her start with athletics in high school, breaking both the national and world records for high jump.
She then went on to compete in the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam, winning gold. This was the first Olympic Games in which women were allowed to compete.
Catherwood was known as the most photographed athlete of the Games.
“There was more written about her looks, possibly their athleticism…. She had offers to go to Hollywood. I believe she said she’d rather drink poison than be in movies,” Gourlie said.
However, Catherwood, if she had been allowed to compete in another event, might have been able to bring home another gold.
“She was a great javelin thrower too. She might have won the gold medal in the javelin if that existed in 1928. She was the national champion to the world record in that as well, I believe,” Gourlie said.
Catherwood did not dedicate her life to being an Olympian and shied away from the publicity it brought. She did not compete in another Olympics.
Unlike Olympians, Catherwood said winning was not difficult for her and the medal didn’t have much impact on her life.
“These days you have to work incredibly hard. Well, the interesting thing about Calderwood and something she said after the fact is that it kind of came easy to her, right? I mean, she set a world record shortly after she was in high school,” Gourlie said.
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