Sheila Lerwill

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Olympic medal record
Women’s Athletics
Silver medal – second place 1952 Helsinki High jump

Sheila W. Lerwill (born 16 August 1928) is a British athlete who competed mainly in the high jump. She was born Sheila Alexander in London, marrying Michael H. M. Lerwill in Wandsworth in 1951.[1][2]

Lerwill broke the world record for women's high jump on 7 July 1951 in London with a jump of 1.72 metres, beating the previous record of 1.71 metres set by Fanny Blankers-Koen of the Netherlands on 30 May 1943 in Amsterdam. The record was broken on 22 May 1954 by Aleksandra Chudina of the USSR in Kiev with a jump of 1.73 metres.[3] She competed for Great Britain in the high jump at the 1952 Summer Olympics, held in Helsinki, Finland, where she won the silver medal with a jump of 1.65 metres. It was Britain's best athletics medal at the games.


References

  1. ^ "Marriage registration". FreeBMD. Retrieved 6 June 2023.
  2. ^ "Women's Titles". The Observer. 8 July 1951. Retrieved 6 June 2023.
  3. ^ "World Records for High Jump (Women)". World Records. Cleave Books. Retrieved 19 February 2008.

External links