Sports > Track and Field Archives

Betty Cuthbert

In 1956, Betty Cuthbert won three Olympic gold medals, the first Australian to do so.

Sherlie Hereford Rainey (3 Feb. 1939-7 Aug. 1992), mayor of Woodmere (1985-89), was the first African-American woman to hold a mayoral position in Cuyahoga County. Also an athlete, Rainey set an American record for the standing long jump (1958) and was National Amateur Athletic Union champion of that event for 3 years. She was elected to the Greater Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame in 1991.

Eleanor Egg

American track and field athlete.

Joetta Clark Diggs

American track and field champion

CeCe Mazyck

Military veteran and Paralympian

Cathy Freeman

At her home Olympics in 2000, Cathy Freeman was the first Aboriginal Australian to win an individual Olympic gold medal.

Mary Heath

Irish athlete and aviator

Galina Bystrova

Soviet track and field athlete Galina Petrovna Bystrova won a bronze medal at the 1964 Olympics in the pentathlon.

Eve Marion Rimmer

Eve Rimmer was one of New Zealand’s greatest paraplegic athletes, winning 32 medals – including 22 gold medals – for athletics and swimming at international sporting events. A household name during the late 1960s and 1970s, she was also an outspoken advocate for the rights of the disabled in sport and society.

Candace Cable

In 1992, Candace Cable became the first woman to medal at the summer and winter Paralympic Games. During her career, she competed at nine Paralympics and won 12 medals in track and field, alpine skiing, and Nordic skiing. Cable also won 84 marathons, including six Boston Marathon victories.