Athletic Career
The second World War was disruptive to women's athletics in Australia. Some runners, including Strickland, joined up to help the war effort.
While teaching at Perth Technical College, she was coached by Austin Robertson, a former world professional sprint champion and South Melbourne footballer. She improved her 100 m yards time from 11.8 to 11.0 flat. At the 1947 Western Australia state titles, she won the 100 yards, 220 yards, 440 yards, the 90 m yards hurdles and the shot put.
The following year, she took up running seriously, with great success. She won the national title in the 80 m hurdles in 1948 and was part of the Australian delegation for the 1948 Summer Olympics in London. There, Strickland finished third in both the 100 m and 80 m hurdles and won a silver medal in the 4x100 m relay.
After winning three gold medals in the 1950 British Empire Games, she won her first Olympic title at the 1952 Games in Helsinki; she won the 80 m hurdles in world record time (10.9 s). A baton mix-up cost her a second gold in the 4x100 m relay. In the 100 m, she again won the bronze.
She set a new world record of 11.3 s for the 100 m in Poland in 1955, and in the 1956 Olympics, she won again in the 80 m hurdles and with the Australian 4x100 m relay team.
Read more about this topic: Shirley Strickland
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