Sheila Lerwill

Sheila Lerwill (born 16 August, 1928) is a British athlete who competed mainly in the high jump.

She broke the World record for women's high jump on July 7 1951 in London with a jump of 1.72 meters, beating the previous record of 1.71 meters set by Fanny Blankers-Koen of the Netherlands on May 30 1943 in Amsterdam. The record was broken on May 22 1954 by Aleksandra Chudina of the USSR in Kiev with a jump of 1.73 meters. [cite web
title = World Records for High Jump (Women)
work = WOrld Records
publisher = Cleave Books
url = http://www.cleavebooks.co.uk/databank/worldrec/whjump.htm
accessdate =2008-02-19 ]

She competed for Great Britain in the 1952 Summer Olympics held in Helsinki, Finland in the high jump where she won the silver medal with a jump of 1.65 metres. It was Britain's best athletics medal at the games.

References