Dorothy Dodson

Dorothy Lucille Dodson (March 28, 1919 – June 24, 2003) was a distinguished American track and field athlete whose career spanned the late 1930s through late 1940s; Dodson's specialty was the throwing events. From 1939 to 1949 - with the exception of 1940 - Dorothy participated in every U.S. AAU Outdoor National Championships.

Born in Chicago, Illinois Dodson won eleven consecutive National Championships in the javelin throw, 1939-49. She also won national titles in the shot put - 1944, '46, and '47; adding a national championship in the discus throw at the 1946 AAU Meet. Dodson was also the gold medalist in the shot put at the U.S. AAU Indoor Championships - 1941, '45, and '46.^[1]

Like so many amateur athletes of the era, Dodson and her contemporaries were denied an opportunity to compete at the ill-fated 1940 and 1944 Olympic Games; a world at war would have to wait for such things. The crowning achievement of Dodson's career came in 1948, when she represented the United States at the Summer Olympics in London. Dodson competed in the shot put, discus, and javelin throw; she was a finalist in the javelin - finishing in fourth place - ten centimeters from a bronze medal.^[2]

Dodson remains the last United States athlete, male or female, to compete in three throwing events at a single Olympic Games.

Dodson died at the age of 84, in Dunedin, Florida.^[3]

References

1. ^ http://www.usatf.org/statistics/champions/
2. ^ http://www.usolympicteam.com/13220.htm
3. ^ http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/do/dorothy-dodson-1.html/

• Dorothy Dodson: Athletic Achievements
• United States Track and Field
• United States Olympic Committee

Persondata
Name	Dodson, Dorothy
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	March 28, 1919
Place of birth
Date of death	June 24, 2003
Place of death