Sheila Lerwill

Olympic medal record
Women's Athletics
	1952 Helsinki	High jump

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

Early life

She was born Sheila Alexander in London, originating from Streatham.

She played netball for England and Surrey.[1] She lived on Glenister Park Road.[2]

Career

In 1950 she was trained by George Pallett.[3]

She took the British record on 5 August 1950 at 5 ft 6.5.[4]

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.[5] 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.

Personal life

She married Michael H. M. Lerwill, from Westerham, on Saturday 31 March 1951 at Holy Redeemer Church[6][7] in Wandsworth.[8][9]

References

1. Birmingham Daily Post Saturday 2 June 1951, page 6
2. Norwood News Friday 1 September 1950, page 5
3. Manchester Evening News Thursday 7 December 1950, page 4
4. Daily Mirror Thursday 8 February 1951, page 10
5. "World Records for High Jump (Women)". World Records. Cleave Books. Retrieved 19 February 2008.
6. Streatham News Friday 6 April 1951, page 3
7. South Wales Echo Saturday 19 August 1950, page 4
8. "Marriage registration". FreeBMD. Retrieved 6 June 2023.
9. "Women's Titles". The Observer. 8 July 1951. Retrieved 6 June 2023.

External links

• Sheila Lerwill at Olympics.com
• Sheila Lerwill at Team GB
• Sheila Lerwill at Olympedia

Records
Preceded by	Women's High Jump British Record Holder 5 August 1950 – 5 May 1956	Succeeded by Thelma Hopkins