Ethel Catherwood (1908–1987) National Historic Person

Ethel Catherwood was designated as a national historic person in 2022.

Historical importance: set multiple national and world records between 1926 and 1930, helped to expand the perceived limits of athletic performance for women in sports.

Commemorative plaque: will be installed at Bedford Road Collegiate School, 722 Bedford Road, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan^{Footnote 1}

Ethel Catherwood (1908-1987)

This world-class high jumper helped break down barriers for women in track and field, while facing widespread sexism and unwanted attention as a woman. She set multiple national and world records in high jump and javelin between 1926 and 1930 at a time when women began competing in athletic events internationally. She won the gold medal in the high jump at the 1928 Amsterdam official Olympic Games, the first to allow women to compete in track and field. The brilliant athletic performance of Catherwood and her “Matchless Six” teammates earned Canada four medals and secured the place of women in Olympic track and field.

Ethel Catherwood (1908–1987)

Ethel Catherwood was a world-class athlete who improved women’s opportunities to compete in track and field sports during a time when women had to fight their way into international competitions. Between 1926 and 1930, she set multiple national and world records in the high jump and the javelin throw while facing endemic sexism as a young woman. She won the gold medal in the high jump at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympic Games, the first to include women’s track and field. The brilliant athletic performances of Catherwood and her “Matchless Six” teammates earned Canada four medals and secured the place of women in Olympic track and field. Catherwood is the only Canadian woman to have won gold in an Olympic individual track and field event during the 20th century.

 

Born in 1908 in North Dakota, in the United States, Catherwood spent her childhood with her Canadian parents and eight siblings in Scott, Saskatchewan, honing her versatile athletic skills in track and field, basketball, baseball, skating, and ice hockey. In order to support her passions, her father built a high-jumping pit in their backyard. At 16, she won a wager with him when he raised her jumping bar to a height no female athlete had reached before, according to official records, and cleared it. In 1925, the Catherwoods moved to Saskatoon. Catherwood spent the next five years excelling in the high jump and the javelin throw at competitions in Saskatchewan, Ontario, and Eastern Canada, breaking national and world records. She then moved to Toronto to train at the Parkdale Ladies’ Athletic Club, attend business college, and work at a brokerage company.

In 1926, thanks to the efforts of women’s sporting organizations, the International Olympic Committee reluctantly agreed to include five women’s track and field events (the high jump, the 100-metre and 800-metre races, the 4×100-metre relay, and the discus throw) at the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. This was on a trial basis, and the future of women in track and field in the Olympic Games rested on their performance. Catherwood made the Canadian Olympic track and field team with Jane Bell, Myrtle Cook, Bobbie Rosenfeld, Ethel Smith, and Jean Thompson. In Amsterdam, they became known as the “Matchless Six.” Catherwood won gold in the high jump, and the rest of the team won gold in the relay, and silver and bronze in the 100-metre dash. Together, these women demonstrated outstanding athletic skills and determination that forever changed mainstream opinion on women’s athletic abilities in track and field. After the Games, Catherwood returned to Toronto and won Canadian titles in the high jump and the javelin throw in 1930 before retiring from sports.

Throughout Catherwood’s life, sportswriters described her high-jumping athleticism yet, given intense sexism in sports, focused on her beauty and judged her personal life. Known as the “Saskatoon Lily,” she was the most photographed athlete of the 1928 Games. She withdrew from sport and moved to California in 1931, wanting to be forgotten. Still, Catherwood and her teammates’ performances made a significant impact on women’s sports. She was inducted into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame in 1949 and the Canadian, Saskatchewan, and Saskatoon Halls of Fame in 1955, 1966, and 1986, respectively.

“As a Paralympian, I hold a great deal of respect for Ethel Catherwood’s legacy that is acknowledged through this national historic designation. Alongside her teammates, the Matchless Six, she demonstrated outstanding athletic skills and determination that forever changed the world of sports, making it a more inclusive space for women to compete.”

This press backgrounder was prepared at the time of the plaque unveiling in 2024.

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