Career
Born in Hannah, North Dakota, United States, Ethel Catherwood was raised and educated in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, where she excelled at baseball, basketball and track and field athletics. In 1926 she equalled a Canadian record for high jump at the Saskatoon city track and field championships. On Labour Day of the same year, she broke the British-held high jump world record.
Catherwood took home a gold medal in high jump, clearing 1.59 metres.
There was considerable focus on her physical attributes during the Games earning her the nickname "Saskatoon Lily". As well, a New York Times correspondent dubbed her the "prettiest girl athlete" at the 1928 Olympics.
Catherwood also held national titles in javelin throw, but this event became Olympic only in 1932, whereas she retired from competitions a year earlier. Upon her return from the 1928 Olympics, Catherwood was offered a movie contract, but declined the offer.
She took a business course, married, and moved to California.
In 1955, she was inducted into Canada"s Sports Hall of Fame, the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame in 1966, and the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame in 1986. Catherwood had an enigmatic life. After the Olympics, where she was feted as the beauty of the games, she was surrounded in scandal.
She refused to give interviews She even considered trying out for the United States Olympic team in 1932.
She died in California on September 26, 1987. Catherwood is the subject of a short graphic (ie comic) biography by David Collier entitled "The Ethel Catherwood Story," collected in An Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons, and True Stories, Ivan Brunetti educated