Elizabeth ("Betty") Robinson (August 23, 1911 – May 18, 1999), later Elizabeth R. Schwartz was an American athlete and winner of the first Olympic 100 m for women.
Born in Riverdale, Illinois, Robinson ran her first 100 meter race on March 30, aged 16. She finished second only to the American record holder. At her next race, she equalled the world record, though her time was not recognized.
At the Amsterdam Olympics, her fourth 100 m competition, Robinson reached the final and won, equalling the world record. She was the inaugural Olympic champion in the event, since athletics for women had not been on the program before, and its inclusion was in fact still heavily disputed among officials. With the American 4 x 100 meters relay team, Robinson added a silver medal to her record.
In 1931, Robinson was involved in a plane crash, and was severely injured. A man who discovered her in a coma in the wreckage wrongly thought she was dead, put her in his trunk and drove her to an undertaker, where his mistake was discovered. She awoke from the coma seven months later, although it was another six months before she could get out of a wheelchair, and two years before she could walk normally again. Meanwhile, she missed the 1932 Olympics in her home country.
Still unable to kneel for a normal 100 m start, Robinson was a part of the US relay team at the 1936 Summer Olympics. The US team was running behind the heavily favored Germans, but the Germans dropped the baton, allowing Robinson (who handed off the baton to Helen Stephens) to win her second Olympic title.
Retiring after the Berlin Olympics, Betty Robinson remained involved in athletics as an official. Betty R. Schwartz died aged 87, suffering from cancer and Alzheimer's disease in Denver, Colorado.
| Records | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Kinue Hitomi |
Women's 100m World Record Holder June 2, 1928 – June 5, 1932 |
Succeeded by Tollien Schuurman |
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| Persondata | |
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| Name | Robinson, Betty |
| Alternative names | |
| Short description | Athletics (sport) competitor |
| Date of birth | August 23, 1911 |
| Place of birth | |
| Date of death | May 18, 1999 |
| Place of death | |
Famous quotes containing the words betty and/or robinson:
“He could jazz up the map-reading class by having a full-size color photograph of Betty Grable in a bathing suit, with a co- ordinate grid system laid over it. The instructor could point to different parts of her and say, “Give me the co-ordinates.”... The Major could see every unit in the Army using his idea.... Hot dog!”
—Norman Mailer (b. 1923)
“If factory-labor is not a means of education to the operative of to-day, it is because the employer does not do his duty. It is because he treats his work-people like machines, and forgets that they are struggling, hoping, despairing human beings.”
—Harriet H. Robinson (1825–1911)