1928
USA Olympian Found
(Florence is pictured far left)
|
The week after we returned home from the Sydney Olympics, the woman
whom we thought was the sole survivor of the infamous 800 metres at the Amsterdam Olympics
of 1928 died (click here for more about Edith Robinson). For
those unfamiliar with the research featured in ‘A Proper Spectacle’, we tell the
story of this important race which led to women’s middle distance running being
banned from the Olympics until 1960! Press reports of the race claimed
Women athletes collapse
Fierce strain of Olympic Race
Sobbing Girls
|
The race was described as ‘not a pretty
sight.’ We had read a lot about this event, but no-one had tracked down the women who
had actually competed in the race to find out what they thought about the fuss. During the
three year search leading up to the publication of ‘A Proper Spectacle’ we
managed to find two competitors whose memories are included in our book. One, Wilhelmina Duchateau of Holland died some
years ago. When dear Edith died, we thought
that was it. The last one had gone. All the other Olympic Committees said their
competitors in the race had died - including the United States Olympic Committee.
On October 6th 2000, we received an email from
the USA from Joan Pelland saying that her mother-in-law had competed for the US in the
1928 Olympics and that they would be most
interested in our book. When, some ten days
later, Joan emailed us again to say that there was a photo of her mother-in-law, Florence
McDonald, in our book, we were astonished. Not
only that, but Florence was the very modern looking athlete at the start of the FINAL of
the 800 metres of Amsterdam 1928! Steph and I
talked about it and decided that Edith must have got to the Pearly Gates and had a word
with St Peter to ‘send’ Florence to us.
On Friday August 3rd 2001, we travelled to the USA and interviewed
and filmed Florence with the help of her son John Campbell, Joan and the residential home
where 91 year old Florence now abides. What a
character she is - and she still remembers her trip to Europe most fondly. So what does she say about the race? Well,
we’re going to hold on to that till someone out there reads this and gives us the
cash to get our documentary edited together. We
now have footage of five wonderful pre World War II Olympians on widescreen DVC Pro and we
know where all the archive footage is. We’d like to film more of these pioneers. How about it?
Anyone out there in the US want to know more about Florence? Help us out. Contact the United States Olympic
Committee, the International Olympic Committee and anyone else you can think of and tell
them one of the great women pioneers who took part in one of the most important events in
women’s sporting history is still alive and you want to know what she has to say!
Anita, August 21st 2001 |
Anita (left) and Steph (right) with John Campbell and
Florence
|
|