Home » Society » Famous Australians » Betty Cuthbert

Betty Cuthbert

Birth and Nationality

Elizabeth Cuthbert, Australia’s golden girl in athletics and popularly known as Betty Cuthbert, was born on April 20, 1938. Her homeland was in Merrylands, New South Wales but spent her growing up years in Sydney, in the suburb of Ermington.

Education

Betty attended her elementary in Ermington Public School and finished high school in Macarthur Girls High School. Early on in life, she already showed interest in running. She was eight years old when she got her first training in running from a teacher in the town where she was raised. At 18, she joined in the 1956 Summer Olympics held in Melbourne.

Career

Her career as a runner started formally in the 1956 Summer Olympics held in Melbourne. Because she was not confident of her performance, she bought tickets to the Olympics as spectator. But during the event, she even outdid her world-known teammates Marlene Matthews and Shirley Strickland. In the 100 meter event, she set the world record with a time of 11.4 seconds and automatically hailed as Australia’s hero. After four days, she again set a world record with a time of 23.4 seconds in the 200 meter race. She then again led the 400 meter race that was held several days later, which made her collect three gold medals during the sports event. Because she was the very first athlete to win three gold medals at a single game, Betty Cuthbert became instantly famous in Australia. In the 1960 Summer Olympics held in Rome, Betty Cuthbert got injured and did not pursue the race. She decided to retire in 1960, but went back in 1962 to represent Australia in the 1962 Commonwealth Games held in Perth where she achieved a gold medal in the sprint relay. She won her fourth gold medal in the 1964 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, making her stint there her last race before retirement.