STRICKLAND DE LA HUNTY, SHIRLEY

born July 18, 1925, Guildford, W.Aus., Australia ne Shirley Strickland Australian athlete who won seven Olympic medals between 1948 and 1956, in an era when Australian women dominated track events. De la Hunty first competed at the 1948 Olympic Games in London, where she won a silver medal as a member of the Australian 4 100 relay team that finished a tenth of a second behind the winner. She also acquired bronze medals in the 100-metre sprint and 80-metre hurdle races and was credited with a fourth-place finish in the 200-metre race. A photo finish print of that event, published in 1976, revealed that she had in fact finished third and should have been awarded another bronze medal. At the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Finland, de la Hunty became the first woman to run the 80-metre hurdles in less than 11 seconds, winning a gold medal with a time of 10.9 seconds; she also earned a bronze medal in the 100-metre sprint. In 1956 at the Melbourne Games, she won gold medals in the 80-metre hurdles (10.7 seconds) and the 4 100-metre relay. Her seven medals set a record for most medals won by a female competitor in Olympic athletics competition; Polish sprinter Irena Kirszenstein-Szewinska tied the mark in 1976. A lecturer in physics and mathematics at Perth Technical College, de la Hunty also set a world record in the 100-metre run (11.3 seconds) in 1955 and won two gold and two silver medals in the Commonwealth Games and three Australian championships in the 440-yard run.