Mary Frizzell

Mary Frizzell developed her athletic talents in the Canadian province of British Columbia and first represented her country abroad at the 1930 British Empire Games, where she came in fourth in the long jump. Despite being afflicted with stomach flu during the trials, she made Canada’s delegation to the 1932 Summer Olympics by tying the world record in the 60 metres and the Olympic record in the 100 metres. She was also national champion in the 4×100 metre relay alongside Lillian Palmer and the non-Olympians Doreen Caird and Helen Reeves. At the Games she won a silver medal in the 4×100 m relay, with Palmer, Mildred Fizzell, and Hilda Strike, and was eliminated in the semifinals of the 100 m. The following year she was national champion in the 60 and 100 m and finished third, behind golfer Ada MacKenzie and Strike, in the first-ever vote for Canada’s female athlete of the year, which would eventually become the Bobbie Rosenfeld Award. Her final major international tournament was the 1934 British Empire Games, where she was again fourth in the long jump. She retired from active competition in 1935 and took up coaching at the Pacific Athletic Club, where she worked to promote women’s athletics until her death from cancer in 1972. She was inducted into the British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame in 2007 and the Nanaimo Sports Hall of Fame in 2012.

Personal Best: 100 – 12.1 (1932).