Molly Killingbeck

Jamaican-born Molly Killingbeck arrived in Canada in 1972 and took up athletics to make friends. By 1980 she was a student at York University and a member of the Canadian national team and was selected to represent this country at the 1980 Summer Olympics. Due to Canada’s boycott of those Games, however, she had to wait until the 1982 Commonwealth Games to make her international breakthrough, which she accomplished by winning gold in the 4x400 metre relay (alongside Charmaine Crooks, Jill Richardson-Briscoe, and Angella Taylor-Issajenko) and silver in the 4x100 metre relay (with Taylor, Angela Bailey, and Marita Payne Wiggins). The following year she won silver in the 400 metres at the Summer Universiade and was eliminated in the heats of the same event at the World Championships, while taking silver in the 4x400 m relay at the Pan American Games. Her next stop was the 1984 Summer Olympics, where she won silver in the 4x400 m relay alongside Crooks, Payne, Richardson, and Dana Wright and was eliminated in the semifinals of the 400 m.

Killingbeck graduated from York in 1985 with a degree in sociology, having twice been named the school’s Athlete of the Year. She, with Crooks, Payne Wiggins, and Richardson, defended both her 4x400 m relay crown at the 1986 Commonwealth Games and their silver medal from the Pan American Games in 1987. Following a fourth-place finish at that year’s World Championships, they attended the 1988 Summer Olympics and reached the final, where they had an opportunity to medal. Disaster struck, however, when Killingbeck, running the second leg, was bumped and dropped the baton, preventing the Canadians from finishing the race. She retired soon after and took up coaching, spending nearly six years at the University of Windsor before returning to her alma mater and coaching there for another three. Since then she has undertaken several roles, including motivational speaker and coach for the national team. She has been inducted into the York University and Etobicoke Sports Halls of Fame.

Personal Best: 400 – 51.08 (1983).