Lillian Copeland

Lillian Copeland (November 25, 1904 – July 7, 1964) was an American athlete, who excelled in weight throwing. She has been called "the most successful female discus thrower in U.S. history", despite the fact that she held multiple titles in shot put and javelin throwing as well.

Until the Beijing Games, she was the only American woman to win the discus throw at a modern Olympiad. [cite web|url=http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/track_field/news;_ylt=AoDTeaDCnlIRhZw88HNKvumde5p4?slug=jo-browntrafton081808&prov=yhoo&type=lgnsl|title=U.S. hopes hatch from 'golden egg'|date=2008-08-18|accessdate=2008-08-18|publisher=Yahoo! Sports]

She was also the first Olympian who was an alumna of the University of Southern California and Los Angeles High School.

Early life

Copeland was born in New York to Polish Jewish immigrants. Her father died when she was young, and her mother remarried and they moved to Los Angeles.

Athletic career

Copeland competed during the formative decades of women's competition in track and field. Consequently, her accomplishments are not fully described by the two medals she won in the discus throw. In truth, she excelled in all throwing events, but perhaps most notably in the shot put. She won the AAU championships in that event 5 times (1924-28, 1931). In addition, she won the AAU discus throw title in 1926 and 1927, and the javelin throw title in 1926 and 1931. In the latter event, she broke the world record three times in 1926 and 1927. According to the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, she is said to have set the world record six times "each" in shot put, javelin and discus from 1925-1932. However, according to the USATF Hall of Fame, she only held one world record, in javelin throw. [http://www.usatf.org/halloffame/TF/showBio.asp?HOFIDs=34 Biography at the USATF Hall of Fame] ] It is unclear why the two sources are so radically different in their accounts.

Olympics

The 1928 Summer Olympics were the first Olympics to include women's track and field events. In weight throwing Copeland could only compete in the discus throw, because the shot put and javelin throw were not yet on the program (they would follow in 1948 and 1932, respectively). Prior to the Olympiad, she ran the lead leg in the 440-yard relay in the 1928 Olympic trials. In so doing, she helped the US Women's team set a new record in the event of 50.0 seconds, and actually qualified for the Olympics in that event. Sources disagree, however, whether it was a world or US national record.

Once in Amsterdam, however, she only competed in the discus throw, where she finished second to Poland's Halina Konopacka. Because it was the first time the event had been held, she was the sport's first silver medalist. [http://jwa.org/discover/throughtheyear/january/olympics/copeland02.html Jewish Women's Archive biography of Lillian Copeland] ]

Returning to America, she enrolled in the University of Southern California law school, and became less focused on sports. Nevertheless, she made the 1932 Olympic team for the discus throw. Competing in her home town, she moved into gold medal position with her last throw. That throw of unit foot|133.16|2 was also a new world record. This also meant that it was a new Olympic Record, bettering Konopacka's mark in Amsterdam.

Although she had begun preparations to defend her Los Angeles gold at the Berlin Games, she ultimately chose to boycott them. [http://www.jewishsports.net/biopages/LillianCopeland.htm Jewish Sports Hall of Fame biography of Copeland] ] As a Jew, she was strongly opposed to Adolf Hitler's ban against Jews on the German Olympic team.cite web|accessdate=2008-08-19
url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/08/19/SPP012D6GU.DTL
title=US women's 1st discus gold since '32
author=Crumpacker, John
date=2008-08-19
publisher=San Francisco Chronicle] Consequently, Copeland's appearance at the 1935 Maccabiah Games — where she won the titles in her three events — proved her final major competition.

Honorary memberships

In view of her contributions to women's track and field, she was made a posthumous member of the USATF Hall of Fame, the Helms Athletic Hall of Fame and the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.

Later career

Copeland's main career off the field was law enforcement. She worked at the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department until 1960.cite web|accessdate=2008-08-19
url= http://www.jewsinsports.org/Olympics.asp?ID=3
title=Lilian Copeland (biography)
author=
date=unknown, but after 2000
publisher=jewsinsports.org]

References