1. Debbie Brill finished 8th in the 1972 Summer Olympics, then quit the sport in the wake of the Munich massacre, returning three years later.
23 Facts About Debbie Brill
1. 2.
Debbie Brill won gold at the IAAF World Cup in 1979 and at the 1982 Commonwealth Games.
3.
Debbie Brill has held the Canadian high jump record since 1969, and set the current record of 1.99 metres in 1982, a few months after giving birth to her first child.
4.
Debbie Brill was born in Mission, British Columbia, one of five children of a Canadian father and an American mother.
5.
Debbie Brill developed her style of jumping as a preteen on the family farm when her father made a landing pit containing foam rubber.
6.
Debbie Brill started competing provincially in British Columbia in 1966 at age 13.
7.
Debbie Brill has held the Canadian National High Jump record since 1969, establishing her first Canadian High Jump record when she was 16.
8.
Debbie Brill set her final Canadian outdoor record in September 1984 with 1.98 metres.
9.
Debbie Brill won the gold medal at the first Pacific Conference Games in 1969.
10.
Debbie Brill won the 1970 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, and was presented with the gold medal by Queen Elizabeth.
11.
Debbie Brill came in eighth at the 1972 Olympics in Munich.
12.
Debbie Brill campaigned to have the Games stopped after the Munich massacre and retired afterwards, becoming disillusioned with the Olympic experience.
13.
Debbie Brill returned to competition in 1975 and placed 4th at the Pan Am Games.
14.
Debbie Brill placed 3rd at the first World Cup in 1977, and won a silver medal at home in Edmonton at the 1978 Commonwealth Games.
15.
In 1979, Debbie Brill won a gold medal in the athletics World Cup held in Montreal, Canada.
16.
Debbie Brill was the world's number one high jumper for 1979.
17.
In January 1982, Debbie Brill established a World Indoor High Jump record of 1.99 meters in Edmonton, Alberta, 5 months after giving birth to her first son Neil.
18.
Debbie Brill has a daughter Katelin and another son Jacob.
19.
Debbie Brill was again Commonwealth Champion in 1982 at the games in Brisbane.
20.
From 1970 to 1985 in the annual Track and Field News merit rankings, Debbie Brill was ranked in the world's top ten for the high jump twelve times.
21.
In 1983, Debbie Brill was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in recognition for being "Canada's premier woman high-jumper".
22.
In 1999, at the age of 46, Debbie Brill broke the world masters record when she cleared 1.76 metres in Gateshead.
23.
Note: At the 1976 Olympic Games, Debbie Brill had three failures at her opening height of 1.75 m in the qualifying round.