Elizabeth Alyse "Betty" Cuthbert AM, MBE (20 April 1938– 6 August 2017) was an Australian athlete and a fourfold Olympic champion.

During her career, she set world records for 60 metres, 100 yards, 200 metres, 220 yards and 440 yards. Cuthbert also contributed to Australian relay teams completing a win in the 4 × 100 metres, 4 × 110 yards, 4 × 200 metres and 4 × 220 yards. Cuthbert had a distinctive running style, with a high knee lift and mouth wide open.

She was named in 1998 an Australian National Treasure and was inducted as a Legend in the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Athletics Australia Hall of Fame in 2000.

Early Life

Cuthbert was born to Les and Marion alongside her twin sister, Marie 'Midge'. She also had another sister, Jane, and a brother, John. Cuthbert was born 20 minutes before Marie. The daughter of nursery owners, Cuthbert was born in Merrylands, New South Wales and grew up in the Sydney suburb of Ermington, where she attended Ermington Public School. Marion attended church and sent her four children to Sunday school. As a teenager, Cuthbert attended Macarthur Girls High School. She left school at the age of 16 to work in the family nursery.

Athletic Career

Cuthbert was a member of the Western Surburbs Athletic Club. At the age of 18, with the 1956 Summer Olympics to be held in Melbourne, Cuthbert set a World Record in the 200 metres, making her one of the favorites for a gold in that event. Cuthbert first reached the finals of the 100 metres, setting an Olympic record of 11.4 seconds in her heat (also her personal best), while the Australian world record holder Shirley Strickland was eliminated.

Cuthbert won the final and was then the big favourite for the 200 metres title. She lived up to the expectations, and became the Australian "Golden Girl". A third gold medal for Cuthbert came when she ran the final leg on in the 4 × 100 metres final, which the Australian team won in a new World Record.

During 1958 Cuthbert set world records for 100 and 220 yards but was beaten in both events by arch-rival and double-Olympic bronze medalist Marlene Mathews at the Australian Championships. Later in the year, at the Empire Games at Cardiff, Cuthbert could only place fourth in the 100y and second in the 220y, again behind Mathews.

She set a world record at 440 yards, which was broken in September 1959 by Maria Itkina of the Soviet Union.

In the lead-up to the 1960 Summer Olympics, in Rome, Cuthbert set a world 220 yards and 200 metres record of 23.2 seconds in winning the Australian championships. At the Rome Games, she suffered from injury and was eliminated from the heats of the 100 metres. Subsequently, she retired from the sport of track & field.

Her retirement did not last long, though, for she returned at the 1962 Commonwealth Games in Perth, Western Australia, helping Australia to a gold medal in the sprint relay.

Afterwards, she concentrated on the 400 metres, and she competed in that event in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, when it was on the Olympic program for women for the first time. Though not impressive in the heats, Cuthbert won the title for her fourth Olympic gold medal, beating out Ann Packer of Great Britain in a Olympic record of 52.01. She is the only Olympian, male or female, to have won a gold medal in all sprint (running) events: 100, 200 and 400 metres. She subsequently verified her retirement for good after Tokyo. Also in 1964 she received the Helms Award for her sporting contributions.

She was coached by June Ferguson, who was her physical education teacher at high school.

Sydney 2000

Cuthbert was one of the bearers of the Olympic Torch at the Opening Ceremony of the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Sitting in a wheelchair and accompanied by Raelene Boyle, she carried the Olympic Torch at the stadium, as one of the runners for the final segment, before the lighting of the Olympic Flame by Cathy Freeman.

Personal Life

She had multiple sclerosis since 1969 and in 2002 suffered a severe brain hemorrhage. In 1985 Betty became a born again Christian at the age of 47. She stated that, despite her MS, she never once asked God 'Why me?', and instead knew that God wanted her to use it to help other people. In 2010, Betty Cuthbert had a rose named after her.

Cuthbert died in 2017, aged 79, in Mandurah, Western Australia. Rhonda Gillam, a 78-year-old West Australian mother-of-three, devoted the last 26 years of her life to caring for Cuthbert.

There are two books on Cuthbert's life: Golden girl as told to Jim Webster (1966) and Golden girl : an autobiography by Betty Cuthbert (2000).

Honours

• 1956 - World Trophy for Australasia (Helms Award)
• 1956 - ABC Sportsman of the Year
• 1965 - Member of the British Empire (MBE) for her services to athletics in New South Wales.
• 1984 - Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for her services to sport and the community.
• 1985 - Inaugural inductee to the Sport Australia Hall of Fame.
• 1992 - the State Transit Authority of New South Wales named a RiverCat ferry after Cuthbert.
• 1994 - Sport Australia Hall of Fame Legend
• 1998 - Named a Living National Treasure
• 2000 - Inaugural inductee of the Athletics Australia Hall of Fame
• 2000 - Australian Sports Medal
• 2003 -Statue unveiled outside at the Melbourne Cricket Ground
• 2007 - NSW Hall of Champions Legend
• 2012 - Inaugural inductee of the IAAF Hall of Fame.
• The main street of Ermington shopping centre is named Betty Cuthbert Avenue in her honour.
• Betty Cuthbert Grandstand at Sydney Olympic Park Athletic Centre