| Biography | Sheila Lerwill (born 16 August 1928) is a British athlete who competed mainly in the high jump.
Lerwill broke the World record for women's high jump on 7 July 1951 in London with a jump of 1.72 meters, beating the previous record of 1.71 meters set by Fanny Blankers-Koen of the Netherlands on May 30, 1943 in Amsterdam. The record was broken on May 22, 1954 by Aleksandra Chudina of the USSR in Kiev with a jump of 1.73 meters.
She competed for Great Britain in the 1952 Summer Olympics held in Helsinki, Finland in the high jump where she won the silver medal with a jump of 1.65 metres. It was Britain's best athletics medal at the games. |