Myrtle Cook

Myrtle Cook

Medal record
Women's athletics Competitor for Canada
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place	1928 Amsterdam	4 × 100 m relay

File:Myrtle Cook of Canada (left) winning a preliminary heat in the womens 100 metres race at the VIIIth Summer Olympic Games.jpg

Cook (left, #675), winning in a preliminary heat in the women's 100 m race against Norma Wilson of New Zealand and Bets ter Horst of Netherlands on July 30, 1928, at the 1928 Summer Olympic Games.

Myrtle Alice Cook (also competed as Myrtle McGowan) (January 5, 1902 – March 18, 1985) was a Canadian athlete who won the gold medal in the women's 4 × 100 metres at the 1928 Summer Olympics.

Career

Born in Toronto, Ontario, she competed for Canada at the 1928 Summer Olympics held in Amsterdam, Netherlands where she won the gold medal in the women's 4 × 100 metres with her teammates Fanny Rosenfeld (also 100 m silver medallist), Ethel Smith (100 m bronze medallist) and Jane Bell.

In 1929, Cook began a career writing for the Montreal Star, where she contributed the column "In the Women's Spotlight" for the next 40 years.

Cook was involved in ice hockey and served as president of the Dominion Women's Amateur Hockey Association prior to 1937.

Cook equalled Betty Robinson's Women's 100 m World Record on August 1, 1931.

Cook contributed significantly to women's sports in Canada, helping to establish the Toronto Ladies Athletic Club, serving as director of athletics for the Canadian Ladies Athletic Club, and founding a branch of that club in Montreal. During the Second World War, she was active in fundraising and assisted in training military recruits. She died in Elora, Ontario on March 18, 1985.

External links

• Library and Archives Canada: Myrtle Cook