Jean Evelyn Roberts (born 18 August 1943) is a former

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

athlete who competed in the

shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...

and

discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field event in which an athlete throws a heavy disk (mathematics), disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than their competitors. It is an classical antiqui ...

events. She competed for the Coburg club, alongside athletes such as

Raelene Boyle Raelene Ann Boyle (born 24 June 1951) is an Australian retired athlete, who represented Australia at three Olympic Games as a sprinter, winning three silver medals, and was named one of 100 National Living Treasures by the National Trust of ...

and Carolyn Lewis. Roberts won a total of 13

Australian Championships in Athletics The Australian Athletics Championships or Australian Open Track and Field Championships are held annually to determine Australia's champion athletes in a range of athletics events. The championships are the primary qualification trial for athlete ...

between 1962 and 1970, including eight in the Shot. She also won two British Championships in the Shot Put in 1971 and 1972. Jean was a versatile athlete, winning the 1967 Victorian State Pentathlon championship with 3985 points and placing second in 1969. She competed at four

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

between 1962 and 1974, winning medals on each occasion, and represented Australia at the 1968 Olympic Games in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

. Her elder sister Val Roberts competed in gymnastics at the 1960 and 1964 Olympics.Jean Roberts
. sports-reference.com Jean won the discus throw at the

Pacific Conference Games The Pacific Conference Games were a quadrennial athletics competition, held between 1969 and 1985 and contested by Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand and the United States. Each of the five nations hosted an edition of the competition before its ...

in 1969 at Tokyo. Jean also won the 1973 and 1975 American Athletic Union championships in the discus. Jean received her Doctorate of Education from

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then called Ba ...

in the mid 1970s and then coached and taught at the

University of New Hampshire The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant college in Hanover in connection with Dartmouth College, mo ...

. She was the first Director of Coaching for the Australian Athletic Union from 1979 -'85 and then an administrator at the

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The Institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

until 2001. There she ran the Olympic Training Centre Programs for athletes, coaches and sports medicine practitioners from Oceania and ten African countries.Oceania National Olympic Committees. Annual Report 2000

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Jean 1943 births Living people Australian female shot putters Australian female discus throwers Olympic athletes for Australia Athletes (track and field) at the 1968 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Australia Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Australia Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1974 British Commonwealth Games Australian pentathletes Sportspeople from Geelong 20th-century Australian women Medallists at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 1974 British Commonwealth Games Sportswomen from Victoria (state) Australian Athletics Championships winners

See also

References