Lillian Copeland
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Lillian Copeland (born Lillian Drossin; November 24, 1904 – July 7, 1964) was an American
track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...
Olympic champion athlete, who excelled in discus, javelin throwing, and shot put, setting multiple world records. She has been called "the most successful female discus thrower in U.S. history". She also held multiple titles in shot put and javelin throwing. She won a silver medal in discus at the 1928 Summer Olympics, a gold medal in discus at the 1932 Summer Olympics, and gold medals in discus, javelin, and shot put at the 1935 Maccabiah Games in
Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 ...
. In 1928, ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' reported that Copeland was "considered by many the all around best woman athlete in the country." Until the 2008 Beijing Games 74 years after she became an Olympic champion, she was the only American woman to win the discus throw at a modern Olympics.
/ref> She has been inducted into the
USATF USA Track & Field (USATF) is the United States national governing body for the sports of track and field, cross country running, road running and racewalking (known as the sport of athletics outside the US). The USATF was known between 1979 a ...
Hall of Fame, the Helms Athletic Hall of Fame, the
International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame The International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame ( he, יד לאיש הספורט היהודי, translit=Yad Le'ish HaSport HaYehudi) was opened July 7, 1981 in Netanya, Israel. It honors Jewish athletes and their accomplishments from anywhere arou ...
, and the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.


Early and personal life

Copeland was born Lillian Drossin to Polish-Jewish immigrants in New York City, and was Jewish. Her mother was from Grodno (now in
Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...
).Sheldon Anderson (2017)
''The Forgotten Legacy of Stella Walsh; The Greatest Female Athlete of Her Time''
/ref> Her father died when she was young, and after her mother remarried they moved to
Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
, and changed their surnames to Drossin. Her stepfather was Abraham Copeland, the manager of a fruit and produce company. She lived in
Boyle Heights, Los Angeles Boyle Heights, historically known as Paredón Blanco, is a neighborhood in Los Angeles, California, located east of the Los Angeles River. It is one of the city's most notable and historic Chicano/ Mexican-American communities and is known as a ...
, and later in Pasadena, California, and attended Los Angeles High School, graduating in 1923. She attended the
University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...
, where she was a member of the Xi Chapter of
Alpha Epsilon Phi Alpha Epsilon Phi ( or AEPhi) is a sorority and one of the members of the National Panhellenic Conference, an umbrella organization overseeing 26 North American sororities. It was founded on October 24, 1909, at Barnard College in Morningside ...
sorority and joined the track & field team in 1924. While at USC, she won every track event she entered. She had a role as a basketball player in the silent 1927 comedy film '' The Fair Co-Ed''. She received a BA degree in political science in 1928. She was the first Olympian who was an alumna of Los Angeles High School and the University of Southern California.


Athletic career

Copeland competed during the formative decades of women's competition in
track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...
. Consequently, her accomplishments are not fully reflected by the two Olympic medals she won in the
discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field event in which an athlete throws a heavy disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than their competitors. It is an ancient sport, as demonstrated by th ...
. She competed first for the Pasadena Athletic and Country Club beginning in 1925, and from 1931 on for the
Los Angeles Athletic Club Los Angeles Athletic Club (LAAC) is a privately owned Sports club, athletic club and social club in Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles, California, United States. Established in 1880, the club is today best known for its John R. Wooden Award pr ...
. She also competed in running; in 1928 she was part of a women's relay team that set the US record in the quarter-mile. One of the track & field events in which she competed, which is no longer contested, was the baseball throw, in which she was second in the nation in 1926. She won nine
Amateur Athletic Union The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It h ...
(AAU) championships between 1925 and 1932."Lillian Copeland,"
Olympics.com.
A feature article in the May 18, 1926, ''Pasadena Post'' noted that she "with all of her athletic prowess ... is very ... feminine in her conduct." She excelled in all throwing events. She won the AAU shot put championships 5 times (1924–28, 1931). She also won the AAU
discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field event in which an athlete throws a heavy disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than their competitors. It is an ancient sport, as demonstrated by th ...
title in 1926 (a year in which she set the world record; she began competing in discus because the shot put was not yet an Olympic event) and 1927, and set a new world record in the discus throw at the 1938 Olympic trials. In addition, she won the AAU
javelin throw The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about in length, is thrown. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's decathlon and the wom ...
title in 1926 (setting a world record) and 1931. In the javelin, she broke the
world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...
three times in 1926 and 1927. Between 1928 and 1931, she took a hiatus from competing, to focus on her law school studies. In 1928, ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' reported that Copeland was "considered by many the all around best woman athlete in the country." Both ''Great Athletes in Olympic Sports'' (Salem Press; 2010), by Kjetil André Aamodt and Laura Flessel-Colovic, and the
International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame The International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame ( he, יד לאיש הספורט היהודי, translit=Yad Le'ish HaSport HaYehudi) was opened July 7, 1981 in Netanya, Israel. It honors Jewish athletes and their accomplishments from anywhere arou ...
report that she set the world record six times each in shot put, javelin, and discus from 1925–32.


Olympics


1928 Olympics

The 1928 Summer Olympics were the first Olympics to include women's track and field events. In weight throwing Copeland could only compete in the discus throw, because the javelin throw and shot put were not yet on the program (they would follow in 1932 and 1948, respectively). She set a new world record in the discus throw at the Olympic trials, at 115 feet, 8.5 inches. Prior to the Olympiad, in February 1928 she ran the lead leg in the relay in the 1928 Olympic trials. In so doing, she helped the US Women's team set a new record in the event of 50.0 seconds, and actually qualified for the Olympics in that event. Sources disagree, however, whether it was a world or US national record. Once she arrived in
Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...
, however, she only competed in the discus throw at the 1928 Olympics, where she finished second to Poland's Halina Konopacka, winning a silver medal. Inasmuch as it was the first time the event had been held, she was the sport's first Olympic silver medalist.Lillian Copeland
Jewish Women's Archive
Two weeks later, at a competition in Brussels, Belgium, she set a new world record in the shot put. Returning to America, she attended and ultimately graduated from the University of Southern California Law School, and became less focused on sports for a number of years. Nevertheless, Copeland qualified for the US 1932 Olympic team for the discus throw.


1932 Olympics

She competed in her home town in the 1932 Summer Olympics after beating out Babe Didrikson to qualify, and won the gold medal in the discus with her last throw. A ''Los Angeles Record'' reporter wrote: "Confident, calm and perfectly poised, hemade a perfect throw." In doing so she also set a new Olympic record. That throw of was also a new world record. The 27-year-old Copeland was at the time the oldest American woman to have won an Olympic gold medal in a track & field event. The shot put, which she excelled in, was not included in the women's events at the Olympic Games until 1948, depriving her of a chance to compete in it for additional Olympic medals.


1936 Olympics

Although she had begun preparations to defend her Los Angeles gold medal at the
1936 Berlin Games The 1936 Summer Olympics ( German: ''Olympische Sommerspiele 1936''), officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad ( German: ''Spiele der XI. Olympiade'') and commonly known as Berlin 1936 or the Nazi Olympics, were an international multi- ...
in
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
, and was invited to compete for the United States at the Games, she ultimately chose to boycott them.Lillian Copeland
Jewish Sports Hall of Fame
As a
Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...
, she was strongly opposed to
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
's edict barring Jews from the German Olympic team. She accused
International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...
(IOC) president
Avery Brundage Avery Brundage (; September 28, 1887 – May 8, 1975) was an American sports administrator who served as the fifth president of the International Olympic Committee from 1952 to 1972. The only American and only non-European to attain that p ...
of "deliberately concealing the truth" about Hitler and Nazi Germany. She was one of 24 former U.S. Olympic champions who petitioned the IOC in 1933 to move the Games from Germany, to no avail.


Maccabiah Games

Copeland competed at the 1935 Maccabiah Games in Tel Aviv in
Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 ...
. There, she won the gold medals in her three events, the shot put, the javelin, and the discus throw.


Halls of fame

In view of her contributions to women's track and field, she was made a member of the
USA Track & Field USA Track & Field (USATF) is the United States national governing body for the sports of track and field, cross country running, road running and racewalking (known as the sport of athletics outside the US). The USATF was known between 1979 and ...
Hall of Fame, the Helms Athletic Hall of Fame, the
International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame The International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame ( he, יד לאיש הספורט היהודי, translit=Yad Le'ish HaSport HaYehudi) was opened July 7, 1981 in Netanya, Israel. It honors Jewish athletes and their accomplishments from anywhere arou ...
(1980), the Woman’s Track and Field Hall of Fame, and the Los Angeles High School Sports Hall of Fame (2010). In 1990 she was inducted into the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.


Later career

Copeland joined the
Los Angeles Sheriff's Department The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD), officially the County of Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, is a law enforcement agency serving Los Angeles County, California. LASD is the largest sheriff's department in the United States ...
in 1936, and worked there until she retired in 1960. She died on July 7, 1964, in Los Angeles, at 59 years of age. At the time of her death, she was one of eight American women to have won an Olympic gold medal.


See also

* List of Jews in sports#Track and field *
List of Olympic medalists in athletics (women) This is the complete list of women's Olympic medalists in athletics. Women’s events 100 metres 200 metres 400 metres 800 metres 1500 metres 5000 metres 10,000 metres Marathon 100 metres hurdles 400 metres hurdles 3000 me ...
* List of USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners


References


External links

* *
Photo of Lillian Copeland in 1926
PhillyHistory.org * {{DEFAULTSORT:Copeland, Lillian 1904 births 1964 deaths Alpha Epsilon Phi American female discus throwers American female javelin throwers American female shot putters American female sprinters American people of Polish-Jewish descent Athletes (track and field) at the 1928 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1932 Summer Olympics Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale) Competitors at the 1935 Maccabiah Games International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame inductees Jewish American sportspeople Jewish female athletes (track and field) Los Angeles High School alumni Los Angeles Police Department officers Maccabiah Games gold medalists for the United States Maccabiah Games medalists in athletics Medalists at the 1932 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1928 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field Olympic silver medalists for the United States in track and field People from Boyle Heights, Los Angeles Sportspeople from Los Angeles County, California Sportspeople from Pasadena, California Track and field athletes from Los Angeles Track and field athletes from New York City USC Gould School of Law alumni USC Trojans men's track and field athletes 20th-century American women 20th-century American people 20th-century American Jews