Patrice Michelle "Pat" Donnelly (born April 30, 1950) is an American retired
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 ...
athlete and actress, known primarily for
hurdling
Hurdling is the act of jumping over an obstacle at a high speed or in a sprint. In the early 19th century, hurdlers ran at and jumped over each hurdle (sometimes known as 'burgles'), landing on both feet and checking their forward motion. Today, ...
.
Background
Donnelly was born in
San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...
,
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...
. She attended
Grossmont College. She was a high school
physical education
Physical education, often abbreviated to Phys Ed. or P.E., is a subject taught in schools around the world. It is usually taught during primary and secondary education, and encourages psychomotor learning by using a play and movement explora ...
teacher at
St. Paul High School in
Santa Fe Springs, CA.
In 1971, she was Miss
La Mesa. After the 1976 Olympic Games she married shot putter
Peter Shmock
Peter Shmock ( ; ''Peter Carlton "Pete" Shmock;''Sports-Reference.com ''Olympics at Sports-Reference.com''. Retrieved March 7, 2011. born April 29, 1950, in Detroit, Michigan) is a retired American track and field athlete, primarily known for thr ...
. After divorcing Shmock, she married sprinter
Mark Lutz, ex-spouse of distance runner
Francie Larrieu
Frances Anne "Francie" Larrieu Smith (November 23, 1952 in Palo Alto, California) is an American track and field athlete. She was the flagbearer at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona for the United States of America. Larrieu Smith was the thi ...
.
Career in hurdling
Once the fourth-ranked hurdler in the world, Donnelly set the college record for the women's
100 meter hurdles
The 100 metres hurdles, or 100-meter hurdles, is a track and field event run mainly by women (the male counterpart is the 110 metres hurdles). For the race, ten hurdles of a height of are placed along a straight course of . The first hurdle is p ...
at 13.5 seconds in 1970.
She was on the 1975
All-America
The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...
team for the 100 meter hurdles. At the
1975 Pan American Games she placed fourth.
Donnelly attended the 1976 Summer Olympics as a
100-meter hurdler for the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...
, but was eliminated in the heats, missing the semi-final by only 0.01 sec.
Career in film
Donnelly's film debut was in the 1982 film ''
Personal Best A personal record or personal best (abbreviated to PR or PB) is an individual's best performance in a given sporting discipline. It is most commonly found in athletic sports, such as track and field, other forms of running, swimming and weightlift ...
'', wherein she played an
Olympic pentathlete. She also served as a
technical advisor on the film. She also went on to play Danielle, the stern assistant coach in the 1986 movie ''
American Anthem''.
She helped
Billy Crudup train for ''
Without Limits'' (1998), a film about
Steve Prefontaine
Steve Roland "Pre" Prefontaine (January 25, 1951 – May 30, 1975) was an American long-distance runner who from 1973 to 1975 set American records at every distance from 2,000 to 10,000 meters. He competed in the 1972 Summer Olympics, and ...
's life.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Donnelly, Patrice
1950 births
Living people
American female hurdlers
American film actresses
Olympic track and field athletes of the United States
Athletes (track and field) at the 1976 Summer Olympics
Pan American Games track and field athletes for the United States
Athletes (track and field) at the 1975 Pan American Games
Track and field athletes from San Diego
College women's track and field athletes in the United States
Grossmont College alumni
21st-century American women