Jean Roberts

Australian shot putter and discus thrower (1943–2024) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jean Evelyn Roberts (18 August 1943 – 17 September 2024) was an Australian Olympic athlete who competed in the shot put and discus throw events.

Quick Facts Personal information, Birth name ...
Jean Roberts
Personal information
Birth nameJean Evelyn Roberts
NationalityAustralian
Born(1943-08-18)18 August 1943
Geelong, Victoria, Australia
Died17 September 2024(2024-09-17) (aged 81)
Canberra, Australia
Height1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Weight69 kg (152 lb)
Sport
SportAthletics
Event(s)Discus throw, shot put
ClubCoburg Harriers, Coburg
Birchfield Harriers, Birmingham
Delaware Sports Club, Delaware USA
Coached byJohn Cheffers(1958-1968), Wilf Paish(1971-1972)
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)DT – 55.91 m (1974)
SP – 16.38 m (1972)[1]
Medal record
Representing  Australia
Commonwealth Games
1962 Perth Shot put
1966 Kingston Discus
1970 Edinburgh Discus
1970 Edinburgh Shot put
1974 Christchurch Shot put
Close

Biography

Summarize
Perspective

Roberts competed for the Coburg club, alongside athletes such as Raelene Boyle and Carolyn Lewis.[2]

Roberts won a total of 13 Australian Championships in Athletics between 1962 and 1970, including eight in the Shot Put. She also won two British Championships in the Shot Put in 1971 and 1972.[3]

Roberts was a versatile athlete, winning the 1967 Victorian State Pentathlon championship with 3985 points[4] and placing second in 1969.[5]

She competed at four Commonwealth Games between 1962 and 1974, winning medals on each occasion, and represented Australia at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City.[6] Her elder sister Val Roberts competed in gymnastics at the 1960 and 1964 Olympics.[7]

Roberts won the discus throw at the Pacific Conference Games in 1969 at Tokyo[8] and won the British WAAA Championships title in the shot put event at the 1971 WAAA Championships.[9][10]

Roberts also won the 1973 and 1975 American Athletic Union championships in the discus.

Roberts received her Doctorate of Education from Temple University in the mid 1970s and then coached and taught at the University of New Hampshire.

She coached thrower Gael Martin to two gold medals at the 1986 Commonwealth Games.[11]

She was the first Director of Coaching for the Australian Athletic Union from 1979 -1985. She was appointed an administrator at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) in 1985 and worked there until 2001. Whilst at the AIS, she managed the Olympic Training Centre Programs in the lead up to the Sydney 2000 Olympics for athletes, coaches and sports medicine practitioners from Oceania and ten African countries.[12][13][14][15]

Roberts career was recognised through several awards - Australian Olympic Committee Order of Merit (1996), Oceania Athletics’ Merit Award (1997) and the Australian Sports Medal (2000).[11]

Roberts died in Canberra on 17 September 2024, at the age of 81.[16][17][11]

See also

Source:[15]

References

Loading related searches...

Wikiwand - on

Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.