Debbie Brill

Debbie Brill

Personal information
Full name	Debbie Arden Brill
Nationality	Canada
Born	March 10, 1953 (1953-03-10) Mission, British Columbia
Sport
Sport	High jump
College/university team	Unaffiliated
Achievements and titles
World finals	First International competition in 1968, at age 15.
Regional finals	Started competing provincially in British Columbia in 1966, at age 13
National finals	First competed on a Canadian National level in 1967, at age 14
Olympic finals	Competed in the Olympic Games in 1972, 1976, and 1984. Qualified for the 1980 Olympic Games in 1980 subsequently boycotted by Canada. IAAF rankings IAAF World Indoor Games Rank: 3 Height: 1.90 m. Locale: Paris Date: 19/01/1985 23rd Olympic Games Rank: 5 Height: 1.94 Locale: Los Angeles, CA Date: 10/08/1984 20th Olympic Games Rank: 8 Height: 1.82 Locale: München Date: 04/09/1972 In 1979, the year before the 1980 Olympics, Debbie was ranked No. 1 in the world by the American magazine - "Track and Field News" ("The bible of the sport since 1948").
Highest world ranking	First place in the world rankings 1979
Personal best(s)	1.99 meters indoors at The Edmonton Journal Games in 1982, 1.98 meters outdoors in 1984 in Rieti, Italy
Medal record Medal record Men’s athletics Competitor for Canada IAAF World Cup Gold 1979 Montreal High Jump Pan American Games Gold 1971 Cali High Jump Bronze 1979 San Juan High Jump Commonwealth Games Gold 1970 Edinburgh High Jump Silver 1978 Edmonton High Jump Gold 1982 Brisbane High Jump

Debbie Brill OC (born March 10, 1953 in Mission, British Columbia) is a Canadian high jump athlete who was the first North American woman to clear 6 feet, at age 16. Her unique reverse jumping style was called the "Brill Bend" and was developed independently about the same time as Dick Fosbury was developing the similar Fosbury Flop in the USA. This style of jumping revolutionized the event and is now almost exclusively the technique of elite high jumpers. Because Fosbury won the Gold medal at the 1968 Olympics, he is more often credited with the invention. She is an eleven-time national champion of Canada.

Debbie has held the Canadian National High Jump record, both indoor (1.99 meters - 6' 6½ ") and outdoor (1.98 meters - 6' 6"), since 1969, establishing her first Canadian High Jump record when she was 16 years old. Her Canadian High Jump records remain unbroken. She was ranked in the top 8 female jumpers in the world for 12 years in a career that spanned 21 years, from 1967–1988. Debbie's jump, outdoors, of 1.98 m. in 1984 would have tied the 5th highest jump by a woman in an outdoors meet in the summer (August) of 2010.

In 1979 Debbie won a gold medal in the World Cup athletics championship (the precursor to the World Athletics Championships) held in Montreal, Canada.

Debbie was ranked number one in the world by Track and Field News going into the 1980 Olympics which Canada boycotted because of the U.S.S.R.'s military involvement in Afghanistan.

In January 1982 Debbie established a World Indoor High Jump record of 1.99 meters in Edmonton, Alberta, 5 months after giving birth to her first son, Neil. She has a daughter, Katelin, and a son, Jacob. She is married to a physician, Dr. Douglas Coleman.

In 1983, she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in recognition for being "Canada's premier woman high-jumper".

Achievements

Year	Tournament	Venue	Result	Event
1970	Commonwealth Games	Edinburgh, Scotland	1st	High Jump
1971	Pan American Games	Cali, Colombia	1st	High Jump
1972	Olympic Games	Munich, West Germany	8th	High Jump
1978	Commonwealth Games	Edmonton, Canada	2nd	High Jump
1979	Pan American Games	San Juan, Puerto Rico	3rd	High Jump
1982	Commonwealth Games	Brisbane, Australia	1st	High Jump
1983	World Championships	Helsinki, Finland	6th	High Jump
1984	Olympic Games	Los Angeles, California	5th	High Jump

References

• Statistics
• Canadian Olympic Committee
• IAAF profile for Debbie Brill

Sporting positions
Preceded by Louise Ritter	USA National High Jump Champion 1979	Succeeded by Coleen Rienstra
Preceded by Pamela Spencer	USA National High Jump Champion 1982	Succeeded by Louise Ritter