Olympic silver medallist and former high jump world record holder Thelma Hopkins dies aged 88
Former Olympic high jump silver medallist Thelma Hopkins has died aged 88.
Hopkins won Empire Games gold for Northern Ireland and held the world record, and earned her silver medal success at the 1956 Olympics.
She lived in Canada and passed away in Edmonton on January 10.
Born in Kingston-Upon-Hull in 1936 before moving to Northern Ireland, Hopkins won both the high jump and long jump NI senior titles when she was aged only 15 in 1951.
She clinched gold in the high jump and silver in the long jump three years later for Northern Ireland at the Empire Games in Vancouver.
Hopkins then sealed the high jump title for Great Britain when competing at the European Championships in Bern.
She broke the high jump world record with a 1.74m effort at the Cherryvale Playing Fields in Belfast on May 5, 1956.
Six months later, Hopkins – aged 20 – won silver at the Olympic Games in Melbourne representing Great Britain.
She also played international hockey for Ireland and was capped 40 times. Maeve Kyle, who was among her Ireland hockey team-mates, also enjoyed a successful athletics career.
A gifted athlete, Hopkins also played squash for Ireland.
In 2006, she returned to Cherryvale Playing Fields aged 70 where a plaque was unveiled commemorating her world record feat.
Hopkins’ Northern Ireland long jump record of 6.11m achieved in 1956 was only beaten in 2013.