How the 'Saskatoon Lily' went from tiny town to Olympic record holder

HANNAH, N.D. — Ethel Catherwood’s journey to winning a gold medal in the Olympics began in her backyard. She became an international celebrity, nicknamed the Saskatoon Lily and described by the New York Times as the “prettiest girl” at the 1928 Olympics. “Sports writers stretched their imaginations to find a word that might even remotely describe her loveliness. Reporters coined new flower-phrases in her honor,” the Winnipeg Tribune reported. Hounded by reporters from around the world, Catherwood became the most photographed female athlete during the Amsterdam Olympics, where she set a new high jump world record, which lasted 378 days. And then she shunned it all — the glamour, the Hollywood prospects. “I’d rather gulp poison than try my hand at motion pictures,” she told reporters in 1928, according to the Olympics website. Ethel chose to use the $3,000 and more award money for studying piano and working as a secretary in Toronto.

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