Janet Ely

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Janet Ely
Janet Ely 1972.jpg
Ely at the 1972 U.S. Olympic Trials
Personal information
Born (1953-09-12) September 12, 1953 (age 69)
Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.
Height163 cm (5 ft 4 in)
Weight54 kg (119 lb)
Sport
SportDiving
ClubBryan Robbins Divers' Club
University of Michigan
Coached by Dick Kimball [1]
Medal record
Representing the Flag of the United States.svg  United States
World Championships
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 1975 Cali 10 m platform
Pan American Games
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 1975 Mexico City 10 m platform

Janet Ely (later Lagourgue and Thorburn, born September 12, 1953) is a retired American female diver from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Under coach Dick Kimball, she learnt swimming and diving at the YMCA Tennis Club and graduated from the University of Michigan in 1972. An early standout moment in her diving career came during the 1971 Hall of Fame International Diving Championships, where she outscored a former Olympic gold-medalist. Ely represented the United States at the 1972 Summer Olympics, finishing fourth and narrowly missing a medal. She represented the country again in the 1976 Summer Olympics, both times in the 3m springboard and 10m platform.

Contents

In 1975, she won the world title in the platform and placed second at the Pan American Games. Domestically Ely held the AAU platform titles in 1972 and 1975. [1]

Early life

Ely attended Sandia Preparatory School in Albuquerque in New Mexico [2] She left Albuquerque in 10th grade to go and live with her coach Dick Kimball, where she learned to swim and dive at the YMCA Tennis Club. She was introduced to her coach by "a little Japanese lady", who invited Ely to join her at a swimming camp in Florida and after a two-week stay, she was invited by Kimball to train with him for a year. [3]

She graduated from the University of Michigan in 1972, and later coached divers at the Mission Viejo Nadadores. [1]

Career

In April 1971, Ely competed in the Hall of Fame International Diving Championships, where she surprised spectators in her performance by outscoring Czechoslovakia's 1968 Summer Olympics gold-medalist Milena Duchková in the 10-meter platform event, with a score of 366.75 to 356.80. [4]

Ely in 1972 Janet Ely 1972 Portrait Photo.jpg
Ely in 1972

Ely competed in the 1972 Summer Olympics diving events, [3] having won the 10-meter event during the United States Olympic trials in July, to secure her place on the diving team along with Cindy Potter and Micki King. [5] Upon initially arriving, Ely noted that she "had a really good feeling" and made friends with others on the U.S diving team, with an open atmosphere in the period before the competition began. [3] Less than an hour she was scheduled to start her dives, her team coach was advised that unless Ely submitted to an immediate femininity test, she would be disqualified. Ely recalled the experience as being "really frightening" as "they were all talking German and laughing". [6] Despite initially feeling optimistic, Ely finished 4th in both the 3-meter springboard and 10-meter platform diving events. Although missing out on a medal, she "really enjoyed it over-all" but was critical about the politics of the event, suggesting that competition between countries appeared to be more important than between athletes. The experience left her disillusioned and at the time, she was not sure if she would want to compete at the next Olympics in 1976. [7] During the event, Ely was struggling with back problems which she had corrected shortly afterwards in Puerto Rico. [3]

During the 1975 World Aquatics Championships, she won a gold medal in the women's 10m platform and later in the 1975 Pan American Games, won a silver medal in the women's 10m platform event. [8] Ely's silver-medal finish was considered an upset, as she was expected to win gold on the basis of being the 10-meter platform world champion, but ultimately congratulated Canada's Janet Nutter on her victory. [9]

In June 1976, she secured her position on the 1976 Summer Olympics team after "eight spectacular dives", scoring 438.96 points with no single dive being scored less than 8/10 by judges. [10]

Personal life

Ely was married twice. In November 1978, she married John Thorburn in Dallas, Texas. [11] Her father was D. Maxwell Ellett [7] and she has two brothers, of which one, Teddy, is a twin. [3]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Janet Ely". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on November 3, 2012.
  2. "Janet Ely in the U.S., School Yearbooks" . 1969. Retrieved August 12, 2022 via Ancestry.com.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Diver Disillusioned With Olympics". Albuquerque Journal. September 22, 1972. p. 17.
  4. "Ely Scores Diving Upset". The Evening Independent. April 19, 1971. p. 21.
  5. "Janet Ely Takes Ten-Meter Crown". Albuquerque Journal. July 31, 1972. p. 19.
  6. Shirley Hayes (July 23, 1976). "They're playing silly games at Olympics". Boca Raton News. p. 4.
  7. 1 2 "Janet Ely Not Certain About Next Olympics". Schenectady Gazette. September 21, 1972. p. 27.
  8. "Janet Ely Athlete Information". FINA. Retrieved August 8, 2022.
  9. "A gracious loser". Boca Raton News. October 23, 1975. p. 13.
  10. "Janet Ely is Olympian". The Tuscaloosa News. June 26, 1976. p. 5.
  11. "Janet Ely in the Texas, U.S., Marriage Index" . U.S. Marriage Index. Retrieved August 8, 2022 via Ancestry.com.