Janet Ely

Last updated

Janet Ely
Janet Ely 1972.jpg
Ely at the 1972 U.S. Olympic Trials
Personal information
Born (1953-09-12) September 12, 1953 (age 70)
Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.
Height163 cm (5 ft 4 in)
Weight54 kg (119 lb)
Sport
SportDiving
College team University of Michigan
Southern Methodist University
ClubBryan Robbins Divers' Club
Coached by Dick Kimball (U of M) [1]
Jim Stillson (SMU) [2]
Medal record
Representing the Flag of the United States (23px).png  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 former American female diver for the University of Michigan and Southern Methodist University and was a diving competitor in the 1972 Munich and 1976 Montreal Olympics. Under coach Dick Kimball, she trained in swimming and diving at the YMCA Tennis Club, then attended and swam for the University of Michigan and Southern Methodist University. [2] [3]

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 was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she attended Sandia Preparatory School. [4] She left Albuquerque in 10th grade to 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. [5]

She attended the University of Michigan in 1972, later graduating from Southern Methodist University. At SMU she competed for the dive team from 1978-1980, and was coached by Jim Stillson, a former All American diver at Ohio State who had served as the dive coach at Columbia University. Ely later coached divers at the Mission Viejo Nadadores Swim Club, an outstanding age group team. [1] [2]

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. [6]

1972 Olympics

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

Ely competed in the 1972 Summer Olympics diving events, [5] 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. [7] 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. [5] Less than an hour before 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". [8] 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 unsure if she would compete at the next Olympics in 1976. [9] During the event, Ely was struggling with back problems which she had corrected shortly afterwards in Puerto Rico. [5]

1975 Worlds, and Pan American

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. [10] 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. [11]

1976 Olympics

In June 1976, she secured her position on the 1976 Summer Olympics team after "eight spectacular dives", in the trials scoring 438.96 points with no single dive being scored less than 8/10 by judges. At the 1976 Montreal Olympics, she finished 9th competing in the 10m platform event, just missing the final round. [12] [3]

Personal life

Ely was married twice. In November 1978, she married John Thorburn in Dallas, Texas. [13] Her father was D. Maxwell Ellett [9] and she has two brothers, of which one, Teddy, is a twin. [5]

Related Research Articles


Fu Mingxia is a retired Chinese diver, multiple Olympic gold medalist and world champion. She won the platform-diving world championship in 1991 at the age of 12, making her the youngest diving champ of all time. She is also famous for being one of the youngest Olympic diving champions, having earned a gold at the 1992 Barcelona Games when she was just 13 years and 345 days old. Throughout the 1990s, Fu dominated the sport with her repertoire of extremely difficult dives. During the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Fu won her fourth gold medal, joining Americans Pat McCormick and Greg Louganis as the world's only quadruple Olympic-diving champions.

Scott Richard Donie was a former American diver for Southern Methodist University who was a silver medalist in 10m platform diving in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, and participated in springboard diving in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics placing forth. He later became an accomplished Head diving coach for New York University and then Columbia University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cynthia Potter</span> American diver

Cynthia "Cindy" Ann Potter is an American former Olympic diver and diving color commentator. She was a member of three Olympic diving teams, winning a bronze medal in the 3 m springboard in 1976.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Micki King</span> American diver

Maxine Joyce "Micki" King is an American former competitive diver and diving coach. She was a gold medal winner at the 1972 Summer Olympics in the three meter springboard event.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dick Kimball</span> American diver and coach

Dick Kimball is an American former diving champion and diving coach at the University of Michigan. He was the NCAA springboard champion in 1957 and the Professional World Diving champion in 1963. He coached the University of Michigan diving team from 1958 to 2002 and also coached the U.S. Olympic diving teams in 1964, 1980, 1984, 1988 and 1992. He has been inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame and the University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Webster</span> American diver (born 1938)

Robert David "Bob" Webster is a retired American diver who won the 10 m platform event at every competition he entered between 1960 and 1964, including the 1960 and 1964 Olympics and 1963 Pan American Games. He later became a diving coach at the University of Minnesota, Princeton University, and the University of Alabama. He was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1970 and the University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor in 1989.

Patrick S. Jeffrey is a retired diver from the United States who competed for Ohio State University and participated in Platform diving for the U.S. team in the 1988 and 1996 Olympics. Excelling as a coach, he would later coach diving at Florida State from 1999 to 2014, at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and at Stanford University after 2014.

Verónica G. Ribot-Canales' is a retired female diver from Argentina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minami Itahashi</span> Japanese diver (born 2000)

Minami Itahashi is a Japanese diver. She has represented Japan at various international events since the age of 14, including the 2015 World Aquatics Championships and the 2016 Summer Olympics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jessica Parratto</span> American diver

Jessica Parratto is an American diver.

Katrina Young is an American diver. She competed for the United States in the women's 10-meter diving at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and in the 10-meter platform contest at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

Tania Paterson is a retired competitive diver from New Zealand.

Deborah Wilson is an American diver. Wilson originally competed in springboard diving before moving on to platform diving. As a platform diver, she was first at the 1973 Amateur Athletic Union national diving championships. She participated in the 1973 World Aquatics Championships and 1975 World Aquatics Championships but did not medal in either championship. In international competitions, Wilson won a bronze medal in the women's 10 metre platform event at the 1976 Summer Olympics.

Jill Schlabach is an American diver. She competed in the NCAA Championship and the 1991 Pan American Games. Schlabach hoped to participate in the 1992 Olympics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tanya Watson</span> British-born Irish diver

Tanya Watson is a diver who represents Ireland and specialises in the 10m platform. She competed in the women's 10 metre platform event at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships. In 2021, she became the first Irish female diver to qualify for and compete in the Olympic Games. In 2022, she also became the first female diver to quality for and represent Team NI in the Commonwealth Games.

Ali Al-Hasan is a Kuwaiti diver who dove for Southern Methodist University and competed with the Kuwaiti diving team in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.

Melissa Briley is an American diver. She competed in the women's 10 metre platform event at the 1976 Summer Olympics.

Tony Iglesias was a Bolivian former diver who competed for Southern Methodist University, and participated in two diving events at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.

Nikita Hains is an Australian diver who competes in the 10m individual events, as well as the 10m synchronised.

Jim Stillson is an American former competition diver for Ohio State University, who coached the Southern Methodist University Diving team for thirty-three years years from 1984 through 2017, where twenty-one of his divers won 89 conference championships, and ten of his divers won U.S. National Championships. Recognized for outstanding contributions to sport of Diving in 2015, two years before his retirement, he received the Paragon Award from the International Swimming Hall of Fame.

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. 1 2 3 "SMU Hall of Fame, Janet Ely". smumustangs.com.
  3. 1 2 Olympedia is incorrect; Ely graduated SMU Not Michigan "Olympedia, Janet Ely". olympedia.org.
  4. ↑ "Janet Ely in the U.S., School Yearbooks" . 1969. Retrieved August 12, 2022– via Ancestry.com.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 "Diver Disillusioned With Olympics". Albuquerque Journal. September 22, 1972. p. 17.
  6. ↑ "Ely Scores Diving Upset". The Evening Independent. April 19, 1971. p. 21.
  7. ↑ "Janet Ely Takes Ten-Meter Crown". Albuquerque Journal. July 31, 1972. p. 19.
  8. ↑ Shirley Hayes (July 23, 1976). "They're playing silly games at Olympics". Boca Raton News. p. 4.
  9. 1 2 "Janet Ely Not Certain About Next Olympics". Schenectady Gazette. September 21, 1972. p. 27.
  10. ↑ "Janet Ely Athlete Information". FINA. Retrieved August 8, 2022.
  11. ↑ "A gracious loser". Boca Raton News. October 23, 1975. p. 13.
  12. ↑ "Janet Ely is Olympian". The Tuscaloosa News. June 26, 1976. p. 5.
  13. ↑ "Janet Ely in the Texas, U.S., Marriage Index" . U.S. Marriage Index. Retrieved August 8, 2022– via Ancestry.com.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.