Name/Title
Print, PhotographicEntry/Object ID
1963Description
Members of the 1936 American Olympic contingent, including Puyallup’s Gertrude Wilhelmsen. Wilhelmsen was a graduate of Puyallup High and qualified for the 1936 Berlin Games in the javelin and discus. Wilhelmsen was born in 1913 and her mother died during a 1920 flu epidemic. She was introduced to track and field at Puyallup High, where she graduated in 1931. She narrowly missed the 1932 Olympics when she finished fourth in the javelin at the trials. The top three qualified. Wilhelmsen said she was strong because she grew up working on a farm. Her sister, Hildegard, trained with her and made the ‘36 trials in the 100-meter dash and 80-meter hurdles, but failed to qualify for the Olympics. At the Berlin Games, Gertrude Wilhelmsen was the top American finished in the discus (seventh) and javelin (eighth). Women's shot put was not added to the Olympics until 1948. Wilhelmsen was also an accomplished fastpitch and softball player and starred for the Tacoma Tigerettes, the city’s first women’s fastpitch team. She was inducted into the Tacoma-Pierce County Old-Timers Baseball-Softball Hall of Fame in 1994. She died in 2005 at the age of 92.Lexicon
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Olympics, Track and FieldRelationships
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Person or Organization
Wilhelmsen, GertrudeRelated Events
Event
1936 Summer Olympics