Debbie Brill

Debbie Arden Brill, born March 10, 1953, is a Canadian high jump athlete who at the age of 16 became the first North American woman to clear 6 feet. Her reverse jumping style, now almost exclusively the technique of elite high jumpers, was called the Brill Bend and was developed by her as a child, around the same time that Dick Fosbury was developing the similar Fosbury Flop in the United States. She won gold at the 1970 Commonwealth Games, at the 1971 Pan American Games, at the 1979 IAAF World Cup and at the 1982 Commonwealth Games, and finished eighth at the 1972 Summer Olympics. She has held the Canadian high jump record since 1969, setting the current record of 1.99 metres in 1982.