Jillian RICHARDSON-BRISCOE

Jill Richardson first represented Canada on the international stage at the 1982 Pan American Junior Athletics Championships, where she won gold in the 400 metres, silver in the 4x400 metre relay, and bronze in the 200 metres. Her first appearance as a senior came later that year at the Commonwealth Games, where she helped Charmaine Crooks, Molly Killingbeck, and Angella Taylor-Issajenko win gold in the 4x400 m relay. The quartet, with the assistance of Marita Payne Wiggins, placed fourth at the 1983 World Championships, but won silver at that year’s Pan American Games. Their next stop was the 1984 Summer Olympics where, with Dana Wright in place of Taylor, they won silver. Crooks, Killingbeck, Payne Wiggins, and Richardson then defended their Commonwealth Crown in 1986, won silver at the 1987 Pan American Games, and finished fourth at that year’s World Championships, where Richardson was also sixth in the 400 m. She made it to the semifinals of the event at the 1988 Summer Olympics, where she also missed an opportunity to medal in the 4x400 m relay, as Killingbeck dropped the baton on the second leg of the final after being bumped, leaving the Canadians unable to complete the race.

Richardson took bronze in the 400 m at the 1989 World Indoor Championships and then took a hiatus from athletics to have a child. She returned in time for the 1992 Summer Olympics, where she was fifth in the 400 m and fourth in the 4x400 m relay alongside Crooks, Karen Clarke, Rosey Edeh, and Camille Noel. Her career had a sudden end the following year, however, when she was critically injured in a car accident. She recovered, but never again competed in a major international tournament. She was made a member of the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame in 1997.

Personal Best: 400 – 49.91 (1988).