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 unique reverse jumping style — which is now almost exclusively the technique of elite high jumpers — was called the " Brill Bend " and was developed by her when she was a child , around the same time as Dick Fosbury was developing the similar Fosbury Flop in the USA . Brill won gold in the high jump at the 1970 Commonwealth Games , and at the Pan American Games in 1971 . She finished 8th in the 1972 Summer Olympics , then quit the sport in the wake of the Munich massacre , returning three years later . She won gold at the IAAF World Cup in 1979 , and at the 1982 Commonwealth Games . She has held the Canadian high jump record since 1969 , and set the current record of 1.99 meters in 1982 , a few months after giving birth to her first child
Munich massacre
Munich massacre
Debbie Brill