Louise Ritter

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Louise Ritter

Personal information

Born

February 18, 1958 (age 63)
Dallas, Texas, U.S.

hide

Medal record

Women's athletics

Representing the United States
Olympic Games
	1988 Seoul	High jump
World Championships
	1983 Helsinki	High jump
Pan American Games
	1979 San Juan	High jump

Louise Dorothy Ritter (born February 18, 1958) is an American former track and field athlete who won the gold medal in the high jump at the 1988 Olympic Games.

Biography[]

Ritter qualified for the 1980 U.S. Olympic team but was unable to compete due to the 1980 Summer Olympics boycott. She did however receive one of 461 Congressional Gold Medals created especially for the spurned athletes.^[1]

Louise won the gold medal in the women's high jump at the 1988 Summer Olympics held in Seoul, South Korea.^[2] In doing so she upset Stefka Kostadinova, the reigning world champion and world record-holder in the event. A graduate from Red Oak High School she now has a street named after her^{[citation needed]} located in her former home town of Red Oak, TX.^[3]

She graduated from Texas Woman's University in 1988 where she starred for U.S. Olympic coach Dr. Bert Lyle.

She was Inducted into the Texas Track and Field Coaches Hall of Fame, Class of 2012.^[4]

Achievements[]

4 Times US National Champion (1978, 1983, 1985, 1986)
3 Times won US Olympic Trials (1980, 1984, 1988)

Note: During the 1980s, the US Championships and US Olympic trials were separate events.

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Notes
Representing United States
1977	World Cup	Düsseldorf, Germany	4th	1.83 m
1979	Pan American Games	San Juan, Puerto Rico	1st	1.93 m
1979	World Cup	Montreal, Canada	5th	1.87 m
1983	World Championships	Helsinki, Finland	3rd	1.95 m
1984	Olympic Games	Los Angeles, United States	8th	1.91 m
1986	Goodwill Games	Moscow, Soviet Union	8th	1.89 m
1987	World Championships	Rome, Italy	8th	1.93 m
1988	Olympic Games	Seoul, South Korea	1st	2.03 m

References[]

^ Caroccioli, Tom; Caroccioli, Jerry (2008). Boycott: Stolen Dreams of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games. Highland Park, IL: New Chapter Press. pp. 243–253. ISBN 978-0942257403.
^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Louise Ritter". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2020-04-17.
^ THE SEOUL OLYMPICS; Last Jump Goes Ritter's Way
^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2017-01-16. Retrieved 2017-01-15.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

External links[]

databaseOlympics
Louise Ritter at World Athletics

Sporting positions
Preceded by Joni Huntley	USA National High Jump Champion 1978	Succeeded by Debbie Brill
Preceded by Debbie Brill	USA National High Jump Champion 1983	Succeeded by Pam Spencer
Preceded by Pam Spencer	USA National High Jump Champion 1985 — 1986	Succeeded by Coleen Sommer

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Olympic champions in women's high jump

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Pan American Champions in women's high jump

show v t US National Championship winners in women's high jump
1923–1979 Amateur Athletic Union	1923: 1924: Not held 1925: 1926–27: 1928: Mildred Wiley 1929–31: Jean Shiley 1932: Jean Shiley & Babe Didrikson 1933: Alice Arden 1934: Not held 1935: Barbara Howe 1936: Annette Rogers 1937–38: 1939–48: Alice Coachman 1949: Gertrude Orr 1950: 1951–52: 1953: Mildred McDaniel 1954: 1955–56: Mildred McDaniel 1957: Verneda Thomas & 1958: & Barbara Brown 1959–61: 1962: (JPN) 1963–67: Eleanor Montgomery 1968: 1969: Eleanor Montgomery 1970: 1971: 1972: Audrey Reid 1973: 1974–77: Joni Huntley 1978: Louise Ritter 1979: Debbie Brill (CAN)
1980–1992 The Athletics Congress	1980: Coleen Sommer 1981: Pam Spencer 1982: Debbie Brill (CAN) 1983: Louise Ritter 1984: Pam Spencer 1985–86: Louise Ritter 1987: Coleen Sommer 1988–89: Jan Wohlschlag 1990–91: Yolanda Henry 1992: Tanya Hughes
1993–present USA Track & Field	1993: Tanya Hughes 1994: Angie Bradburn 1995: Amy Acuff 1996: Tisha Waller 1997: Amy Acuff 1998–99: Tisha Waller 2000: Karol Damon 2001: Amy Acuff 2002: Tisha Waller 2003: Amy Acuff 2004: Tisha Waller 2005: Amy Acuff 2006: Chaunté Howard 2007: Amy Acuff 2008–09: Chaunté Howard 2010: Chaunté Lowe 2011: Brigetta Barrett 2012: Chaunté Lowe 2013: Brigetta Barrett 2014–16: Chaunté Lowe 2017–19: Vashti Cunningham 2021^{2020 OT}: Vashti Cunningham
Notes	OT: Since 1992, championships incorporated the Olympic Trials in Olympic years, otherwise held as a discrete event. 2020 OT: The 2020 Olympic Trials were delayed and held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

show v t 1984 USA Olympic track and field team
Qualification	1984 United States Olympic Trials (track and field)
Men's track and road athletes	Ray Armstead Alonzo Babers Kirk Baptiste Ron Brown Tonie Campbell Don Clary Paul Cummings Brian Diemer Marco Evoniuk Greg Foster Sam Graddy Johnny Gray John Gregorek Danny Harris Tranel Hawkins Jim Heiring Thomas Jefferson Earl Jones Roger Kingdom Steve Lacy Carl Lewis Henry Marsh John Marshall Antonio McKay Walter McCoy Edwin Moses Sunder Nix Daniel O'Connor Vince O'Sullivan Doug Padilla Pete Pfitzinger Pat Porter Alberto Salazar Carl Schueler Steve Scott Calvin Smith Willie Smith Jim Spivey John Tuttle Craig Virgin
Men's field athletes	Duncan Atwood Willie Banks Earl Bell Tim Bright Ed Burke Art Burns Michael Carter Mike Conley Sr. John Crist Milton Goode Bill Green Al Joyner Dave Laut Carl Lewis Jud Logan Doug Lytle Mike McRae Larry Myricks Doug Nordquist Tom Petranoff John Powell Steve Roller Dwight Stones Mike Tully Mac Wilkins Augie Wolf Jim Wooding
Women's track and road athletes	Evelyn Ashford Sharrieffa Barksdale Joan Benoit Jeanette Bolden Cindy Bremser Valerie Brisco-Hooks Alice Brown Judi Brown Julie Brown Robin Campbell Chandra Cheeseborough Mary Decker Diane Dixon Benita Fitzgerald-Brown Kim Gallagher Randy Givens Florence Griffith Joyner Joan Hansen Denean Howard Sherri Howard Julie Isphording Missy Kane Lillie Leatherwood Pam Page Diana Richburg Kim Turner Angela Wright-Scott Ruth Wysocki
Women's field athletes	Jodi Anderson Carol Cady Laura De Snoo Leslie Deniz Cindy Greiner Lorna Griffin Joni Huntley Jackie Joyner Carol Lewis Ramona Pagel Louise Ritter Karin Smith Pam Spencer Lynda Sutfin Cathy Sulinski Angela Thacker
Coaches	—

show v t 1988 USA Olympic track and field team
Qualification	1988 United States Olympic Trials (track and field)
Men's track and road athletes	Brian Abshire Jeff Atkinson Tracy Baskin Bruce Bickford Arthur Blake Terry Brahm Tonie Campbell Mark Conover Mark Deady Joe DeLoach Brian Diemer Danny Everett Mark Everett Marco Evoniuk Ed Eyestone Johnny Gray Jim Heiring Andy Kaestner Roger Kingdom Carl Lewis Steve Lewis Tim Lewis Sydney Maree Henry Marsh Roy Martin Antonio McKay (r) Lee McNeill (r) Dennis Mitchell Gary Morgan Edwin Moses Doug Padilla Pete Pfitzinger Andre Phillips Steve Plasencia Pat Porter Butch Reynolds Albert Robinson (r) Kevin Robinzine (r) Carl Schueler Steve Scott Calvin Smith Andrew Valmon (r) Kevin Young
Men's field athletes	Willie Banks Randy Barnes Earl Bell Tim Bright Mike Buncic Robert Cannon Hollis Conway Brian Crouser Lance Deal Jim Doehring Ken Flax Randy Heisler Jim Howard Dave Johnson Gary Kinder Carl Lewis Jud Logan Larry Myricks Billy Olson Tom Petranoff Mike Powell Charles Simpkins Brian Stanton Dave Stephens Gregg Tafralis Kory Tarpenning Mac Wilkins
Women's track and road athletes	Evelyn Ashford Valerie Brisco Alice Brown (r) Joetta Clark Gail Devers-Roberts Nancy Ditz Diane Dixon Sheila Echols (r) Kim Gallagher Margaret Groos Denean Howard-Hill Sherri Howard (r) Vicki Huber Jacqueline Humphrey Regina Jacobs Lynn Jennings Florence Griffith Joyner Francie Larrieu-Smith Lillie Leatherwood (r) Pam Marshall LaVonna Martin Leslie Maxie Lynn Nelson Cathy O'Brien PattiSue Plumer LaTanya Sheffield Mary Decker Slaney Gwen Torrence Delisa Walton-Floyd Schowonda Williams Dannette Young (r)
Women's field athletes	Wendy Brown Carol Cady Bonnie Dasse Sheila Echols Cindy Greiner Jackie Joyner-Kersee Trish King Carol Lewis Donna Mayhew Ramona Pagel Connie Price Louise Ritter Karin Smith Coleen Sommer Lynda Sutfin
Coaches	Stan Huntsman (men's head coach) (men's assistant coach) Irving "Moon" Mondschein (men's assistant coach) (men's assistant coach) (men's assistant coach) Joe Vigil (men's assistant coach) (women's head coach) (women's assistant coach) (women's assistant coach) Fred Thompson (women's assistant coach)

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Texas Women's Hall of Fame

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