Born in Hannah, North Dakota, United States, Ethel Catherwood was raised and educated in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, where she excelled at baseball, basketball and track and field athletics.

In 1926, as a student at Bedford Road Collegiate, she equalled a Canadian record for the high jump at the Saskatoon city track and field championships.

[2] There was considerable focus on her physical attributes during the Games earning her the nickname "Saskatoon Lily".

However, much more than a pretty face, Ethel Catherwood took home the world's first ever gold medal awarded to a female high jumper and held the title as the only Canadian female athlete to have won an individual gold medal in an Olympic track and field event, until Camryn Rogers' win at the hammer throw in 2024, 96 years later.

[3] Catherwood also held national titles in javelin throw, but this event became Olympic only in 1932, whereas she retired from competitions a year earlier.