Jacqueline MacDonald (October 12, 1932 – June 25, 2026) was a Canadian track and field athlete.
MacDonald competed in the 1956 Summer Olympics and placed 10th in the shot put and 19th in the discus throw. She won a silver medal in the shot at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, was fifth in the discus at the 1955 Pan American Games, sixth in the shot at the 1957 World Youth Games in Moscow, and, under her married name of Jackie Gelling, won a bronze medal in the shot at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games.
The early years Toronto high schools in the late 1940s limited girls sports to watered down volleyball and basketball, no track and field or other sports, and no inter high school competition. At 15, frustrated with girl's rules basketball,Six on Six Basketball - Wikipedia MacDonald joined a Toronto city league basketball team, setting a record of 38 points in one game.Archives Descriptive Data Base MacDonald Jackie, 1932 Her team won junior city, provincial and national championships. In the 1953 Ontario Intermediate B Championships she scored 35 points in one game, 10 more than the entire opposing team from Sudbury.Sudbury Star, Sunday, April 6, 1953 She also started swimming competitively and won the Ontario Junior Diving Championship in 1948.
In 1953, at age 20, she approached Lloyd PercivalLloyd Percival: Canada's Greatest Athletics Coach and First Sports Scientist, Athletics Illustrated, November 21, 2013 by Christopher Kelsall to coach her in shot put and discus. This led to MacDonald winning the Canadian Championship in the shotOntario Archives Fonds F 4662 Jackie MacDonald Scrapbooks DVD2 Volume II #46 in her first year of competition. Percival also introduced her to weight training for strength, which was innovative for women athletes in the 1950s. This drew a lot of international media attention.Una Dama que Levanta Pesas (A Woman who Lifts Weights) by Pedro Bonetti, Cartelles, Mexico City, March 15, 1955Meet Jackie MacDonald - Canada's Foremost Female Athlete by Bruce Page, Iron Man, April–May 1956Canada's Olympic Barbelle Glamazon Seeks Olympic Victory by Jim Murray, Strength and Health, July 1956
Track and field achievements MacDonald's career in track and field included five international competitions between 1954 and 1958. The following list includes the most important achievements over that period:
1954: Broke existing Canadian records in shot and discusToronto Star, June 19th 1954, Don't Pass Up the Shot Put by Jim Proudfoot 1954: Silver medal in shot at the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in VancouverBritish Empire and Commonwealth Games Results 1954 1954: Ranked first in the women's shot in the Western Hemisphere, second in the Commonwealth, and equal 57th in the worldAssociation of Track and Field Statisticians (ATFS). The ranking information is not contained in any ATFS files, but is extrapolated from the lists in World Women's Athletics 100 Best Performers Year Lists 1911-1962 by Janusz Wasco, Jon Brant and Stephonas Misiunas (6th edition, printed in Poland, ) 1955: Fifth place in the discus at the Pan American Games in Mexico City (there was no shot put for women)The Girl and the Game: A History of Women's Sport in Canada (Second Edition) 2016 by M. Ann Hall, page 199 1955: Ranked first in the women's shot in the Western Hemisphere, second in the Commonwealth, and 37th in the worldAssociation of Track and Field Statisticians (ATFS). The ranking information is not contained in any ATFS files, but is extrapolated from the lists in World Women's Athletics 100 Best Performers Year Lists 1911-1962 by Janusz Wasco, Jon Brant and Stephonas Misiunas (6th edition, printed in Poland, 1955: Ranked third in the women's discus in the Western Hemisphere and 57th in the world 1956: Second place in the shot (and broke the existing US record) at the US Indoor Track and Field Championships in WashingtonAmerican Women's Track and Field: A History 1895 through 1980 by Louise Mead Tricard (McFarland & Co, 1996) 1956: Second place in the shot and discus (and broke the existing US record in each event) at the US Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Philadelphia 1956: Tenth place in the shot at the Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia 1956: Ranked second in the women's shot put in the Western Hemisphere and 26th in the world 1956: Ranked fifth in the women's discus in the Western Hemisphere and 93rd in the world 1957: Sixth place in the shot at the World Youth Games in MoscowArchives of Ontario, Fonds 4662, DVD2, Volume VIII #7, #11 and #22 (The World Youth Games were the Athletics part of the World Youth Festival where MacDonald was the only Canadian participant by special invitation) 1958: Bronze medal in the shot at the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff, Wales (competing as Jackie Gelling)British Empire and Commonwealth Games Results 1958 Canadian Champion in Women's Shot Put for 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956 and 1958; and in Women's Discus for 1955 and 1956http://www.gbrathletics.com/Canadian Championships Held Canadian record for Women's Shot Put continuously from 1954 through 1962. Personal bests achieved in 1956 Olympics exceeded existing Canadian records for both shot and discus but the Amateur Athletic Association of Canada did not recognize records set outside Canada at that time.
Controversies At the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1954, after winning a silver medal in the shot, MacDonald was withdrawn from the discus just minutes before the competition was to start on suspicion of professionalism. This arose from her appearance in a newspaper advertisement wearing her team uniform and holding a soft drink in her hand. The Amateur Athletic Association of Canada exonerated her a few days later, preserving her amateur status but too late for the discus event.The Miracle Mile: Stories of the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games by Jason Beck (paperback): pp 75-78Remembering the Forgotten Games: A Reinterpretation of the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games by Jackie MacDonald and M. Ann Hall, Sport History Review, Volume 40, Number 2, November 2009: pp 118 to 121. Human Kinetics Inc. ISSN 1087-1659 (print), ISSN 1543-2947 (on line) After experiencing nationwide controversy over the eviction of one of his athletes from her event and amidst other issues surrounding the selection of coaches for the Canadian team, Percival quit coaching track and field,Athletics Illustrated, November 21, 2013 by Christopher Kelsall, Lloyd Percival: Canada's Greatest Athletics Coach and First Sports Scientist leaving MacDonald without a coach for the rest of her athletics career.
The later years MacDonald married William Gelling in 1958, and used Jackie Gelling as her married name until 1990. In 1990, when living with her husband in Montreal, she officially changed her name back to MacDonald, as was common practice in the Province of Quebec.
After the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, MacDonald returned home disillusioned by what she felt was a lack of interest and support for amateur sport in Canada. Without a coach and no financial support, she withdrew from track and field competition.Preserving Canada's Sporting Past with the Jackie MacDonald Scrapbooks-Active History, May 15, 2015, page 3
MacDonald took up masters swimming, winning medals in Canadian and American Championships. At 39 she started playing water polo. In her mid 40s MacDonald started cycling with the Ottawa Bicycle Club. In 1985 she competed in the World Masters Championships, winning the criterium and placing second in both the time trial and the road race in the 50 to 54 age category.Results for the early World Masters Championships are not currently available on the World Masters website but work is underway at the headquarters in Switzerland to digitize and post them as soon as possible At 61 she joined the Ottawa Rowing Club and competed as a member of a coxed four in her first year. MacDonald became the first woman to participate in cycling club time trials in the 80 to 89 age category.A Lifetime of Record Breaking - Spokesperson (Ottawa Bicycle Club Newsletter June 2012) At 81 she was interviewed at a local gym by an Ottawa TV station as she stretched, did weight training and worked out on a rowing machine.YouTube CTV Jackie MacDonald
MacDonald died on June 25, 2026, at the age of 93.Jackie MacDonald Olympedia
Academic and professional Toronto Normal School: Ontario Teaching Certificate Carleton University: BA University of Ottawa: BEd Cum Laude (Specialist in Teaching English as a Second Language) Manitoba Professional (Teaching) Certificate Univérsité de Montréal: MA (Linguistique)
MacDonald taught elementary school, including physical education, and later ESL (English as a Second Language) for many years in Ottawa, Winnipeg and Mexico. She also taught swimming and quilting, and coached competitive swimming.
Archival records MacDonald started documenting her sports activity in 1947 at age 15 in a series of scrapbooks that grew to 280 pages by 1958, including separate books for each of her five international track and field competitions.
On viewing the scrapbooks, sports historian Anne Hall urged her to preserve them. In 2012 MacDonald donated them to the Archives of the Province of Ontario.Archives of the Province of Ontario Fonds F 4662 Jackie MacDonald Scrapbooks.Preserving Canada's Sporting Past with the Jackie MacDonald Scrapbooks-Active History, May 15, 2015 In 2014 she added a DVD to the collection which replicates the scrapbook content and adds personal information and a convenient indexing to assist researchers in finding particular information.Fonds F 4662 DVD 2, Jackie MacDonald, her life as an athlete as seen through her Scrapbooks
In 2015, to celebrate the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, the Archives featured excerpts from the scrapbooks in an exhibit entitled "The Spirit of Sport: The Legacy of Jackie MacDonald" in the Archives lobby.Spirit of Sport: The Legacy of Jackie MacDonald - Archives of Ontario - Ontario.ca
Bibliography Sports Illustrated (first issue) August 16, 1954 Sports Illustrated August 27, 1956 Who's Who in Canadian Sport, Bob Ferguson, Volume 40, Number 2, November 2009 "Remembering the 'Forgotten Games': A Reinterpretation of the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games" by Jackie MacDonald and M. Ann Hall, Sport History Review, vol 40 number 2, (2009): pp. 111–125. Human Kinetics Inc. (print) (online) The Girl and the Game: A History of Women's Sport in Canada (second edition) 2016 by M. Ann Hall, University of Toronto Press (hardback), (paperback) (html) (pdf) Lloyd Percival: Coach and Visionary 2013 by Gary Mossman, Seraphin Editions, (pbk) The Miracle Mile: Stories of the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games 2016 by Jason Beck, Caitlan Press Inc. (pbk) Ladies Don’t Do That! Memoir of an Olympian 2023 by Jackie MacDonald, FriesenPress (Hardcover) (Paperback) (eBook)
References Jackie MacDonald. sports-reference.com