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Joyce Yakubowich

Personal information
Birth name	Joyce Sadowick
Born	(1953-05-29)29 May 1953 Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
Died	24 March 2024(2024-03-24) (aged 70)
Sport
Country	Canada
Sport	Women's athletics
Medal record Pan American Games 1975 Mexico City 400 m 1975 Mexico City 4 × 400 m relay 1975 Mexico City 4 × 100 m relay Commonwealth Games 1970 Edinburgh 4 × 100 m relay

Joyce Yakubowich (née Sadowick; 29 May 1953 – 24 March 2024) was a Canadian track and field sprinter who competed mainly in the 200 metres and 400 metres. She was the 400 m gold medallist at the 1975 Pan American Games, where she also won relay medals. She twice represented Canada at the Summer Olympics (1972, 1976) and was a three-time Canadian national sprint champion.

Career

Born in Burnaby, British Columbia, she made her international debut at age seventeen at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games. She was eliminated in the heats of the 400 m, but managed to secure a bronze medal with the Canadian women's 4 × 100 m relay team, which included Joan Hendry, Patty Loverock and Stephanie Berto. She went on to attend the University of Victoria and broke several track records, including one for the 300 metres which remains unbeaten.

Yakubowich ran at the 1971 Pan American Games and made her first individual final, taking sixth in the 400 m. With the Canadian relay team she missed a medal, taking fourth some distance behind bronze medallists Jamaica. Her first national titles came at the 1972 Canadian Track and Field Championships, where she claimed both the 200 m and 400 m races – the latter in a championship record of 54.1 seconds. An Olympic debut came the following year at the 1972 Munich Games, but the 19-year-old failed to make it out of the heats. She gained her first individual medal a year later at the 1973 Pacific Conference Games, taking 400 m bronze.

The 1975 season proved to be the peak of her career. First, she won the third and final national title of her career in the 200 m. She was chosen to compete in four events at the 1975 Pan American Games. She placed sixth in the 200 m final, recording a lifetime best time of 23.34 seconds. She gave a dominant performance in the women's 400 m final, defeating American Debra Sapenter by over half a second to win the gold medal in 51.62 seconds – another lifetime personal record and also a games record. Another games record and gold medal came with the 4 × 400 m relay team of Margaret McGowen, Rachelle Campbell, and Joanne McTaggart, which she led off to victory to 3:30.36 minutes. A third medal of the games for Yakubowich came in the 4 × 100 metres relay: running the anchor leg off McTaggart and 100 m minor medallists Patty Loverock and Marjorie Bailey the team took the bronze.

She made two further high-profile international appearances in her career following her Pan American success. She returned to the Olympic stage at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, running in the 400 m quarter-finals and placing eighth in the relay final on home turf alongside fellow Canadians Margaret Stride, Campbell and Yvonne Saunders. Her last outing was for the Americas team at the 1977 IAAF World Cup: running with Cuba's Aurelia Pentón and Jamaicans Jacqueline Pusey and Helen Blake, she placed fifth.

International competitions

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National titles

• Canadian Track and Field Championships
  • 200 m: 1972, 1975
  • 400 m: 1972

References

1. Joyce Yakubowich's obituary
2. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Joyce Yakubowich". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 4 December 2016. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
3. Games Results for Joyce Ladowick. Commonwealth Games Federation. Retrieved on 13 February 2016.
4. Vikes Men's and Women's Track 2010. Victoria Vikes. Retrieved on 14 February 2016.
5. 1971 Pan American Games. Track and Field Brinkster. Retrieved on 14 February 2016.
6. ^ Joyce Yakubowich. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 13 February 2016.
7. Pacific Conference Games. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 14 February 2016.
8. Pan American Games. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 14 February 2016.
9. Joyce Yakubowich. Track and Field Brinkster. Retrieved on 14 February 2016.
10. 1975 Pan American Games. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 14 February 2016.

External links

• Joyce Yakubowich at World Athletics
• Joyce Yakubowich at Team Canada
• Joyce Yakubowich at Olympics.com
• Joyce Yakubowich at Olympedia (archive)

• 1953 births
• 2024 deaths
• Canadian female sprinters
• Sportspeople from Burnaby
• Olympic track and field athletes for Canada
• Athletes (track and field) at the 1972 Summer Olympics
• Athletes (track and field) at the 1976 Summer Olympics
• Pan American Games gold medalists for Canada
• Pan American Games bronze medalists for Canada
• Pan American Games medalists in athletics (track and field)
• Athletes (track and field) at the 1971 Pan American Games
• Athletes (track and field) at the 1975 Pan American Games
• Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Canada
• Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics
• Athletes (track and field) at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games
• Victoria Vikes athletes
• Medalists at the 1975 Pan American Games
• Olympic female sprinters
• Medallists at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games
• Simon Fraser University alumni
• Canadian Track and Field Championships winners
• 20th-century Canadian sportswomen