Penelope's Story
Penelope “Penny” Gillies was born in Sydney in 1951 and developed as a versatile junior athlete in the pentathlon, long jump and hurdles. Competing under her maiden name, McCallum, she won consecutive Australian junior pentathlon titles in 1968 and 1969. She later placed fourth in the 100m hurdles at the Edinburgh 1970 Commonwealth Games.
Gillies was 21 when she made her Olympic debut at Munich 1972, finishing sixth in her 100m hurdles heat and 21st overall. She returned eight years later as captain of the Australian athletics team at Moscow 1980. Gillies again placed sixth in her heat, finishing 17th overall.
Across her career, Gillies won five Australian titles in the 100m hurdles and recorded a personal best of 13.10 seconds in 1980. She later became a respected sprint, hurdles and relay coach, serving on Australian teams at the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games and world championships. Her contribution to athletics was recognised with the Australian Sports Medal and the Medal of the Order of Australia.
