High-Jumping Housewife

Harried by the routine requirements of kids, husband, in-laws and washing machine, many a housewife indulges in bright, escapist daydreams. England's Dorothy Tyler, 36, is no exception. "Sometimes," says the energetic mother of two (David, 10, and Barry, 8), "I wish I were a race horse -preferably a steeplechaser. They just jump."

For all her domesticity, Dorothy Tyler comes close to acting out her dream. She has been jumping all her life. Her odd avocation dates back to grade school, when she won a high-jumping tournament and set a schoolgirl record (4 ft. 9 in.) that still stands. After that she studied to become a secretary. "Secretaries," she explains, "don't work on Saturdays, when they have athletic meets."

Bomb & Baby Sitter. As a scrawny, limber-legged 16-year-old, Dotty earned a trip to Berlin for the 1936 Olympics. To the youngster, the games seemed unpleasantly charged with politics and crowded with chaperones. To make matters worse, she was nudged out of first place by Hungary's Ibodya Czak in a tie-breaking jump-off at 5 ft. 3! in. Dotty came home to her mother's little house in Mitcham and leaped through her days, kicking at high bannisters, skipping rope and playing netball, a British version of basketball. She accumulated more medals and trophies than a small-town pawnbroker. In 1939 she set a world's record: 5 ft. 5 3/4 in. Her awkward scissors style grew so popular that it had female jumpers getting off on the wrong foot for years.

Only the combination of war and marriage could make Dotty hang up her spikes. While her husband Richard Tyler fought in the Middle East, Dotty Tyler drove trucks and led W.A.A.F.s through physical training. But when a bomb blew up her mother's home and clobbered her collection of prizes in the process, Dotty determined to try a comeback. Even the birth of her first child did not take her mind off the 1948 Olympics. The Tylers were living with Dotty's mother, a former acrobatic dancer, who was only too happy to serve as baby sitter while her daughter worked out at the Mitcham Athletic Club. When the London games began, Dotty was ready. Once more she was edged out of first place. (It took her one extra jump to clear the winning height of 5 ft. 6 1/8 in., exactly 1/8in. over her head.) But her name remains on the record books. She is the only Briton who holds an Olympic record.

"Was That Me?" The years passed and the same old heights seemed harder to reach, but Dotty Tyler kept jumping. She made her bow to progress by learning the Western roll. But when she got to Helsinki for the 1952 Olympic Games, a pulled abdominal muscle kept her down to 5 ft. 2 1/2 in. and seventh place. Still she jumped -in addition to her old jobs as full-time housewife and part-time secretary. Last year she studied ballet on the theory that it would help. ("It was lots of fun. They wanted us to sing la-la-la-oop as we jumped.") A fortnight ago Dotty placed first in the Women's Amateur Athletic championships, and won a distinction no other athlete ever achieved: for the fourth time in 20 years she earned a spot on an Olympic team. "I'm always amazed at my jumping," says she. "When I've gone over the bar, I say, 'Good God! Was that me?' When I stop being amazed, I guess I'll quit."

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