Betty Cuthbert was born on the 20th of April 1938. So now in 2001, it makes her 63 years old. Her nick name is Spider because of  her skinny legs and arms. Betty's mum was surprised she wasn't just having one baby  but two, Betty has a twin sister called Mary. Her Dad owned a nursery. Betty loved running between the rows of plants.

She was brought up in Merrylands a suburb of Sydney. She was only eight when she won all the events in her athletics day at school. She was already confident in herself to become an athlete. She broke the 400m race by one tenth of a second, then in eleven days she broke it once again.

This is Betty Cuthbert running the 100m race.

This is Betty Cuthbert getting her medals.

Betty won one gold medal and two silver medals in the Commonwealth Games.

Betty Cuthbert is famous for winning four gold medals for Australia . She's broken a world record that for the highest number of gold medals in Track and Field events. 

Betty at the age of seventeen wanted to go in the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, the first Olympics in Australia. Betty's favorite event was 200m run. When she won the 100m run she thought she could win the 200m.  She  still had the relay to come. That was three gold medals for Australia. Betty  became the Golden Girl.