The 2008 WAIS Annual Dinner was hosted at Challenge Stadium on Friday October 17 with over 500 guests in attendance to help celebrate the past and present sporting achievements of Western Australian athletes.
Shirley de la Hunty became the second athlete elevated to Legend status in the Western Australian Hall of Champions, joining champion middle distance runner Herb Elliott as a Legend of WA sport.
de la Hunty, who passed away in 2004, was represented by her family at the Western Australian Institute of Sport Annual Dinner at Challenge Stadium, with her daughter Barbara accepting the award on their behalf.
The Legend category of membership in the Hall of Champions was launched last year to recognise WA sporting champions whose achievements have inspired and motivated others, and whose standing and renown have not diminished, and in many cases grown, over the years. It recognises and salutes the enduring contribution of these athletes whose names will always be synonymous with the highest level of sport.
A triple Olympic gold medallist, Shirley de la Hunty was an outstanding sprinter and hurdler who proved to be one of the greatest women performers in track and field history. She won the 80m hurdles at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics and again in Melbourne in 1956 when she also collected a gold medal in the 4 x 100m relay.
The night also saw the induction of two new Champions, with Olympic gold medallist Kate Starre and trotting champion Jim Schrader both bestowed with a place in WA sporting history.
Starre won two Olympic gold medals as a midfielder for Australia at the 1996 Atlanta and 2000 Sydney Games. Brilliant, high spirited, tough and versatile, she played 212 internationals for her country. At her best in pressure situations Kate was a vital member of the Hockeyroos’ successful penalty corner battery.
Schrader was an outstanding trotting reinsman in a career lasting 30 years from 1950 to 1980. He was twice Australia’s leading driver and five times won Western Australia’s top award. Schrader was the first Western Australian to represent Australia in the World Drivers’ Championship in Europe in 1973.
The athlete of the year award was shared for the first time after Beijing gold medallists Steve Hooker and 470 sailors Elise Rechichi and Tessa Parkinson were named as joint winners.
Hooker rose to fame at the Beijing Olympics after becoming the first Australian male to win a field Olympic gold medal in 40 years, whilst Rechichi and Parkinson overcame incredible odds to continue Western Australia’s proud tradition in the 470 sailing class.
