Isabel Avellán

Isabel Avellán was just 19-years-old when she won both the discus and shot at the 1952 Argentine Championships. This begin a rivalry between her and fellow Olympian Ingeborg Pfüller, which would continue at the unofficial South American Championships of 1953, where Avellan edged out Pfüller for gold in the discus. The following year saw Isabel set her first South American discus record with a throw of 43.86, and although this was soon broken by Pfüller, she would reclaim the record in February 1955 with an effort of 46.05. Pfüller turned the tables on Avellán later in the year at the Pan-American Games in Mexico, when the teammates finished 1-2 in the discus, but later in the year Avellán bounced back by adding nearly a metre to the record mark at a meeting in Buenos Aires.

The years of 1955 and 1956 were difficult for Argentine sport as the country attempted to stabilize following the coup that deposed President Juan Peron and established a military dictatorship. For a while it was doubtful whether the nation would participate at the Melbourne Olympics but eventually a scaled down team, which included Avellán, was sent to compete in Australia.

The Melbourne Games were literally life-changing for Avellán. Firstly, she was chosen for the honour of carrying her national flag at the opening ceremony, and she then threw well in the discus and her position of sixth has never been bettered by an Argentine thrower through 2020. Two days before the Games ended, Avellán met Australian businessman Frank De Neefe, and five days later, on the day the Argentines were about to leave for home, she accepted his proposal of marriage. The two were to remain together for half a century until his death in 2007.

The couple corresponded by letter until 1958 when her fiancée travelled to Uruguay to see her win the shot and discus double at the South American Championships. The pair travelled back to Australia where they settled in Melbourne. She joined the South Melbourne club where she was coached by the legendary Austrian Franz Stampfl. Avellán’s residence in Australia seems to have precluded her selection for the 1959 Pan-American Games, although she recorded a throw of nearly 48 metres a month before the event. She won the Australian discus title in early 1960 but the question of her participation at the Rome Olympics turned out to be a moot point as she was six months pregnant with her first child by the day of the Olympic discus final.

She remained an active athlete competing in masters events well into her fifties and set numerous world age records, including some as late as the mid-eighties. Her daughter Brigid has worked in musical theatre and has had a few roles in Australian films

Personal Best: DT – 47.22 (1956). 57.90 (1959 unofficial?)