Tuesday, March 9, 2010

I found the Olympic female sculpture model

A couple of posts ago, regarding the nude snowwoman, I also included two images of a smaller study of the 1984 Olympic female nude sculpted by Robert Graham, which stands side-by-side with the male nude in front of the Los Angeles Coliseum. 

(Note: if you happen to be reading this, you should also read this: The Real Jennifer Inniss

In that post, I noted that the male model was U.S. water polo star Terry Schroeder, and the female model was Guyanese sprinter and long jumper Jennifer Innis. While it isn't difficult to find pictures of Schroeder, it's not easy to find pictures of Jennifer Innis. Particularly because that's not how her name is spelled. It is spelled wrong on a lot of Web sites. Exclusive to "Weights, Measures, and Esoterica", I set the record straight; the correct spelling of the model for the sculpture is Jennifer INNISS (double S). 

Here's how I did it. I noticed on one of the listings for a meet record or something that she was down (as Jennifer Innis) as attending Cal State -- Los Angeles. So I went to the Cal State - Los Angeles Web site, found the Track and Field section in the Athletics section, and found that they had a Hall of Fame induction listing. I figured she'd be there (she still holds the Guyana national record in the long jump, set in 1982 -- this was a top-flight athlete, after all). So I looked at each Hall of Fame "class" -- and found Jennifer Inniss. 

Then I did a Google image search with that name, and found the Friends of Guyana Athletics Web site. It had a picture of Jennifer Inniss, and this is where I discovered that she still holds the national record in the long jump (as Jennifer Innis!) She also holds the national record in the 100 meters, set in 1984. Judging by the date, probably set in a warm-up meet for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, where she is immortalized headless in bronze. And she is briefly discussed here: http://ccwllc.net/FOGA/id23.html

And here's her picture (update:  this is not Jennifer Inniss, see link at the top), with both head and feet: Clearly she wasn't a swimsuit model; but the anatomically-accurate sculpture shows that she had a marvelous athletic body. I have been meaning for a long time to write a post that is a tribute to the athletic female body, and now that I've found Jennifer INNISS, I'll get working on that. I also found a Sports Illustrated article that mentions her, and that she finished second in the Pan-American games when Jackie-Joyner Kersee tied the world record in the long jump.

Indy Lights Up: The Pan Am Games drew a huge field and provided sparkling moments

1 comment:

Panther6834 said...

That is NOT a photo of Jennifer Innis. Considering hey brother is a close friend, I have confirmation that the photo above is NOT Jennifer Innis.