Edna Maskell

Edna Maskell was born in Cape Town. She lost both of her parents before she was 13 and her elder sister Thelma died in her early 20s from tuberculosis, leaving Edna and her young sister Sheila alone as teenagers. They were accommodated by a spinster couple in Newlands, Cape Town, due to Edna’s sporting prowess. After completing high school Edna also played field hockey for Western Province but her athletics coach suggested she should pick a sport and focus. Edna then focused on sprinting and hurdles leading to her selection for the South African national team.

She was also named Athlete of the Year in South Africa in 1951, after she won the 100 yard sprint and 80 metre hurdles competitions at the South Africa championships in Pretoria, and was also a member of the South African team of four that broke the 4 × 100 yards relay world record. In the midst of training for the Olympics the next year, she suffered a setback when she was forced to lighten her schedule due to an emergency surgery for appendicitis. She returned to competition in time for the Olympics and participated in the 100m and hurdles events, placing in one of the heats despite limited training time.

Maskell later relocated to Kitwe, Zambia (Northern Rhodesia) in 1954 from where she participated at the British Empire Games in Vancouver, British Columbia, equalling a world record in 80m hurdles, placing first; placing third in the 100 yards event; and tenth in long jump. That year, she was later named sportsperson of the year for Northern Rhodesia. She retired from athletics in 1955 after becoming pregnant with her first child.

Her second son was also born in Kitwe, before the family relocated back to South Africa. Two additional children were born back in Durban where Edna and her husband Keith Leo-Smith established their own fabrication engineering business. Later they moved to a farm near Camperdown and then to a much larger ranch near Pietermaritzburg before they retired back to Durban. She last moved to Howick to be near her daughter Debbie, who lived nearby, before her death in June 2018 at the age of 90.

Personal Bests: 100 – 11.9 (1952); 80H – 11.2 (1954).