Linda Haglund

Linda Haglund was the top Swedish sprinter of the 1970s and early 1980s. She won the 1976 European Indoors in the 60 metres, later winning silver medals in that event in 1978, 1980, and 1981. She competed at the 1971 European Championships when she was only 15-years-old, and eventually competed at three Olympic Games – 1972, 1976, and 1980, placing fourth in the 100 at the 1980 Moskva Games. Her greatest international medal came in winning silver at the 1978 European Championships. In 1979 she helped the European 4x100 relay win gold at the World Cup.

In 1981 Haglund’s career ended after a positive drug test, although she later had the verdict overturned at a tribunal in Kingston, Jamaica in 1982. Haglund married American sprinter Houston McTear, the first man to run 100 yards in 9.0 seconds, and she settled in the United States with him. In the US she worked as a track coach at Santa Monica College and as a counselor and manager with Jenny Craig Weight Loss Centers. In Sweden she is a member of the Legends of 1956 (Swedish sports legends born in 1956), an honored member of the Swedish Sports Academy, and in 1981 received the Victoria Scholarship. Haglund died from lung cancer, which was discovered only six days before her death, and which came only three weeks after McTear died.

Personal Bests: 100 – 11.16 (1980); 200 – 22.82 (1979).