Linda Metheny-Mulvihill, Women’s Gymnastics • Pre-Title IX

Metheny won seven gold, three silver and one bronze medal at the Pan American Games in 1967 and 1971, and was the flag bearer for the American team in 1971. She competed in the 1964, 1968 and 1972 Olympics, with a best finish of fourth place on the balance beam in 1968, with the U.S. team finishing sixth at the Mexico City Games. Domestically, she won at least 18 individual national titles including the Pentathlon Gym championships in 1965, AAU championships in 1966 and 1968, and North American championships in 1968. Metheny won the U.S. national all-around title in 1966, 1968, 1970, 1971 and 1972, while also winning a record five gold medals at the 1967 Pan American Games. Metheny was inducted into the U.S. Gymnastics Hall of Fame and was a member of the U.S. national team from 1964-73. She enrolled at Illinois following the 1964 Olympics and competed as the only member of the women’s gymnastics team in the era before AIAW and NCAA Competition. After retiring from competition, Metheny-Mulvihill became a gymnastics coach and worked as an international referee. Together with her husband, Dick Mulvihill, she has run the National Academy of Artistic Gymnastics in Eugene, Oregon, since 1973, where the academy has trained 17 Olympians and more than 75 national champions.