Coburn went on to win the first medal by an American woman steeplechaser, a bronze.

Sprinters and pole-vaulters and steeplechasers generally do not receive annual salaries from teams the way professional football and basketball players do.

Some coaches and athletes grumbled at the constant badgering and micromanagement, but most, as one steeplechaser observed, admired “MacArthur’s earnest efforts and zeal.”