Bill Roberts (athlete)

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Bill Roberts (actually William Roberts ; born April 5, 1912 in Salford , Lancashire , now part of Greater Manchester ; † December 5, 2001 in Timperley , Greater Manchester) was a British sprinter .

At the British Empire Games in London in 1934 he finished second for England in 48.5 s over 440 yards behind Godfrey Rampling .

In 1936 Roberts was fourth in the 400-meter run at the Olympic Games in Berlin . With his personal best of 46.87 s, he was 0.03 s behind the third-placed American James LuValle . In the 4 x 400 meter relay , the Americans waived the use of LuValle and the Olympic champion Archie Williams . The British competed with the best line-up with Freddie Wolff , Rampling, Roberts and the Olympic champion Godfrey Brown and had a lead of 3: 09.0 minutes, two seconds ahead of the second-placed Americans. Roberts ran the fastest part-time of all relay runners in this race with 46.4 seconds.

At the British Empire Games in Sydney in 1938 , Roberts won gold over 440 yards (47.9 seconds) and silver in the 4-by-440-yard relay behind Canada. After serving in the Royal Air Force during World War II , Roberts returned to the European Championships in Oslo in 1946, finishing fifth over 400 meters in 49.5 seconds. As the last runner of the season, he won silver behind France in 3: 14.5 seconds.

At the Olympic Games in London in 1948 , Roberts was the captain of the British athletics team, but failed in the quarter-finals over 400 meters. In the season he retired in advance.

From 1935 to 1946 he competed eight times in international matches for the United Kingdom in the 400-meter run. He won six of these races and was second to Godfrey Brown twice.

Bill Roberts was 1.83 m tall and weighed 78 kg during his playing days. After his career, he took over the family furniture business and wrote a regular column in the Manchester Evening News .

literature

  • Peter Matthews (Ed.): Athletics 2002. The Association of Track & Field Statisticians Yearbook. SportsBooks, Surbiton 2002, ISBN 1-899807-13-6 .
  • Bob Phillips: Honor of Empire Glory of Sport. The History of Athletics at The Commonwealth Games. Parrs Wood Press, Manchester 2000, ISBN 1-903158-09-5 .

Web links
personal data
SURNAME Roberts, Bill
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Roberts, William
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British sprinter
DATE OF BIRTH April 5, 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH Salford
DATE OF DEATH December 5, 2001
Place of death Timperley