Christopher Chataway

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Christopher Chataway 1972

Sir Christopher John Chataway (born January 31, 1931 in Chelsea , London , † January 19, 2014 in the City of Westminster , London) was a British athlete and politician .

Athletic career

In 1952, Chataway won his first title when he became an AAA champion in the 3-mile run. At the Olympic Games in Helsinki in 1952 , he was in the final over 5000 meters . On the last lap, Chataway took the lead, but was immediately attacked and overtaken by Emil Zátopek and Alain Mimoun . Chataway fell on the home straight. He picked himself up immediately, but in the meantime has also been overtaken by Herbert Schade and Gordon Pirie . At the same time as Pirie, Chataway finished fifth in 14: 18.0 minutes. Chataway set his first world record on August 1, 1953 in the mileage relay.

The next world record in which Chataway was involved was set by his college colleague from Oxford , Roger Bannister . On May 6, 1954, Chataway was one of the pacemakers for Bannister when he was able to improve the world record in the mile run below the four-minute limit. Six weeks later, Chataway set the pace for Australian John Landy when he broke Bannister's world record. On July 10, 1954, Chataway set his first world record on an individual track when he improved the record in the 3-mile run in the final of the AAA Championship to 13: 32.2 minutes, but the race was won by Fred Green on the same time. On August 3, 1954, Chataway won the final of the 3-mile run of the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Vancouver in 1954 in front of Fred Green, but remained three seconds above the world record. On August 29, 1954, the 5000 meter final of the European Championships took place in Bern . Wolodymyr Kuz took the lead early on and single-handedly undercut Zátopek's world record with 13: 56.6 minutes. Chataway and Zatopek could not keep up with the pace, with Chataway winning silver over 10 seconds ahead of Zatopek. On October 13, 1954, Kuz and Chataway met in a comparison of cities between London and Moscow in the White City Stadium . Again, Kuz ran at high speed from the start, but Chataway always followed Kuz. On the way, Kuz beat the 3-mile world record of Green and Chataway, but in the 5000 meter goal Chataway had a tenth of a second ahead of Kuz and set a new world record in 13: 51.6. Ten days later, Kuz broke this world record again. For his success in 1954, Chataway was honored with the first ever title of BBC Sports Personality of the Year . His training was mainly influenced by Franz Stampfl , that is, he trained little and mainly according to the method of intensive interval training .

Chataway could not build on the success of 1954. Although he won the AAA title in the 3-mile run again in 1955 , Chataway ended his sporting career after he was weakened by illness at the 1956 Olympic Games only eleventh over 5000 meters.

World records

discipline power date place annotation
Relay over 4 × 1 mile 16: 41.0 minutes August 1, 1953 London Cast: Chataway, Bill Nankeville , Donald Seaman , Roger Bannister
3 mile run 13: 32.2 minutes July 10, 1954 London at the same time as Fred Green
5000 meter run 13: 51.6 minutes October 13, 1954 London
3 mile run 13: 23.2 minutes July 30, 1955 London

Best times

  • 1500 meters: 3: 45.6 minutes
  • Mile run: 3: 59.8 minutes (1955)
  • 2000 meters: 5: 09.4 minutes
  • 3000 meters: 8: 06.2 minutes
  • 3 mile run: 13: 23.2 minutes (1955)
  • 5000 meters: 13: 51.6 minutes (1954)

Life outside of sport

As early as 1955, Chataway used his popularity for a new career: he appeared in front of the camera as the first news anchor for Independent Television News , the BBC's first competitor . Chataway joined the Conservative Party in 1959 and won the parliamentary seat of North Lewisham . He held this seat until 1966. In his maiden speech in Parliament, he spoke out against the English national cricket team making a tour of apartheid -shaped South Africa. He was awarded the Nansen Refugee Prize for his campaign in the World Refugee Year 1960 .

After being voted out of office in 1966, Chataway was chairman of the Inner London Education Authority. In May 1969, Chataway was re-elected to the House of Commons in a by-election in Chichester . After Edward Heath surprisingly won a parliamentary majority in 1970, Chataway became a member of the cabinet. From June 1970 to April 1972, Chataway was Minister of Post and Telecommunications. During his tenure, the BBC's monopoly on radio was abolished and commercial radio permitted. After a government reshuffle, Chataway was Minister for Industrial Development from April 1972. When the Conservative Party was voted out of office in 1974, Chataway left politics at the age of 43.

From 1974 to 1988 he was a director at Orion Bank . He then took on various honorary positions. He became chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority , assisted Chris Brasher in establishing the London Marathon , and since 1990 he has been chairman of the Commonwealth Games committee for England. In 1995 Chataway was knighted.

literature

  • Manfred Holzhausen: world records and world record holder. 5,000m run / 10,000m run . Grevenbroich 1999
  • Peter Matthews, Ian Buchanan: All-Time Greats of British and Irish Sport . Enfield 1995 ISBN 0-85112-678-2
  • Ekkehard zur Megede : The History of Olympic Athletics. Volume 2, 1948-1968 . Berlin 1969
  • Christopher Chataway , in: Internationales Biographisches Archiv 46/1971 of November 8, 1971, in the Munzinger Archive ( beginning of article freely accessible)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sir Christopher Chataway dies at 82
  2. ↑ Sir Chris Chataway: Former British athlete dies
  3. ↑ Arnd Krüger : The classification of Roger Bannister's performance in the history of training for medium and long distances, in: J. BUSCHMANN & S. WASSONG (Ed.): Cross-country skiing through the Olympic history. Festschrift for Karl Lennartz. Cologne: Carl and Liselott Diem - Archive 2005, 349 - 372. ISDN: 3883380156
  4. ^ Arnd Krüger (1998). Many roads lead to Olympia. The changes in the training systems for middle and long distance runners (1850-1997), in: N. GISSEL (Hrsg.): Sportliche achievement im Wandel. Hamburg: Czwalina, pp. 41-56. ISBN 978-3-88020-322-8 ; Franz Stampfl : Stampfl on running: sprint, middle distance and distance events; with a foreword by Roger Bannister; introduction by Chris Chataway . London: H. Jenkins 1955.
personal data
SURNAME Chataway, Christopher
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Chataway, Christopher John; Chataway, Chris
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British athlete and politician, Member of the House of Commons
DATE OF BIRTH January 31, 1931
PLACE OF BIRTH Chelsea , London
DATE OF DEATH 19th January 2014
Place of death City of Westminster , London