John Field-Richards
| John Field-Richards medal table |
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 John Field-Richards |
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 United Kingdom
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| Olympic Summer Games | ||
| gold | 1908 London | B class |
| gold | 1908 London | C class |
John Charles Field-Richards OBE (born May 10, 1878 in Penzance , Cornwall , † April 18, 1959 in Christchurch , Dorset ) was a British motorboat driver .
Born the son of a Cornish clergyman, John Field-Richards was privately tutored and later studied at Keble College , Oxford . Though he is not mentioned in the Olympic report from 1908, comes from media reports indicate, however, that he and Bernard Redwood crew member on the Gyrinus by Thomas Thornycroft at the 1908 Olympic Games in London was. There he was, together with Redwood and Thornycroft, two-time Olympic champion in motor boating , in the B-class and in the C-class , each over 40 nautical miles. In the B-Class, where only boats with a maximum length of 20 meters were allowed to participate, the Gyrinus started against John Marshall Gorham with the Quicksilver . However, this had to give up after two laps because water had run into the boat, so that Field-Richards, together with the other two members, became the first Olympic champion in motor boating.
In the C-Class, which took place the next day, the boats were only allowed to be seven meters long and weigh a maximum of 800 kilograms. Again the Gyrinus started with only one competitor, the Sea Dog from Warwick Wright . But this time too the rival had to give up because the engine had overheated. Field-Richards and the Gyrinus became double Olympic champions. In the last competition, the A-Class, the Gyrinus did not start, the Frenchman Émile Thubron won .
Since motor boating was never again an Olympic sport after 1908, Field-Richards, Thornycroft and Redwood remain the most successful athletes of this sport with two gold medals.
Field-Richards served as Major Staff Officer in the Hampshire Regiment and Yorkshire Regiment during World War I. After the war he was awarded the Order of the British Empire .
literature
- Ian Buchanan: British Olympians . Enfield 1991 ISBN 0-85112-952-8
Web links
- John Field-Richards in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Field-Richards, John |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Field-Richards, John Charles |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British Olympic champion in motor boating |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 10, 1878 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Penzance |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 18, 1959 |
| Place of death | Christchurch |