Russell Mockridge

Russell Mockridge

To person
Date of birth	July 18, 1928
date of death	September 13, 1958
nation	Australia
discipline	Train / street
Most important successes
Olympic games 1952 - 1000 meter time trial, tandem
Last updated: May 14, 2020

Russell Mockridge (born July 18, 1928 in Melbourne , † September 13, 1958 in Clayton , Melbourne) was an Australian cyclist who was successful both in track cycling and on the road. Mockridge won two gold medals at the 1952 Summer Olympics .

Athletic career

Mockridge's career began in 1946. His upper class accent initially earned him the nickname Little Lord Fauntleroy , and after numerous successes one went over to The Geelong Flyer . As early as 1948 he took part in his first Olympic Games in London , but suffered two punctures in a road race. With the four-four he was eliminated in the quarterfinals. In 1950 Mockridge represented Australia at the British Empire Games 1950 and won the track sprint and the 1000 meter time trial . In the 4,000-meter single pursuit , he took second place.

In 1952 he took part in the Sprint Grand Prix de Paris in Paris. He won both the amateur Grand Prix and the open competition in which he beat the professional world champion Reg Harris . Mockridge was the first racing driver to win both competitions. The humiliation of the pros resulted in the rules of the Grand Prix being changed so that pros no longer had to compete against amateurs. In 1952 Mockridge was appointed to the Olympic selection of Australia for the Helsinki Games . He won two gold medals, one in the 1000 meter time trial, the other in tandem with Lionel Cox .

In 1953 Mockridge turned professional. In 1955, he won the Paris Six Day Race with his partners Sid Patterson and Roger Arnold and the Tour du Vaucluse on the road . He also competed in the Tour de France in 1955 and finished 64th in the overall standings. From 1956 to 1958 Mockridge was Australian road champion every year, in 1957 he also won the most important Australian stage race , the Herald Sun Tour .

Russell Mockridge had a fatal accident during a bicycle race on September 13, 1958 when he crashed into a bus. He left a wife and a daughter.

successes

train

1950

• British Empire Games - Sprint, 1000m time trial
• British Empire Games - One's Pursuit
• Australian champion - sprint, 1000 meter time trial, single pursuit

1951

• Amateur World Championship - Sprint

1952

• Olympic champion - 1000 meter time trial, tandem (with Lionel Cox )
• Grand Prix de Paris (amateurs)
• Grand Prix de Paris (Open)
• Australian champion - sprint, 1000 meter time trial

1953

• Grand Prix de Paris (amateurs)

1955

• Six Days of Paris (with Reginald Arnold and Sydney Patterson )

Street

1954

• Grote Prijs Marcel Kint

1955

• Tour du Vaucluse

1956

• Australian champion - road racing
• one stage tour of Tasmania

1957

• Overall classification and four stages Tasmania Tour
• Herald Sun Tour
• Australian champion - road racing

1958

• Australian champion - road racing

literature

• Russell Mockridge: My World on Wheels. The Posthumous Autobiography of Russell Mockridge. Completed by John Burrowes. Stanley Paul, London 1960.
• Martin Curtis: Russell Mockridge. The man in front. Melbourne Books, Melbourne 2008, ISBN 978-1-877096-54-9 .

Web links

Commons : Russell Mockridge  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Russell Mockridge in the Radsportseiten.net database
• Russell Mockridge in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Short biography at the Australian Olympic Committee
• Cameron Hazlehurst, Sally Whitehead: Russell Mockridge . In: Douglas Pike (Ed.): Australian Dictionary of Biography . Melbourne University Press, Carlton (Victoria) 1966–2012 (English).