Wyndham neck shaft

Wyndham neck shaft at the London Olympics

Wyndham Halswelle, the Olympic champion in the 400 meter run, has just received his gold medal from Queen Alexandra

Wyndham Neck Shaft (born May 30, 1882 in London , † March 31, 1915 ) was a British athlete and Olympic champion .

Life

Halswelle was born in London to Scottish parents and was a notable runner while he was at Charterhouse School before he was drafted into the military, the Highland Light Infantry . His regiment was ordered to South Africa , and he had to take part in the Boer War , the conflict between Great Britain and the Boer Republics Orange Free State and Transvaal , which ended in 1902 with the incorporation of the latter into the British Empire . In 1904 Halswelle came back to London and began to train seriously for his athletic career.

Neck shaft was killed by a sniper at the Battle of Neuve-Chapelle during the First World War in France .

Athletic career

In 1905 Halswelle won the Scottish and Amateur Athletic Association championships over 440 yards . A year later, at the 1906 Olympic Intermediate Games in Athens, he won the silver medal in the 400-meter run , behind the American Paul Pilgrim and ahead of the Australian Nigel Barker , as well as the bronze medal in the 800-meter run behind the two US -Americans Paul Pilgrim and James Lightbody . Returning to Scotland, he won the 100, 220, 440 and 880 yards - all in a single afternoon at the Scottish Championships. His successes were stopped abruptly in 1907 by a leg injury. In the following year, being active again in sports, he set a world record over 300 yards with a time of 31.2 seconds.

Olympic champion 1908

At the Olympic Games in London in 1908 , he won the gold medal in the 400-meter run . The finale turned out to be a unique curiosity of its kind. After the winners of the 16 prelims remained of the 36 registered runners, Neckwelle achieved an excellent 48.4 s in the intermediate run. In the final, which took place with four participants - neck wave and three Americans - without a lane division, the Briton was deliberately hindered by his three competitors and almost pushed off the track. The finish court canceled the race and scheduled a repetition for the day after next. The American John Carpenter , who had crossed the finish line first in the canceled race, was disqualified. Since his two compatriots also stayed away from the rerun in protest against this decision, Halswelle ran alone and was allowed to receive the gold medal (his time: 50.0 s). Silver and bronze were not awarded.

Web links

• Wyndham neck shaft in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )