Edwin Flack
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Full name | Edwin Harold Flack | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nickname | Teddy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nationality | Australian | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Islington, London, England | 5 November 1873||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Died | 10 January 1935 Melbourne, Victoria, Australia | (aged 61)||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Edwin Harold Flack (5 November 1873 – 10 January 1935)[1] was an Australian athlete and tennis player. Also known as "Teddy",[2] he was Australia's first Olympian, being its only representative in 1896,[3] and the first Olympic champion in the 800 metres and the 1500 metres running events.[4][5]
Following Flack's Olympic appearance, he did not compete in any large events again, opting to breed cattle and help his family's accounting firm. Flack died aged 61 following an operation, and was buried in his hometown of
Early life
Born in London, England, Edwin Flack was five years old when his family migrated to Australia, to live in
On 9 to 11 November 1893, an intercolonial meet described as the Australasian Athletics Championships was held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, between athletes from the British colonies that were later to form the nations of Australia and New Zealand. This was the second such meet, the first having been held at Moore Park in Sydney on 31 May 1890.[9] Flack competed in the 1893 event and won the mile championship in a time of 4:44.0, with a winning margin of two yards.[10] He also competed in the 880 yards (won by Ken McCrae of New South Wales in 2:06.8) and three miles championship (won by Charles Herbert of Victoria in 15:33.6), but was unplaced in both events.[11] By virtue of his win in the mile event he was also awarded the Victorian 1893 mile championship title and, on 30 September 1893, was third in the Victorian 10 mile cross country championship in a time of 1:05.21.[12]
On 15 December 1894, Flack won both the 880 yards (2:07.2) and mile (4:49.4) Victorian 1894 championships and, earlier in the year, on 22 September 1894 was second in the 10-mile cross country championship (1:00.02).
1896 Olympics
Flack reached
It may be noted that, even by the standards of the time, the times required to win the 800 m and 1,500 m at the first Olympics were slow. Although there was no official world record in that era, by way of comparison, the local 880 yards championship in Flack's home colony of Victoria was won that year in 2:04.4 and the previous year (1895) in 2:03.4.[17][18] At the Australasian Championships of 1896, the mile run was won by New Zealander W. Bennett in a time of 4:28.6 – some 4.6s quicker than Flack's Olympic 1500 m time despite running 100 metres further.[19]
Just a day later, Flack tried for a treble with the
Flack also competed in the tennis
Flack was a popular competitor at the 1896 games, and was commonly referred to as the "Lion of Athens".[4][24][25]
Later life
In 1898, Flack returned to Victoria and the
Legacy
Flack is commemorated by a bronze statue on the
Flack was commemorated on a 45-cent Australian postage stamp in the Olympic centenary year of 1996.
Flack was portrayed by English actor Benedict Taylor in the 1984 television mini-series The First Olympics: Athens 1896.[32]
References
- ^ Clarke, Ron. "Edwin Harold Flack (1873–1935)". Flack, Edwin Harold (1873–1935). Australian Dictionary of Biography. Australian National University.
- ^ Jobling, Ian (2018). "'Teddy' Flack was the 'Lion of Athens'" (PDF). International Society of Olympic Historians. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
- ^ a b "Edwin Flack". Olympedia. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
- ^ a b c d e "Edwin Flack – Our first Olympic champion". City of Casey. Archived from the original on 24 July 2018. Retrieved 14 September 2007.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ "Edwin Flack Olympic Results". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 11 January 2014.
- ^ a b c d "Edwin Flack becomes Australia's first Olympian". www.nma.gov.au. National Museum of Australia. Archived from the original on 14 October 2018. Retrieved 24 July 2018.
- ^ a b c "Edwin Flack (1873–1935)". Athletics Australia. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
- ^ "Athletics Victoria Historical Results, Victorian Men's Championships, 1892". athsvic.org.au. Athletics Victoria. Archived from the original on 28 July 2014. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
- ^ "Athletics Australia Historical Results". athhistory.imgstg.com. Athletics Australia. Archived from the original on 19 September 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
- ^ a b "Edwin Flack (AUS) — 800 m, 1500 m, marathon (et tennis)" [Edwin Flack (AUS) — 800 m, 1500 m, marathon (and tennis)] (in French). Retrieved 17 February 2020.
- ^ "Athletics Australia Historical Results". athhistory.sportstg.com. Athletics Australia. Archived from the original on 5 March 2018. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
- ^ "Athletics Victoria Historical Results, Victorian Men's Championships, 1893". athsvic.org.au. Athletics Victoria. Archived from the original on 28 July 2014. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
- ^ "Athletics Victoria Historical Results, Victorian Men's Championships, 1894". athsvic.org.au. Athletics Victoria. Archived from the original on 21 March 2019. Retrieved 19 July 2014.
- ^ The Sun (Sydney Newspaper), Monday 24 July 1911, page 6, Interview with Edwin Flack titled "The Best I Ever Saw", https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/221552082?searchTerm=%22london%20athletic%20club%22%20and%20flack
- ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
- ^ Robertson, Robin (4 August 1992). "First Australian Olympian's sporting effort". Australian Financial Review. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
- ^ "Athletics Victoria, Men's Championship Results, 1895". Athletics Victoria. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
- ^ "Athletics Victoria, Men's Championships Results, 1896". Athletics Victoria. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
- ^ "1896 Australasian Championships Results". Athletics Australia. Archived from the original on 19 September 2018. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
- ^ "Meet our alumni: Mr Edwin Harold Flack OM 1890". Melbourne Grammar School. 2008. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
- ^ Lennon, Troy (6 April 2016). "Delirious Aussie Edwin Flack punched a spectator during running of the first modern marathon". The Daily Telegraph. Sydney. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
- ^ a b "Edwin Flack". Sport Australia Hall of Fame. 1985. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
- ^ Rout, Miranda. "First Olympic champion gets a bronze for 'just being there'". The Australian. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
- ^ "Flack on the track". The Age. Melbourne. 29 July 2000. p. 273. Retrieved 2 February 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Swanton, Will (10 August 2019). "Sally Pearson's picks to improve our track record". The Australian. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
- ^ "First Games". The Sydney Morning Herald. Sydney. 25 November 1956. p. 25. Retrieved 2 February 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
Flack was a Victorian cattle-breeder and director of several companies when he died at 59 in Melbourne 21 years ago, after an operation. He never married but is survived by his elder brother, Henry, his partner in the accountancy firm of Flack and Flack.
- ^ a b c "25 things you probably didn't know about Edwin Flack". City of Casey. Archived from the original on 30 July 2008. Retrieved 22 September 2008.
- ISBN 9781476615318. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
- ^ "Venue Details". apssports.sportzvault.com. Archived from the original on 18 February 2017. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
- ^ "Edwin Flack". Athletics Australia. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
- ^ "Short and Petrie honoured with Edwin Flack Award". Athletics Australia. 13 April 2017. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
- ^ O'Connor, John J. (20 May 1984). "Squeezing Inspiration from the 1896 Olympics". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
- ISBN 0-7322-8517-8.
External links
- Edwin Flack at Australian Athletics Historical Results
- Edwin Flack at the International Tennis Federation
- Edwin Flack at Olympics.com
- Edwin Flack at Olympedia
- Edwin Flack at the Australian Olympic Committee
- Edwin Flack at the Sport Australia Hall of Fame
- Biography in Australian Dictionary of Biography