Godfrey Lionel Rampling (14 May 1909 – 20 June 2009) was an English athlete and army officer who competed for Great Britain in the

1932 Summer Olympics The 1932 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the X Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1932) were an international multi-sport event held from July 30 to August 14, 1932, in Los Angeles, California, United States. The Games were held du ...

and in the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XI Olympiad () and officially branded as Berlin 1936, were an international multi-sport event held from 1 to 16 August 1936 in Berlin, then capital of Nazi Germany. Berlin won the bid to ...

. He turned 100 on 14 May 2009 and was the oldest living British Olympian at the time of his death.

Life and career

Rampling was born in

Blackheath, London Blackheath is an area in Southeast London, straddling the border of the Royal Borough of Greenwich and the London Borough of Lewisham. Historically within the county of Kent, it is located northeast of Lewisham, south of Greenwich, London, G ...

, the son of Gertrude Anne (Taylor) and Horace Johnson Rampling, a costumier. After attending the

Royal Military Academy, Woolwich The Royal Military Academy (RMA) at Woolwich, in south-east London, was a British Army military academy for the training of Officer (armed forces), commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. It later also trained officers o ...

, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

in 1929. In 1932 he was promoted to lieutenant. Rampling won the British AAA championships 440 yards title at the 1931 AAA Championships and the 1934 AAA Championships. At the

, Rampling was fourth in his semifinal in the individual 400 metre event and didn't reach the final, but ran the anchor leg to help the British 4 × 400 m

relay A relay Electromechanical relay schematic showing a control coil, four pairs of normally open and one pair of normally closed contacts An automotive-style miniature relay with the dust cover taken off A relay is an electrically operated switc ...

team win the silver medal, behind the United States. At the 1934 British Empire Games in London, Rampling won the , and helped the English 4 × 440 yards relay team to capture the gold medal. At the 1936

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

Olympics The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competit ...

, Rampling was again fourth in the semifinals of 400 metre competition and ran the second leg on the British 4 × 400 m relay team which won the gold medal. Rampling was a Lieutenant Colonel in the

, attached to

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

, until retiring in 1958 after 29 years' service.Oldest British Olympian turns 100
/ref> He married Isabel Anne (née Gurteen; 1918–2001); their younger daughter Charlotte became a noted model and film actress. Their eldest daughter Sarah committed suicide in 1967. He was, as of October 2007, the last surviving male athletics medallist from the

and the last male gold medallist in athletics from the

. Rampling was Britain's oldest living Olympic Gold medallist and also oldest living Olympic competitor. He celebrated his centenary with his family on 14 May 2009 at

Bushey Bushey is a town in the Hertsmere borough of Hertfordshire in the East of England. It had a population of 25,328 in the 2011 census, rising to 28,416 in the 2021 census, an increase of 12.19%. This makes Bushey the second most populated town ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

. Rampling died in his sleep aged 100 on 20 June 2009.Telegraph.co.uk.: Britain's oldest Olympian Godfrey Rampling dies aged 100
/ref>

References

External links

* *
Godfrey Rampling
– Guardian obituary

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rampling, Godfrey 1909 births 2009 deaths Athletes (track and field) at the 1934 British Empire Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1932 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1936 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England English men centenarians English male sprinters British male sprinters Olympic athletes for Great Britain English Olympic competitors Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain Athletes from the Royal Borough of Greenwich People from Blackheath, London Athletes from the London Borough of Lewisham Royal Artillery officers Medalists at the 1936 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1932 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) British Army personnel of World War II Medallists at the 1934 British Empire Games Military personnel from the Royal Borough of Greenwich Military personnel from the London Borough of Lewisham 20th-century English sportsmen Commonwealth Games gold medallists in athletics