Harold 'Harry' Whittle (2 May 1922 – 11 May 1990) was a British

hurdler Hurdling is the act of jumping over an obstacle at a high speed or in a sprint. In the early 19th century, hurdlers ran at and jumped over each hurdle (sometimes known as 'burgles'), landing on both feet and checking their forward motion. Today ...

and long jumper who competed at two Olympic Games.

Biography

Whittle was educated at Queen Street Council School and Bolton School before taking a civil engineering degree at the University of Manchester. Whittle became the British 440 yards hurdles champion after winning the British

AAA Championships The AAA Championships was an annual track and field competition organised by the Amateur Athletic Association of England. It was the foremost domestic athletics event in the United Kingdom during its lifetime, despite the existence of the offi ...

title at the 1947 AAA Championships. After successfully retaining his title at the 1948 AAA Championships, he represented the Great Britain team at the 1948 Olympic Games in London, in the

400 metres hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Summer Olympics, Olympic Sport of athletics, athletics programme since 1900 Summer Olympics, 1900 for men and since 1984 Summer Olympics, 1984 for women. On a ...

event. He won his third consecutive AAA title before representing the England athletics team at the

1950 British Empire Games The 1950 British Empire Games were the fourth staging of what is now called the Commonwealth Games. It was held in Auckland, New Zealand, between 4 and 11 February 1950, after a 12-year gap from the third edition of the games. A documentary fil ...

in Auckland, New Zealand, competing in four events; the 440 yards, 440 yards hurdles, long jump and triple jump. Just five months later he won his fourth AAA title and also won a bronze medal at the

1950 European Athletics Championships The 4th European Athletics Championships were held from 23 August to 27 August 1950 in the Heysel Stadium of the Belgium, Belgian capital Brussels. Contemporaneous reports on the event were given in the Glasgow Herald. Men's results Complet ...

in Brussels. He then proceeded to win three more AAA titles in 1951, 1952 and 1953, making him a seven consecutive British champion in 440 yards hurdles. His all-round ability also enabled him to claim two long jump national championships in 1947 and 1949. Whittle represented the Great Britain team at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki, where he was named the team captain.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whittle, Harry 1922 births 1990 deaths Athletes (track and field) at the 1948 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1952 Summer Olympics British male hurdlers British male long jumpers Olympic athletes for Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 1950 British Empire Games Commonwealth Games competitors for England English male hurdlers British male sprinters British male triple jumpers English male triple jumpers English male long jumpers 20th-century English sportsmen