John Patrick Metcalfe (3 February 1912 – 16 January 1994) was an Australian

athlete An athlete is most commonly a person who competes in one or more sports involving physical strength, speed, power, or endurance. Sometimes, the word "athlete" is used to refer specifically to sport of athletics competitors, i.e. including track ...

who competed in

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

and

javelin A javelin is a light spear designed primarily to be thrown, historically as a ranged weapon. Today, the javelin is predominantly used for sporting purposes such as the javelin throw. The javelin is nearly always thrown by hand, unlike the sling ...

events, though he is best remembered as a

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down the tr ...

er.Jack Metcalfe
. sports-reference.com

Biography

Metcalfe was educated at

Sydney Boys High School Sydney Boys High School ('SBHS'), otherwise known as Sydney High School ('SHS') or simply High, is an Australian government-funded single-sex academically selective secondary day school for boys, located at Moore Park, New South Wales, a s ...

and competed for

Sydney University The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

Athletics Club. At the 1934 Empire Games, Metcalfe won the triple jump and took a bronze medal in the long jump. In the high jump event he finished fourth. Competing in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

on 14 December 1935, Metcalfe set a new

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...

in the triple jump, leaping 15.78 metres. Metcalfe won two 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 ...

titles in the high jump and triple jump events at the 1936 AAA Championships. One month later he was selected to represent

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

at the 1936

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

held in Berlin. At the Games he won the bronze medal in the men's triple jump event. The winner Naoto Tajima of

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

broke the Australian's world record during the competition. It was later reported that Metcalfe, who was self-coached, assisted the Japanese athletes during the competition and that German officials had complained about this. Metcalfe also participated in the high jump competition and finished twelfth. Metcalfe's bronze was the only medal won by the entire Australian team at this

. At his final international competition – the

1938 British Empire Games The 1938 British Empire Games were the third British Empire Games, the event that evolved to become the Commonwealth Games. Held in Sydney, Australia from 5–12 February 1938, they were timed to coincide with Sydney's sesqui-centenary (150 yea ...

in his home-town of Sydney – Metcalfe defended his triple jump gold medal and also took bronze in the javelin.John 'Jack' METCALFE (NSW)
Athletics Australia profile In the long jump event he finished fifth and in the high jump competition he finished seventh.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Metcalfe, Jack 1912 births 1994 deaths Australian male triple jumpers Australian male long jumpers Australian male high jumpers Australian male javelin throwers Athletes (track and field) at the 1936 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Australia Olympic bronze medalists for Australia Athletes (track and field) at the 1934 British Empire Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1938 British Empire Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia Commonwealth Games athletes for Australia Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Australia World record setters in athletics (track and field) People educated at Sydney Boys High School Medalists at the 1936 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes from Sydney Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees Medallists at the 1934 British Empire Games Medallists at the 1938 British Empire Games Sportsmen from New South Wales Australian Athletics Championships winners 20th-century Australian sportsmen Commonwealth Games gold medallists in athletics Commonwealth Games bronze medallists in athletics