Neville Joseph "Nick" Whitehead (29 May 1933 – 6 October 2002) was a Welsh sprinter and sports administrator.

Early life and career

Whitehead was born in

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It lies between the Cambrian Mountains, Welsh mountains and the lower River Dee, Wales, Dee Valley, near the England–Wales border, borde ...

. He competed for Great Britain in the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad () and commonly known as Rome 1960 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 25 August to 11 September 1960 in Rome, Italy. Rome had previously been awar ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

in the

4 × 100 metres relay The 4 × 100 metres relay or sprint relay is an athletics track event run in lanes over one lap of the track with four runners completing 100 metres each. The first runners must begin in the same stagger as for the indiv ...

where he won the bronze medal with his teammates Peter Radford, David Jones and David Segal. He went on to win a

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...

Bronze medal in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, Western Australia in 1962 as part of the Welsh Relay Team.

Later work

He would later teach Physical Education at Carnegie Physical Training College in

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

, now part of

Leeds Metropolitan University Leeds Beckett University (LBU), formerly known as Leeds Metropolitan University (LMU) and before that as Leeds Polytechnic, is a public university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It has campuses in the city centre and Headingley. The univer ...

. He was overall team manager of the British athletics team. He became director of the National Coaching Foundation and eventually Director of Development at the Sports Council for Wales (now Sport Wales). He was made an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(OBE) in the

1985 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1985 were appointments by most of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other countries ...

. He died, aged 69, in

Newport, Pembrokeshire Newport () is a town, Community (Wales), community, electoral ward and ancient port of ''Parrog'', on the Pembrokeshire coast in West Wales at the mouth of the River Nevern () in the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. The town gives its name to ...

. He had a son Simon and two daughters; Jane and Rachel.

References

1933 births 2002 deaths Welsh male sprinters British male sprinters Olympic bronze medallists for Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 1960 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Wales Officers of the Order of the British Empire Sportspeople from Wrexham Welsh Olympic competitors Medalists at the 1960 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) Medallists at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games bronze medallists in athletics {{Wales-athletics-bio-stub