Victor Ronald Middleton (born 21 September 1928) is an Australian former representative

rower Rowing, often called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars (called blades in the United Kingdom) are attached to the boat using rowlocks, while paddles are ...

. He was twice a national champion and competed in the men's coxless pair event at the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics (, ), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad (, ) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952, were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1952 in Helsinki, Finland. After Japan declared in ...

Club and state rowing

Middleton's senior club rowing was from

Sydney Rowing Club Sydney Rowing Club is the oldest rowing club in New South Wales, Australia formed in 1870. It has occupied its current site on Port Jackson's Parramatta River at Abbotsford, New South Wales, Abbotsford Point since 1874. The club has a focus on it ...

.Middleton at Australian Rowing History
/ref> His first state selection for New South Wales was into the 1950 men's senior eight contesting the

King's Cup King's Cup (incl. translations), may refer to: Sports Football * Copa del Rey, Spanish for "King's Cup," the main national knockout tournament in men's football * King's Cup (Bahrain), the premier national knockout football tournament * King's ...

at the Australian annual Interstate Regatta. That crew was victorious. He made further New South Wales King's Cup crews in 1951 (gold) and 1952 (silver). En route to the 1952 Helsinki Olympics the Australian men's sweep squad selected an eight which raced as

entrants in the

Grand Challenge Cup The Grand Challenge Cup is a rowing (sport), rowing competition for men's eight (rowing), eights. It is the oldest and best-known event at the annual Henley Royal Regatta on the River Thames at Henley-on-Thames in England. It is open to male cr ...

at the 1952

Henley Royal Regatta Henley Royal Regatta (or Henley Regatta, its original name pre-dating Royal patronage) is a Rowing (sport), rowing event held annually on the River Thames by the town of Henley-on-Thames, England. It was established on 26 March 1839. It diffe ...

. Middleton was in the two seat of that Sydney crew which made the final and finished as runners up to

Leander Leander is one of the protagonists in the story of Hero and Leander in Greek mythology. Leander may also refer to: People * Leander (given name) * Leander (surname) Places * Leander, Kentucky, United States, an unincorporated community * L ...

International representative rowing

The Australian men's eight selected for 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 ...

was the winning 1949 New South Wales King's cup crew in which Middleton did not row. He was however selected as a reserve for the Empire Games eight. For the 1952 Helsinki Olympics the 1951 New South Wales King's Cup crew was selected as the Australian men's eight. By the time of final seat selections Middleton in the two seat and Don Palmer at three had been replaced by Ernie Chapman and Don Anderson who'd been reserves in the NSW eight. Middleton and Palmer rowed a men's coxless pair in Helsinki. They won their heat, were second in their semi-final but the system of the time then put them into a second repechage where they were knocked out.1952 Helsinki at Australian Rowing History
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Middleton, Vic 1928 births Living people Australian male rowers Olympic rowers for Australia Rowers at the 1952 Summer Olympics 20th-century Australian sportsmen Sportsmen from New South Wales