Arthur Whitford
Personal information
NationalityBritish
Born(1908-07-02)2 July 1908
Swansea, Wales
Died7 January 1996(1996-01-07) (aged 87)
Swansea, Wales
Sport
SportGymnastics

Arthur Whitford (2 July 1908 – 7 January 1996) was a British gymnast.[1] He competed in seven events at the 1928 Summer Olympics,[2] and was a ten-time British national champion.[3][4]

Biography

Whitford was born in July 1908 in Swansea.[1] He began to take up gymnastics at the age of 12, at his local church club.[5] Following the closure of the club, he joined the gym club at the YMCA in Swansea.[4] Two weeks after joining, he represented the club in the local boys' final.[4]

He competed in gymnastics during the 1920s and 1930s, becoming the national champion for nine consecutive years from 1928 to 1936,[4] and winning his tenth national title in 1939.[1] Whitford also won two Irish titles, four Scottish titles, and nine Welsh titles.[4]

Whitford was part of the Great Britain team that competed at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam.[6] His best individual performance was 61st place in the men's vault,[7] with the British team finishing in eleventh place overall.[8]

After initially stopping to compete competitively when he won his ninth national title in 1936, Whitford returned to competition two years later.[1] His aim was to compete at the 1940 Summer Olympics in Helsinki,[9] but the games were cancelled due to World War II.[10] As there was no competitions being held because of the war, Whitford became a coach, and coached his half-brother Jack.[1] Jack would also go on to represent Great Britain at the Olympics, with him taking part at the 1952 Summer Olympics.[11] Arthur Whitford also coached the British teams at the 1948 Summer Olympics and the 1952 Summer Olympics.[12]

Whitford later owned a shoe shop in his hometown of Swansea,[13] and died in January 1996, at the age of 87.[1] He was inducted into the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame in 2004.[14]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Arthur Whitford". Olympedia. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
  2. ↑ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Arthur Whitford Olympic Results". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
  3. ↑ "London 2012: Games memories for 1948 Olympian". BBC News. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "Arthur Whitford". Gymnastics History. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
  5. ↑ "Arthur Whitford". The Welsh Sports Hall of Fame. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
  6. ↑ "Arthur Whitford". Team GB. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
  7. ↑ "Horse Vault, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
  8. ↑ "Team All-Around, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
  9. ↑ "Arthur Whitford . . . Welshman, Olympian, And Bearer Of Great Patience". Dai Sport. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
  10. ↑ "Olympic story of city athlete who was made to wait". PressReader. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
  11. ↑ "Jack Whitford". Olympedia. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
  12. ↑ "Interview with the gymnast Graham Harcourt". People's Collection Wales. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
  13. ↑ "Early British Olympians discovered in the new edition of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography". Oxford University Press. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
  14. ↑ "Griffiths joins Hall of Fame". Wales Online. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
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