Albert Hill (athlete)
 Hill at the 1920 Olympics | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Albert George Hill |
| Born | 24 March 1889 Tooting, London, UK |
| Died | 8 January 1969 (aged 79) London, Ontario, Canada |
| Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) |
| Weight | 72 kg (159 lb) |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Athletics |
| Event(s) | 800 m, 1500 m |
| Club | Polytechnic Harriers, London |
| Achievements and titles | |
| Personal best(s) | 800 m – 1:53.4 (1920) 1000 yd – 2:15.0 (1920) 1500 m – 4:01.8 (1920) Mile – 4:13.8 (1921) |
Medal record | |
Albert George Hill (24 March 1889 – 8 January 1969) was a British track and field athlete.[1][2] He competed at the 1920 Olympics and won gold medals in the 800 m and 1500 m and a silver medal in the 3000 m team race.[3]
Biography
[edit]Hill started out as a long-distance runner, winning the British AAA championships over 4 miles in 1910. During World War I he served with the Royal Flying Corps in France, and after the war changed to middle-distance running. Coached by Sam Mussabini (coach of 100 m Olympic Champions Reggie Walker and Harold Abrahams), he won the 880 yd and 1 mile at the 1919 AAA championships and then equalled the British record of 4:16.8 for 1 mile. He nearly was not selected for the Olympics the following year, the selectors considering the 31-year-old Hill too old. Finally, he was allowed to take part at the Olympics, which were held in Antwerp, Belgium. He made the final in the 800m, which was a closely contested race. In the end, the 31-year-old Hill beat American Earl Eby for the gold, setting a British record of 1:53.4 on a slow track.[3]
Two days later, Hill completed the middle distance double by winning the 1500 m as well, thus completing a "double" not replicated by a British athlete until Kelly Holmes at the 2004 Olympics. Helped by his compatriot, Philip Baker (who would receive the Nobel Peace Prize in 1959), he won comfortably, with Baker in second in a time of 4:01.8. Hill also competed in the 3000 m team race event, in which the British team finished second, earning Hill's third Olympic medal.[3]
Hill won the 1921 AAA mile championship in a British record of 4:13.8, this was 1.2 seconds outside the world record and the second fastest amateur time ever. Hill ended his running career in 1921 and became a coach himself, his most famous protégé being Sydney Wooderson. He emigrated to Canada shortly after World War II, and died there in 1969.[3]
In 2010, he was inducted into the England Athletics Hall of Fame.
References
[edit]- ^ "Albert Hill". Olympedia. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
- ^ "Remembering Albert Hill's Olympic double, on its 100th anniversary | NEWS | World Athletics". worldathletics.org. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
- ^ a b c d Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Albert Hill". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 3 December 2016.
Further reading
[edit]- Nelson, Cordner and Quercentani, Roberto (1985): The Milers
- Watman, Mel (1981): Encyclopedia of Track and Field Athletics
- Peter Matthews & Ian Buchanan (1995): All-Time Greats of British & Irish Sport
External links
[edit]
- Albert Hill at Team GB
- Albert Hill at Olympics.com
- Albert Hill at Olympic.org (archived)
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| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
- 1889 births
- 1969 deaths
- People from Tooting
- Athletes from the London Borough of Wandsworth
- English male middle-distance runners
- British male middle-distance runners
- Olympic athletes for Great Britain
- Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain
- Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1920 Summer Olympics
- English Olympic medallists
- Medalists at the 1920 Summer Olympics
- Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field)
- Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field)
- British Army personnel of World War I
- Royal Flying Corps personnel