Sports Reference List of Olympians Killed in War
If you open the above list you can click on the name of any athlete and a short biography and their individual Olympic results will be available. Sports in the list are abbreviated such as MOP for Modern Pentathlon or ICH Ice Hockey. ART indicates Artist, as for many year the Olympics was also a competition in the arts. This is a long list of over 400 names. It is sad and yet inspiring reading. There are heroes and villains listed. The common bond is their Olympic participation. I recommend a good glass of alcohol and a handkerchief if you choose to go through this list. The wars range from WWI to the current wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. There is one modern pentathlete who died in the last cavalry charge in modern warfare, a Cuban rower who died in the Bay of Pigs invasion, and a Canadian 400 meter runner killed by friendly fire in Afghanistan.
One notable exception from this list is that of Eric Liddell, the 1924 , 400 meter champion and 200 meter bronze medallist from Great Britain/Scotland, who died in Japanese occupied China during WWII. Why he is left off the list is not explained. Other names may also have been left off. Your help would be appreciated if there are others you notice missing.
Of note too, I have seen a list of over 400 international athletes , not all Olympians, who were killed in WWI including 3 Tour de France winners. The Tour was actually underway in 1914 when war was declared. The winner that year died a year later in WWI.
This is the list of track and field athletes only and pictures where available.
I recently found a review of the following book on the subject:
One notable exception from this list is that of Eric Liddell, the 1924 , 400 meter champion and 200 meter bronze medallist from Great Britain/Scotland, who died in Japanese occupied China during WWII. Why he is left off the list is not explained. Other names may also have been left off. Your help would be appreciated if there are others you notice missing.
Of note too, I have seen a list of over 400 international athletes , not all Olympians, who were killed in WWI including 3 Tour de France winners. The Tour was actually underway in 1914 when war was declared. The winner that year died a year later in WWI.
This is the list of track and field athletes only and pictures where available.
I recently found a review of the following book on the subject:
The Extinguished Flame, written by Nigel McCrery and published by Pen and Sword is due for release on the 14th October 2016. This meticulously researched tome tells the story of Olympic athletes, from all over the globe that gave their lives while fighting for their countries during WWI and WWII. McCrery, who served in the British Police also created the BBC crime dramas Silent Witness and New Tricks.
Alfred Flaxman was a powerful athlete that had competed in the javelin, discus and high jump at the 1908 London Games. He was not only a superb athlete but also a talented artist and musician. His love of athletics was developed when he moved to London to attend the Royal Academy of Music, and he was trained by Eugene Sandow, the father of modern bodybuilding.
He enlisted in June 1915 and was assigned to the South Staffordshire Regiment. He was a popular man and was described by Lt FAM Webster as “a simple gentleman, the best of sportsmen and a very gallant soldier who could bend a horseshoe and rip a half pack of playing cards in half.”
His powerful right arm and throwing ability came to the attention of his commanding officer when he threw a bomb 75 yards during training in northern France at Etaples. Second Lieutenant Flaxman was chosen to lead a company of bomb throwers and during the first day of the Battle of the Somme, he was killed by a German machine gunner while trying to untangle himself from barbed wire. His name appears on the Thiepval Memorial.
Brigadier Paul Aloysius Kenna, was an honoured military man at the time that he represented Britain at the 1912 Stockholm Games in the equestrian events. Kenna had been awarded his country’s highest medal for bravery, the Victoria Cross, when in 1898 at the Battle of Khartoum he went to the aid of a fallen comrade while the army was facing 3,000 enemy troops. In addition to the VC, he was mentioned in dispatches when he led the cavalry in Somaliland during the period 1902-04. He then took a break for the Olympics and two years later he was fighting in Egypt and then Gallipoli, where he was killed by a Turkish sniper.
Frederick Kelly won a gold medal for rowing at the 1908 Games and served alongside his great friend Rupert Brooke in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. Brooke, a renowned poet, died in April 1915 from sepsis induced by an infected mosquito bite. Kelly wrote the orchestral composition ‘Elegy for String Orchestra’ in his memory.
Kelly was wounded twice during the Gallipoli Campaign and was awarded the DSC for ‘conspicuous bravery.’ He moved on to fight in France and was killed on the 13thNovember at Beaucourt-sur-l’Ancre, near the Somme. The orchestral piece that he had written for his great friend Rupert Brooke was played at his memorial service that was held at Wigmore Hall in London.
During the wars, Britain lost 50 Olympians, France 29, Germany 22 and Hungary lost 10 Olympic athletes. Nigel McCrery sums up his admiration for these men saying, “These men were the pinnacle of their generation at the peak of their athletic prowess. Imagine the shock caused across the country by their death. Now imagine the shock it would cause today if at a stroke we lost all the Team GB athletes who did so well at Rio.”
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