Derek James Neville Johnson (5 January 1933 – 30 August 2004) was a British

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

athlete.

Early life

Johnson was born in (East Ham) ondon and educated at East Ham Grammar School. He did his

National Service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The ...

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before going up to

Lincoln College, Oxford Lincoln College (formally, The College of the Blessed Mary and All Saints, Lincoln) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford, situated on Turl Street in central Oxford. Lincoln was founded in 1427 by Richard Fleming, the ...

, to read medicine in 1953. Whilst at

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Athletics career

He pursued an

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

career and represented

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in

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, he won

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

s both in the

880 yards The 800 metres, or meters ( US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of an outdoor (400-metre) track and has been an Olympic event since th ...

and the 4 x 440 yards relay. Johnson went on to win a silver medal in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, in the 800 metres and a bronze in the 4 x 400 metres relay. In 1958 he won a silver medal in the 4 x 440 yards relay in the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in

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. He was a leading light in the setting up of the "athletes' union", the International Athletes' Club, he led opposition to Margaret Thatcher's call for sportsmen to boycott the 1980 Moscow Olympics. Johnson competed for Woodford Green AC (now Woodford Green AC with Essex Ladies www.wgel.org.uk) where he was coached to his success by Ken Bone and was later awarded Life Membership. In the 1980s he also became a member of the Serpentine Running Club and ran several London Marathons. A great ally of David Bedford and a leading administrator in athletics.

References

1933 births 2004 deaths Military personnel from Essex 20th-century British military personnel People from Chigwell English male sprinters English male middle-distance runners Olympic athletes of Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 1956 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medallists for Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England Commonwealth Games silver medallists for England Alumni of Lincoln College, Oxford Medalists at the 1956 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) 20th-century British people Medallists at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games {{UK-athletics-Olympic-medalist-stub