Henry Graham Sharp (19 December 1917 – 2 January 1995) was a British

figure skater Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...

. In 1939, he won both the

European Figure Skating Championships The European Figure Skating Championships is an annual figure skating competition in which figure skaters compete for the title of European champion. Medals are awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, an ...

and the

World Figure Skating Championships The World Figure Skating Championships (''"Worlds"'') is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union. Medals are awarded in the categories of single skating, men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, and ...

. Before that, he had won three consecutive silver medals at Worlds and Europeans. He competed at the

1936 Winter Olympics The 1936 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IV Olympic Winter Games (german: IV. Olympische Winterspiele) and commonly known as Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1936 ( bar, Garmasch-Partakurch 1936), were a winter multi-sport event held from 6 to 16 ...

, where he placed fifth, and at the

1948 Winter Olympics The 1948 Winter Olympics, officially known as the V Olympic Winter Games (german: V. Olympische Winterspiele; french: Ves Jeux olympiques d'hiver; it, V Giochi olimpici invernali; rm, V Gieus olimpics d'enviern) and commonly known as St. Moritz ...

, where he placed seventh.

Life and career

Born in

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the Southern ...

, Sharp began training as a skater at the age of 13 at a rink owned by his father in Bournemouth. At the age of 15 he competed for the first time in the

British Figure Skating Championships The British Figure Skating Championships (known in some years as the ''British Ice Figure and Dance Championships'' and the ''British Ice Figure & Synchronized Skating Championships'') are a figure skating competition held annually to crown the nati ...

(BFSC), winning silver in 1933. He competed in the BFSC eight more times, winning gold each time in 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1946, and 1948. On the international stage he won consecutive silver medals at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

and the

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

from 1936 through 1938, and took home gold in both events in 1939. Writing in 1938,

T. D. Richardson Thomas Dow "Tyke" Richardson OBE (16 January 1887 – 7 January 1971) was a British competitive pair skater, author and judge. With his wife, Mildred Richardson, he represented Great Britain at the 1924 Winter Olympics, where they plac ...

(author of ''Modern Figure Skating'' and ''Ice Rink Skating'') said "Graham Sharp is by far the best male School Skater of the day. He has an ease and accuracy that is a joy to those with real knowledge and appreciation of the fine points of the School Figures." It was predicted that he would have won gold in the winter Olympic Games in 1940, but the events of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

prevented those games from occurring and otherwise significantly interrupted his career when he was at his peak as an athlete. Sharp'was a captain in the

Royal Army Service Corps The Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) was a corps of the British Army responsible for land, coastal and lake transport, air despatch, barracks administration, the Army Fire Service, staffing headquarters' units, supply of food, water, fuel and dom ...

during WWII. He was at the

Battle of France The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the Nazi Germany, German invasion of French Third Rep ...

and was part of the

Dunkirk evacuation The Dunkirk evacuation, codenamed Operation Dynamo and also known as the Miracle of Dunkirk, or just Dunkirk, was the evacuation of more than 338,000 Allied soldiers during the Second World War from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk, in the ...

in May and June 1940. He was later part of military campaigns in North Africa and Italy during the war. After the war, he continued his skating career, and while he won gold at the BFSC twice, he did not medal at the Winter Olympic Games and World Championships in 1948. He carried the British flag in the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics. Sharp's father died in 1948, and he took over the management of the family's Bournemouth skating rink where he also taught lessons through 1964. He then relocated to the United States where he worked as a teacher. He died on 2 January 1995 at the age of 77.

Results

References

1936 Olympics: Results

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharp, Graham British male single skaters Figure skaters at the 1936 Winter Olympics Figure skaters at the 1948 Winter Olympics Olympic figure skaters of Great Britain 1917 births 1995 deaths Sportspeople from Bournemouth World Figure Skating Championships medalists European Figure Skating Championships medalists British Army personnel of World War II Royal Army Service Corps officers

Life and career

Results

Further reading

References