John Arthur "Jack" Winter (3 December 1924 – 5 December 2007) was an Australian

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

er who won that event at the

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and also known as London 1948) were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, England, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus ca ...

in London with a jump of 1.98 metres (6 ft. 6 in.).Jack Winter
Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2012-07-22. A 23-year-old bank teller, Winter is Australia's only

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

high jump gold medalist.

Career

Winter's potential was first seen as a 15-year-old in the 1940 Interschool Carnival for Scotch College, Perth. He cleared 1.79 m. (5 ft. 10⅜ in.) to win the under 16 event and 1.85 m. (6 ft. 0⅞ in.) to win the open event.''W.A. Hall of Champions'' inductee booklet. (2006) Published by the Western Australian Institute of Sport p. 21 He served in the RAAF in Britain during

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 ...

and was about to join a

Wellington Bomber The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engined, long-range medium bomber. It was designed during the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey. Led by Vickers-Armstrongs' chief designer Rex Pierson; a key feature of the aircraft is its ...

squadron when the hostilities ended. After the war he returned to competition and won the 1947 and 1948 Australian championships. The next year he joined the Australian team in London for the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

where he was considered an outside medal chance only against the strong American jumpers. Of the 26 competitors, only Winter and

Georges Damitio Georges Étienne Louis Damitio (20 May 1924 in Toulouse – 7 September 1994 in Biarritz) was a French high jumper who competed in the 1948 Summer Olympics and in the 1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, Kesäolympialaiset 1952 ...

used the unfashionable so-called

eastern cut-off The eastern cut-off is a variant of the "scissors" high jump style involving a layout. This enables the jumper to clear a higher bar than with the traditional scissors style, while still landing on the feet. The technique is generally credited t ...

style of jumping. The rest used the straddle or the

western roll The Western roll was a high jump technique invented by George Horine of Stanford University. This technique was succeeded by the straddle. History It is said that George Horine came to invent the Western roll because the high jump pit at Stanford ...

. The competition took several hours, with cold rain falling for much of the time. When the bar reached 1.95 m (6 ft 4¾ in) five jumpers, including Winter, remained. At 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) the other four failed with their first attempt. Winter, the last to jump, easily cleared the bar. The others, by then very cold and wet, failed with their other attempts. The irony was that all had jumped higher in previous competitions. After the London Games, he stayed on in England, missing the 1949 Australian championships. He returned the following year and won the 1950 title in the lead up to the

1950 British Empire Games The 1950 British Empire Games was the fourth staging of what is now called the Commonwealth Games. It was held in Auckland, New Zealand between 4 and 11 February 1950, after a 12-year gap from the third edition of the games. The main venue was ...

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

. The Auckland Games gave him another gold medal, clearing 1.98 m. - the same height he'd achieved two years earlier. At the age of 26, Winter retired from competition soon after. Winter's lifetime personal best was 2 m. (6 ft. 6 ⅞ in.) when he won the 1948 Australian championship, although in training he is reported to have jumped 2.01 m. (6 ft. 7 ¼ in.). Most of his successes were achieved with leaps between 1.96 m. and 1.98 m.

Awards

*He was awarded the Helms Award as the Outstanding Australian Athlete of 1947. *He was inducted into the Western Australian Hall of Champions in 1985. *A commemorative plaque on St Georges Terrace bears his name.

References

External links

2008 Olympics Games
{{DEFAULTSORT:Winter, John 1924 births 2007 deaths Australian male high jumpers Athletes from Perth, Western Australia Olympic athletes of Australia Olympic gold medalists for Australia Athletes (track and field) at the 1948 Summer Olympics People educated at Scotch College, Perth Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 1950 British Empire Games Western Australian Institute of Sport alumni Medalists at the 1948 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Royal Australian Air Force personnel of World War II Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees