John Whetton (born 6 September 1941)John Whetton
Athletics-heroes.net is a retired British middle-distance runner. He is best noted for winning gold in the

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletic ...

at the

1969 European Athletics Championships The 9th European Athletics Championships were held from 16–21 September 1969 in the Karaiskaki Stadium of Athens, the capital of Greece. New at these championships were the women's 1500 metres and the women's 4×400 metres relay event. Moreover, ...

and reaching the 1500 metre final in both the 1964 and 1968 Summer Olympics.

Athletics career

Whetton ran amateur athletics for local club Sutton-in-Ashfield Harriers. One of Whetton's first titles was the gold in 1500 metres at the 1963 Summer Universiade held at

Porto Alegre Porto Alegre (, , Brazilian ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of 1,488,252 inhabitants (2020) makes it the List of largest cities in Brazil, twelfth most populous city in the country ...

, Brazil. In 1964 Whetton qualified to represent Great Britain at the 1964 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, and was one of three British competitors who ran the 1500 metres; the other two being William McKim and fellow Harriers club-mate Alan Simpson. Whetton qualified through the first heat, coming third with a time of 3:44.2. He and Simpson both qualified to the semi-finals and then the finals, with Whetton taking the final slot as the fastest non-qualifying athlete. In the final Whetton finished eighth out of nine, recording a time of 3:42.4, while Simpson ended fourth. In 1966 Whetton participated in the

European Indoor Games The European Athletics Indoor Championships is a biennial indoor track and field competition for European athletes that is organised by the European Athletic Association. It was held for the first time in 1970, replacing the European Indoor Games, ...

taking his first major gold medal when he won the race by nearly three seconds over second placed Oleg Rayko. Whetton managed to retain the European Indoor title over the next two years, at

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and

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

. Whetton again represented Great Britain in the altitude influenced

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...

in Mexico City, and again qualified for the final. In the final Whetton finished fifth, though a full four seconds outside the medal places. His final major medal came in the

when he won the 1500 metres in Athens. In a close final Whetton beat Ireland's Francis Murphy to take the gold. He 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 1,500 metres, at the

1970 British Commonwealth Games The 1970 British Commonwealth Games (Scottish Gaelic: Geamannan a 'Cho-fhlaitheis Bhreatainn 1970) were held in Edinburgh, Scotland, from 16 to 25 July 1970. This was the first time the name British Commonwealth Games was adopted, the first tim ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Whetton, John 1941 births Living people Sportspeople from Mansfield English male middle-distance runners Olympic athletes of Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1968 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games European Athletics Championships medalists Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade gold medalists for Great Britain Medalists at the 1963 Summer Universiade Commonwealth Games competitors for England