John Maxwell Carr (14 June 1922 – 5 July 2016) was a New Zealand field athlete and coach, athletics official, and air force officer. He represented his country at the

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 cr ...

and

1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fi ...

, and served as a

wing commander Wing commander (Wg Cdr in the RAF, the IAF, and the PAF, WGCDR in the RNZAF and RAAF, formerly sometimes W/C in all services) is a senior commissioned rank in the British Royal Air Force and air forces of many countries which have historical ...

in the

Royal New Zealand Air Force The Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) ( mi, Te Tauaarangi o Aotearoa, "The Warriors of the Sky of New Zealand"; previously ', "War Party of the Blue") is the aerial service branch of the New Zealand Defence Force. It was formed from New Zeala ...

. In later years, he won three

World Masters The World Masters, known for sponsorship reasons as the Mita/Sky World Masters, was a snooker tournament held between 13 and 26 January 1991. Conceived by promoter Barry Hearn, the tournament had a similar format to the Grand Slam (tennis), Gran ...

hammer throw The hammer throw is one of the four throwing events in regular track and field competitions, along with the discus throw, shot put and javelin. The "hammer" used in this sport is not like any of the tools also called by that name. It consis ...

titles.

Early life and family

Carr was born in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

on 14 June 1922. He married his wife, Norma Joy, in about 1949, and they had one daughter.

Military service

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 ...

, Carr served as a

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

in the

New Zealand Army , image = New Zealand Army Logo.png , image_size = 175px , caption = , start_date = , country = , branch = ...

from November 1941 until June 1943. He then joined the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF), flying two tours of operation with No. 16 Squadron in the Pacific, and was promoted from

pilot officer Pilot officer (Plt Off officially in the RAF; in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly P/O in all services, and still often used in the RAF) is the lowest commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth countri ...

to flying officer in September 1944. He left the RNZAF in January 1946, but rejoined in December 1948. He was promoted to the rank of wing commander in 1961, and was appointed as director of works for the RNZAF, responsible for the planning and administration of works construction and maintenance programmes. Carr retired from the RNZAF in 1972. In the

1966 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1966 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were announced in supplements to the ''Lond ...

, Carr was appointed an Office of the Military Division of the Order of the British Empire.

Athletics

National competition

Carr joined the Technical Amateur Athletic and Cross-Country Club in Christchurch in the 1930s. He first came to national attention in 1940, when he won the national under-19 long jump title with a leap of . He went on to win the national senior men's long jump title at the 1945 national athletics championships, with a distance of . At the same meeting, he finished second in the

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to the long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down th ...

and hammer throw, and third in the discus. It was as a hammer thrower that Carr would ultimately gain greatest success, winning the national title on five occasions: in 1947, 19149, 1954, 1959, and 1963. His best winning throw was in 1963. In 21 consecutive New Zealand national championship hammer competitions, Carr never finished outside the top three: recording 13 second and three third placings, as well as his five title wins. In 1963, the Wellington Athletic Centre named Carr as its sportsman of the year, and awarded him the Allen Cup for outstanding feats as a competitor. Carr set a national record for the hammer throw on three occasions.

International competition

At 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 ...

, Carr represented New Zealand in both the discus and hammer throws. In the former event, he finished in eighth place with a best throw of , and he came sixth in the latter event, recording a best distance of . Four years later, at the

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, Carr was New Zealand's flagbearer at the opening ceremony. His best throw of in the men's hammer throw saw him finish in eighth place in that event.

Masters athletics

Carr went on to be active in

Masters athletics Masters athletics is a class of the sport of athletics for athletes of over 35 years of age. The events include track and field, road running and cross country running. Competitors are bracketed into five-year age groups (which promotes fair comp ...

. He won numerous age-group titles in the hammer, discus and

shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...

at New Zealand Masters championships in the 1980s and 1990s, and he won three world Masters hammer throw gold medals: in the M70 category in 1993 and 1995; and the M75 age group in 1997.

Administration and coaching

At the

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 ( ja, 東京1964), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this ho ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, Carr was a New Zealand's athletic section manager, and for many years he served as an amateur athletics official in Auckland, verifying the specification of throwing equipment. He received a merit award from

Athletics New Zealand Athletics New Zealand (ANZ) is the national governing body for athletics in New Zealand. This includes responsibility for Track and field, cross country running, road running and racewalking. History The organisation was founded in 1887 as the ...

in 1991. Carr was also involved in coaching, and, with

Les Mills Leslie Roy Mills (born 1 November 1934) is a retired New Zealand track and field athlete and politician. He represented New Zealand at the Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games over two decades, competing in the shot put and discus throw. He w ...

, trained

Beatrice Faumuina Beatrice Roini Liua Faumuina (born 23 October 1974 in Auckland, New Zealand) is a former New Zealand discus thrower. Career Faumuina was a gold medallist at the 1997 World Championships in Athletics. She has represented New Zealand in four Su ...

during the early stages of her career.

Death

Carr died in

Tauranga Tauranga () is a coastal city in the Bay of Plenty region and the fifth most populous city of New Zealand, with an urban population of , or roughly 3% of the national population. It was settled by Māori late in the 13th century, colonised by ...

on 5 July 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carr, Max 1922 births 2016 deaths Athletes from Christchurch Athletes (track and field) at the 1950 British Empire Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games competitors for New Zealand New Zealand male discus throwers New Zealand male hammer throwers New Zealand male shot putters New Zealand male long jumpers New Zealand male triple jumpers New Zealand military personnel of World War II New Zealand World War II pilots Royal New Zealand Air Force personnel New Zealand Officers of the Order of the British Empire New Zealand sports executives and administrators New Zealand athletics coaches New Zealand masters athletes