Neville John Sillitoe (24 April 1925 – 20 June 2021) was an Australian athletics coach. Sillitoe competed for the Coburg Athletic Club. Upon his retirement, he took up athletics coaching and helped lay the foundations for one of the most successful eras of Australian sprinting with the

East Melbourne Harriers East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...

Athletic Club. Australian representatives that Sillitoe has coached include

Peter Norman Peter George Norman (15 June 1942 – 3 October 2006) was an Australian track athlete. He won the silver medal in the 200 metres at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, with a time of 20.06 seconds. This remains an Oceanian record. H ...

, Gary Holdsworth, Greg Lewis, Aaron Rouge-Serret, Colin McQueen,

Denise Boyd Denise Margaret Robertson-Boyd (born 15 December 1952) is an Australian former Olympic sprinter, who reached two Olympic finals in the 200 metres sprint. Boyd won the gold medal for 200 metres at the 1978 Commonwealth Games in Edmonton. Boyd's ...

, Richard James, Bruce Frayne,

Tamsyn Lewis Tamsyn Carolyn Lewis (born 20 July 1978) is an Australian media personality and former track and field athlete who won a total of eighteen Australian Championships across the 400 metres, 800 metres and 400m hurdles. She first repres ...

and Ken Hall. He was the coach of the

1982 Commonwealth Games The 1982 Commonwealth Games were held in Brisbane, Australia, from 30 September to 9 October 1982. The Opening Ceremony was held at the QEII Stadium (named after Elizabeth II), in the Brisbane suburb of Nathan. The QEII Stadium was also the a ...

Team and held a long serving athletics coaching post with

Caulfield Grammar School Caulfield Grammar School is an Independent school, independent, co-educational, Anglican Church of Australia, Anglican, International Baccalaureate, day school, day and boarding school, located in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1881 as ...

in Melbourne from 1983 to 2014. Sillitoe was awarded a Medal of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

in 2018 for services to athletics. Sillitoe died on 20 June 2021. He is buried at the Fawkner Cemetery.

References

1925 births 2021 deaths Australian athletics coaches Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia {{Australia-athletics-bio-stub

See also

References