Robert Ian Brightwell

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(27 October 1939 – 6 March 2022) was a British track and field athlete and silver medallist.Times On Line biography of Robbie Brightwell and Ann Packer

Biography

Brightwell was born in

Rawalpindi Rawalpindi ( or ; Urdu, ) is a city in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is the fourth largest city in Pakistan after Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad, and third largest in Punjab after Lahore and Faisalabad. Rawalpindi is next to Pakistan's ...

, British Raj (now part of Pakistan), but moved to the UK with his family in 1946 and grew up in Donnington, Telford, Shropshire. He was educated at Trench Secondary Modern School where he became head boy and set a number of school running records, and he played as goalkeeper in the local Donnington Swifts football team. He gained his athletic training at Shrewsbury Technical College and went on to become a sportsmaster at Tiffin Boys' School in

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, England. He was known for his quarter-mile running races, with his first major race taking place during 1961. He broke the British record for

440 yards 44 may refer to: * 44 (number) * one of the years 44 BC, AD 44, 1944, 2044 Military *44M Tas, a Hungarian medium/heavy tank design of World War II *44M Tas Rohamlöveg, a Hungarian tank destroyer design of World War II, derived from the 44M Tas ta ...

as well as the European 400 metres record. During the Olympic Games held in Tokyo, he was captain of the men's British Olympic Team. Running the final stage in the men's 4 x 400 metres relay, he passed Wendell Mottley of Trinidad and Tobago to finish second to Henry Carr of the US. In the individual 400 metres he finished fourth. His fiancée at that time was

Ann Packer Ann Elizabeth Packer MBE (born 8 March 1942) is an English former sprinter, hurdler and long jumper. She won a gold medal in the 800 metres and a silver in the 400 metres at the 1964 Summer Olympics. Early life In 1959 Packer won the English ...

who won a gold medal in the women's 800 metres (run) on the day after the men's individual 400 metres final. After winning a silver medal in the 400 metres Packer had no plans to run in the 800 metres and had a shopping trip planned until Brightwell's disappointing 400 metres. She said she ran it for him and broke the world record in the process. The captaincy of the British Team and his silver medal was the climax of his career. Aged 24 years early in 1964 he announced that he would retire after the Olympic Games. He and Packer were each appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the

1965 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1965 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 ...

for services to athletics.United Kingdom list: Brightwell and Packer were married on 19 December 1964 and had three sons: Gary, and two former

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

players

Ian Ian or Iain is a name of Scottish Gaelic origin, derived from the Hebrew given name (Yohanan, ') and corresponding to the English name John. The spelling Ian is an Anglicization of the Scottish Gaelic forename ''Iain''. It is a popular name in Sc ...

and David. Brightwell went into teaching before moving to lecture at the then Loughborough College and before taking up successive directorships with sports companies Adidas UK and Le Coq Sportif UK. He also ran a fishing tackle business for thirty years. Brightwell lived in

Congleton Congleton is a town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. The town is by the River Dane, south of Manchester and north of Stoke on Trent. At the 2011 Census, it had a population of 26,482. Top ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

. He died in March 2022, at the age of 82.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brightwell, Robbie 1939 births 2022 deaths People from Congleton Athletes from Punjab, Pakistan Sportspeople from Rawalpindi English male sprinters British male sprinters Olympic athletes of Great Britain Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 1960 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics English Olympic medallists Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England Commonwealth Games silver medallists for England Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games European Athletics Championships medalists Alumni of Loughborough University Sportspeople from Cheshire Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Members of the Order of the British Empire English schoolteachers