Sydney Broadway Grange AO OBE MVO (28 August 1912 – 28 October 1996) was an Australian sports administrator and President of the

Australian Olympic Federation Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

Personal

Grange was born on 28 August 1912 in

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

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 ...

. He was one of six children. His family moved to Australia when he was nine months. He grew up in

Five Dock Five Dock is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Five Dock is located 10 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Canada Bay. Location Fi ...

, a suburb of

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

and attended the local school. As a 16-year-old, he joined

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Public service as a messenger boy. Grange then moved to the Mines Department as a clerk. 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 ...

, he served with the

Royal Australian Airforce "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

for five years in northern Australia. After the war, he worked in the Premier's Department and in the early 1960s was appointed the State's ceremonial officer. This position involved supervising important Head of State visits including four visits by Queen

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

. He retired in August 1974. In 1970, he was appointed a

Member of the Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order (french: Ordre royal de Victoria) is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the British monarch, Canadian monarch, Australian monarch, or ...

(Fifth Class) for this work. Grange lived in

Manly, New South Wales Manly is a beach-side suburb of northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is north-east of the Sydney central business district and is currently one of the three administrative centres of the Local government in Australia ...

and served as an alderman with

Manly Council Manly Council was a local government area on the northern beaches region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, first incorporated in 1877. On 12 May 2016, the Minister for Local Government announced that Manly Council would be subsumed into the ...

. He died on 28 October 1996 in

shortly after suffering a stroke. Grange was survived by his wife Valerie and daughter Beverly.

Career as a sports administrator

Swimming

Grange learned to swim in the

Parramatta River The Parramatta River is an intermediate tide-dominated, drowned valley estuary located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. With an average depth of , the Parramatta River is the main tributary of Sydney Harbour, a branch of Port Jackson. Seco ...

which was near his home in Five Dock. At 17, he became the honorary secretary of the Abbotsford Swimming Club. Grange then became assistant registrar of the New South Wales Amateur Swimming Association. Grange was vice president of the Australian Swimming Union between 1963 and 1968 and was then honorary director until 1979. He was an Executive Board member for the

International Swimming Federation FINA (french: Fédération internationale de natation, en, International Swimming Federation, link=yes) (to be renamed as World Aquatics by ) is the international federation recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for administer ...

from 1964 to 1984 and vice president from 1972 to 1984.

Olympics

Grange was the honorary secretary and treasurer of the NSW Olympic Council from 1948 to 1972. He was a member of the Australian Olympic Federation (AOF) Board between 1959 and 1985. He was vice president from 1972 to 1977 and president from 1977 to his retirement in 1985. In 1983, he was appointed the first and only honorary president of the AOF. Grange attended four Olympics in administration roles for the Australian team: Swimming Section Manager at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, Chef de Mission and General Manager at the 1960 Rome Olympics, and Director of Administration at the 1964 Rome Olympics and the

1968 Mexico 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 ...

. He was a member of the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games Organising Committee. Grange became president of the AOF after the Australian team failed to win a gold medal at the 1976 Montreal Olympics. He attacked critics of the Australian team for being obsessed by a ''gold medal complex''. After taking on the position of president, Grange stated the need for organized training programs and preparation and lobbying the

Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government i ...

for financial assistance. During the 1970s and early 1980s, the Australian Olympic Federation was primarily administered by Grange as President and Julius Patching as secretary-general. Olympic historian Harry Gordon has rated their period of administration as ''one of the most effective partnerships in the history of Australian sports administration''. The period encompassed the move from amateur to professional management of Olympic sport. In 1980, the Fraser government requested that Australian team

boycott A boycott is an act of nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organization, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for moral, social, political, or environmental reasons. The purpose of a boycott is to inflict som ...

the 1980 Moscow Olympics. Gordon noted that Grange and Patching supported the boycott, probably due to their years of government service. However, after the AOF decided to attend, both Grange and Patching made every effort to ensure that Australia send its best possible team to Moscow. Grange was a member of the

Australian Commonwealth Games Association Commonwealth Games Australia (CGA) is the Commonwealth Games Association for Australia, and is responsible for representing and promoting the Commonwealth Sport movement in the country, and organises the participation of athletes at the Commonwea ...

Board from 1969 to 1980. and a Chairman of the National Fitness Council.

Honours

*1956 - Life Member of the NSW Amateur Swimming Association *1957 - Order of the British Empire (OBE) - Officer (Civil) *1960 - Life Member of the NSW Olympic Council *1970 - Royal Victorian Order - Member of the Fifth Class (MVO5) *1976 - Life Member

Swimming Australia Swimming Australia is the peak governing body for competitive swimming in Australia. The body has approximately 100,000 registered members nationally in 1100 clubs across the country, which includes swimmers, coaches, officials, administrators ...

*1978 - Life Member of the Australian Olympic Federation *1980 - Life Member of the Australian Commonwealth Games Association *1980 - Silver Medal of the Olympic Order *1983 - Honorary Life President

Australian Olympic Committee Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

*1984 - Officer of the Order of Australia *1985 - International Olympic Committee Olympic Order *1989 -

Sport Australia Hall of Fame The Sport Australia Hall of Fame was established on 10 December 1985 to recognise the achievements of Australian sportsmen and sportswomen. The inaugural induction included 120 members with Sir Don Bradman as the first inductee and Dawn Fraser th ...

inductee * Manly Pathway of Olympians

References

External links

*
Sydney Grange interviewed by Neil Bennetts, National Library of Australia, 1980
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grange, Sydney Broadway 1912 births 1996 deaths Australian sports executives and administrators Australian Olympic Committee administrators People from Manly, New South Wales Officers of the Order of Australia Australian Officers of the Order of the British Empire Australian Members of the Royal Victorian Order Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees