John William Savidan (23 May 1902 – 8 November 1991), nicknamed "Billy", "Bill" or "Jack" and born in

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 ...

, was a New Zealand long distance runner from 1926. At the

1930 British Empire Games The 1930 British Empire Games were the inaugural edition of what now is known as the Commonwealth Games, and were held in Hamilton, Ontario, from 16 to 23 August 1930. The games were organized by ''Hamilton Spectator'' sportswriter Bobby Robinso ...

in Hamilton, Ontario he won the six mile race with a time of 30:49.6 mins, despite stopping over the finish line after what he thought was the last lap and being told that there was a lap to go. The official had inadvertently turned over two discs instead of one. He beat Ernie Harper from England. In the three mile race (equivalent to 5000 metres) he did not finish. At the

1932 Summer Olympics The 1932 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the X Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1932) were an international multi-sport event held from July 30 to August 14, 1932 in Los Angeles, California, United States. The Games were held duri ...

at Los Angeles he finished fourth in both the 5000 metre event and the 10000 metre competition. He did not compete in the national championships in 1935 and 1936 as he was working as a stonemason and could not spend the necessary time training, but competed against two Japanese runners who were visiting New Zealand in 1937. Like

Malcolm Champion Malcolm Eadie Champion (10 November 1882 – 26 July 1939) was New Zealand's first Olympic gold medallist, and the first swimmer to represent New Zealand at an Olympic Games. He won a gold medal in the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay at the 1912 Sum ...

before him he was then for some years Custodian at Auckland's

Tepid Baths The Tepid Baths is a public indoor pool complex in Auckland, New Zealand. The baths opened in 1914 on a site that had previously been occupied by a small drydock and were very well-received by the public, with the new baths attracting 30,000 visi ...

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Savidan, Billy 1902 births 1991 deaths New Zealand male long-distance runners Olympic athletes for New Zealand Athletes (track and field) at the 1932 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1930 British Empire Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists for New Zealand Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Athletes from Auckland Medallists at the 1930 British Empire Games