Emil Robert Voigt (31 January 1883 – 16 October 1973) was a British athlete, winner of the

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

5 miles race in 1908 representing Great Britain.

Biography

Born in

Manchester 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 t ...

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parents, Voigt won the 1908 Amateur Athletic Association (AAA) championship in the 4 miles,British Athletics Championships 1876-1914
/ref> making him one of the favourites for the 5 miles at the 1908 Summer Olympics, which were held in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. Voigt, a

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetariani ...

, indeed won the race easily, and became the second and last Olympic champion in the event, which was replaced by the 5000 m and 10000 m events in 1912. After winning three more AAA titles in 1909 and 1910, as well as winning numerous other races in the UK and in Europe, he emigrated to Australia in 1911. He won a number of Australian titles over the next three years then retired from athletics in 1914 when the outbreak of war in Europe put an end to his career. In Australia he became one of the foremost pioneers of early radio, helping to set up 2KY on behalf of the Labor movement. He moved back to England in 1936, finally retiring to Auckland, New Zealand, in 1948, where he died at age 90.

Vegetarianism

Voigt became a vegetarian for humanitarian motives. He also avoided tea, coffee, and lentils. He became a vegetarian at the age of 22 and joined the Vegetarian Cycling Club.''Emil Voigt: The Unique Olympian''
International Society of Olympic Historians. His diet consisted of brown bread, eggs, fruit, milk and vegetables. During the 1908 London Olympic Games, he was the only gold medal distance runner England had ever had and the only vegetarian out of 2023 competitors. Voigt was a non-smoker and

teetotaller Teetotalism is the practice or promotion of total personal abstinence from the psychoactive drug alcohol, specifically in alcoholic drinks. A person who practices (and possibly advocates) teetotalism is called a teetotaler or teetotaller, or is ...

References

External links

Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Voigt, Emil 1883 births 1973 deaths Athletes (track and field) at the 1908 Summer Olympics British vegetarianism activists English male long-distance runners English Olympic medallists English people of German descent Olympic athletes of Great Britain Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain Medalists at the 1908 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Manchester