Sydney Charles Wooderson MBE (30 August 1914 – 21 December 2006), dubbed "The Mighty Atom", was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

athlete An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-de ...

whose peak career was in the 1930s and 1940s. He set the world mile record of 4:06.4 at London’s

Motspur Park Motspur Park, also known locally as West Barnes, is a residential suburb in south-west London, in the New Malden district. It straddles the boroughs of Kingston upon Thames and Merton. Motspur Park owes its identity to the railway station of ...

on 28 August 1937. This record stood for nearly five years.

Career

Born in

Camberwell Camberwell () is a district of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast of Charing Cross. Camberwell was first a village associated with the church of St Giles and a common of which Goose Green is a remnant. This ...

, London, he was 5 ft 6 in and weighed less than 9 stone (126 lbs). He attended

Sutton Valence School Sutton Valence School (SVS) is an independent school near Maidstone in southeast England. It has 560 pupils. It is a co-educational day and boarding school. There are three senior boarding houses: Westminster, St Margaret's and Sutton. History ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. At 18 he became the first British schoolboy to break 4min 30sec for the mile. He won the British mile title for the five years up to the outbreak of the war in 1939. In 1934 he won the silver medal in the one mile event at the

British Empire Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exc ...

. At the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (German: ''Olympische Sommerspiele 1936''), officially known as the Games of the XI Olympiad (German: ''Spiele der XI. Olympiade'') and commonly known as Berlin 1936 or the Nazi Olympics, were an international multi-s ...

in Berlin, he suffered an ankle injury and failed to qualify for the 1500 metres final. However, in 1937, after surgery, his performance increased and culminated in his world mile record of 4:06.4 in 1937. In 1938 he set world records in the 800 m and 880 yards with times of 1:48.4 and 1:49.2, respectively. Off the track Wooderson was a

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

solicitor A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...

and missed the 1938 Empire Games in Sydney because he was taking his law finals. His poor eyesight ruled him out of active service during the

Second World War 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 opposi ...

. He joined the

Royal Pioneer Corps The Royal Pioneer Corps was a British Army combatant corps used for light engineering tasks. It was formed in 1939, and amalgamated into the Royal Logistic Corps in 1993. Pioneer units performed a wide variety of tasks in all theatres of war, in ...

and was a

firefighter A firefighter is a first responder and rescuer extensively trained in firefighting, primarily to extinguish hazardous fires that threaten life, property, and the environment as well as to rescue people and in some cases or jurisdictions als ...

during

the Blitz The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...

and then later, in the

Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers The Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME ) is a corps of the British Army that maintains the equipment that the Army uses. The corps is described as the "British Army's Professional Engineers". History Prior to REME's for ...

as a

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, Marine radar, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor v ...

operator. In 1944, he spent several months in hospital suffering from

rheumatic fever Rheumatic fever (RF) is an inflammatory disease that can involve the heart, joints, skin, and brain. The disease typically develops two to four weeks after a streptococcal throat infection. Signs and symptoms include fever, multiple painful ...

and was warned by doctors he might never run again. Immediately after the war, however, in 1945, he ran his fastest mile, 4:04.2, just behind

Arne Andersson Arne Andersson (27 October 1917 – 1 April 2009) was a Swedish middle distance runner who became famous for his rivalry with his compatriot Gunder Hägg in the 1940s. Anderson set a 1500 metres world record in Gothenburg in August 1943 with a ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

. In Oslo at the 1946 European Championships, he won the 5,000 m in 14:08.6, the second-fastest time to that point. His versatility was demonstrated when he won the national cross-country title in 1948. He was the natural choice to carry the Olympic torch into

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

for the

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and also known as London 1948) were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, England, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus ...

. However he was turned away at the last minute because members of the organising committee wanted a more handsome final runner. They chose the relatively unknown

John Mark John Mark is named in the Acts of the Apostles as an assistant accompanying Paul and Barnabas on their missionary journeys. Traditionally he is regarded as identical with Mark the Evangelist, the traditional writer of the Gospel of Mark. Bibli ...

instead.The Times Obituary 22 December 2006
''"Though the modest little hero insisted he did not feel snubbed, the late Commander Bill Collins, who organised the 1948 Olympic torch relay, is on record that "such was the then organising committee’s obsession with a handsome final runner to light the Olympic flame that even the then Queen remarked to me ‘Of course we couldn’t have had poor little Sydney . . . "'' He was appointed a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(MBE) in the 2000 Birthday Honours for services to Blackheath Harriers and athletics.United Kingdom: Wooderson lived in retirement in

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

in the South of England. He remained a life member of Blackheath Harriers and was twice its president. He died on Thursday 21 December 2006 in a nursing home at

Wareham, Dorset Wareham ( ) is a historic market town and, under the name Wareham Town, a civil parish, in the English county of Dorset. The town is situated on the River Frome eight miles (13 km) southwest of Poole. Situation and geography The town is bu ...

. His ashes are interred in the churchyard of Lady St. Mary's Church, Wareham. In 2018 the first full-length biography of Wooderson was published - 'Sydney Wooderson: A Very British Hero' (Book Guild)- written by Rob Hadgraft, author of previous works on runners Alf Shrubb, Walter George, 'Deerfoot', Jim Peters and Arthur Newton. The Wooderson title runs to 400-plus pages and was highly acclaimed in the sporting press.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wooderson, Sydney 1914 births 2006 deaths English male middle-distance runners Olympic athletes of Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 1936 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1934 British Empire Games Commonwealth Games silver medallists for England World record setters in athletics (track and field) Deaths from kidney failure People from Camberwell Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers soldiers Royal Pioneer Corps soldiers Members of the Order of the British Empire British Army personnel of World War II People educated at Sutton Valence School European Athletics Championships medalists Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics

Career

References

Further reading

External links