Cecil Matthews
![]() Matthews on Wanganella in 1936 | ||||||||||||||
Personal information | ||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Birth name | Cecil Henry Matthews | |||||||||||||
Born | Christchurch, New Zealand | 13 October 1914|||||||||||||
Died | 8 November 1987 Auckland, New Zealand | (aged 73)|||||||||||||
Height | 170 cm (5 ft 7 in) | |||||||||||||
Weight | 62 kg (137 lb) | |||||||||||||
Sport | ||||||||||||||
Sport | Athletics | |||||||||||||
Achievements and titles | ||||||||||||||
National finals | 3 miles champion (1936, 1938) | |||||||||||||
Personal best(s) | 3 miles – 13:59.6 (1938) 6 miles – 30:14.5 (1938)[1] | |||||||||||||
Medal record
|
Cecil Henry Matthews (13 October 1914 – 8 November 1987) was a New Zealand long distance runner from Canterbury, who represented New Zealand at the 1936 Summer Olympics at Berlin and New Zealand at the 1938 British Empire Games at Sydney.
At the 1936 Summer Olympics he was eliminated from the 5000 metre event, finishing eighth in his heat, and was scratched from the 10,000 metres. He had tendon problems (like Pat Boot, who also had a disappointing result at Berlin), from running on the decks of the Wanganella.
He then received guidance from the Olympic 1,500 metres winner, Jack Lovelock, and at the 1938 British Empire Games won two gold medals, in the three-mile (5 km) race where he beat Peter Ward, and in the six-mile (10 km) event. He had no prior experience in 6 miles, which did not appear on the New Zealand programme until 1948. Matthews credited his 1938 success to Lovelock.[1]
Matthews twice won the New Zealand national 3 miles title, in 1936 and 1938.[2] He served in the Air Force in World War II, then moved to Auckland where he died.[3]
References[]
![]() |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cecil Matthews. |
- ^ a b Cecil Matthews. sports-reference.com
- ^ Hollings, Stephen (January 2015). "National champions 1887–2014" (PDF). Athletics New Zealand. p. 23. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
- ^ McMillan, Neville (1993). New Zealand Sporting Legends: 27 Pre-War Sporting Heroes. Auckland: Moa Beckett. pp. 98–101. ISBN 1-869580-14-1.
- 1914 births
- 1987 deaths
- New Zealand male long-distance runners
- Olympic athletes of New Zealand
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1936 Summer Olympics
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1938 British Empire Games
- Commonwealth Games gold medallists for New Zealand
- New Zealand military personnel of World War II
- Athletes from Christchurch
- Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics