Peter Hildreth
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Men's athletics | ||
Representing  Great Britain
| ||
| European Championships | ||
 |
1950 Brussels | 110 m hurdles |
Peter Burke Hildreth (8 July 1928 – 25 February 2011) was a British hurdling athlete.
Athletics career[]
Born in Bedford, he reached the semi-finals of the 110 metre hurdles at the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki, finishing 12th. He also represented Britain at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics and the 1960 Rome Games.[1] He won the bronze medal in the 1950 European Championships in spite of a poor lane draw on a wet track.[2]
He equalled the British record for the 110 metre hurdles, with a time of 14.3 seconds, on five occasions.[1]
Hildreth won the 110m (then 120 yards) hurdles event in 14.5 sec. at the AAA championships in the White City on 14 July 1956. He finished the final race only 0.1 sec. ahead of Ion Opris, the Romanian champion, who created a major stir by running straight off the track and out of the stadium to claim political asylum in Britain.
He represented England in the 120 yards hurdles at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff, Wales.[3][4]
Personal life[]
His education was in St Paul’s School, Darjeeling. Following his retirement from athletics, he served as an athletics journalist, writing for the Sunday Telegraph and commentating on events for BBC Radio.[2]
Hildreth, in July 2008, at age 80, was banned from running up an escalator in the Elphicks Farnham department store on safety grounds.[1]
Hildreth died on 25 February 2011 at the age of 82.[2]
References[]
- ^ a b c "Olympian, 80, falls foul of escalator police", The Daily Telegraph, page 10, 29 July 2008
- ^ a b c 1950 European Athletics Championships medallist Peter Hildreth dies Archived 2011-03-05 at the Wayback Machine. European Athletics (2011-02-27). Retrieved on 2011-02-27.
- ^ "Athletes and results". Commonwealth Games Federation.
- ^ "1958 Athletes". Team England.
External links[]
- Interview from Highgate Harriers
- Peter Hildreth at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)
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- 1928 births
- 2011 deaths
- Sportspeople from Bedford
- British male hurdlers
- Olympic male hurdlers
- Olympic athletes of Great Britain
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1952 Summer Olympics
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1956 Summer Olympics
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1960 Summer Olympics
- Commonwealth Games competitors for England
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games
- European Athletics Championships medalists
- Japan Championships in Athletics winners
- People educated at Ratcliffe College
- St. Paul's School, Darjeeling alumni
- British athletics biography stubs