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in Rome in 1960 by exercising in a steam-filled bathroom at home, with the heating turned up and wearing a heavy tracksuit. After exercising for about half an hour, he would feel faint. At the time, he attributed his light-headedness to the effects of heat and humidity, but later realised that it
388:; undeterred, he completed the race before seeking treatment. He represented Britain in a race in France in 1991, aged 58 years and 89 days, becoming the oldest person to represent Britain in an international athletics event.
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forced him to take up race walking instead. He came second in the 52½ miles London to
Brighton road race in 1954, and then won the event in each of the following eight years. He raced in the 50 km walk in the
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and taught maths at
Southland's comprehensive school, New Romney, from the mid 1970s. A small man, only 1.65m tall, he was originally a runner, but an injury to his
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by 17 seconds to win the gold medal in 4 hours 25 minutes 30 seconds. The only other
British competitor to win a gold medal at the 1960 Summer Olympics was
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341:", literally "little mouse"). In the 50 km race, staged at temperatures of up to 31°C, the front two competitors were disqualified, and Thompson beat
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Outside athletics, he worked as an insurance clerk, a gardener and as a teacher (at
Southland's School, New Romney). He was appointed a
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to keep the sun off his head and neck during the race; together with his sunglasses, he was nicknamed
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in 1978. He habitually woke at 4am to run 13 km each morning. In 1983, he fell and broke his
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He won a bronze medal at the
European Championships in 1962, and was tenth at the
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Athletes (track and field) at the 1966 British Empire and
Commonwealth Games
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451:"50 stunning Olympic moments No38: Don Thompson takes walking gold"
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for services to athletics. He collapsed at home and died at
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Member of the Most
Excellent Order of the British Empire
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Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer
Olympics
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Athletes (track and field) at the 1960 Summer
Olympics
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Athletes (track and field) at the 1956 Summer
Olympics
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Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field)
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Post-War British Olympic Champions in Men's Athletics
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1321:Sportspeople from the London Borough of Hillingdon
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470:Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen;
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532:Olympic 50km walking champion Thompson dies
511:(Supplement). 30 December 1969. p. 18.
1396:Members of the Order of the British Empire
1391:Commonwealth Games competitors for England
1381:European Athletics Championships medalists
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1118:
631:Olympic champions in men's 50 km race walk
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325:heater. His mother made him a hat like a
258:(20 January 1933 – 3 October 2006) was an
1341:Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain
16:For other people with the same name, see
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1376:Medalists at the 1960 Summer Olympics
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277:. He also won a bronze medal at the
13:
1336:Olympic athletes for Great Britain
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1371:Deaths from intracranial aneurysm
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114:1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)
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480:Olympics at Sports-Reference.com
281:, also for the 50 km walk.
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572:Sports Journalists' Association
312:He practised to compete at the
269:man to win a gold medal at the
494:
449:Simon Burnton (12 June 2012).
417:
1:
590:Fond Memories of Don Thompson
410:
18:Don Thompson (disambiguation)
7:
363:Sports Writers' Association
279:1962 European Championships
10:
1412:
1361:English Olympic medallists
425:"Obituaries: Don Thompson"
384:during a marathon walk in
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139:
131:
126:
118:
110:
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69:
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1331:British male racewalkers
1326:English male racewalkers
1285:(10,000 m & 5,000 m)
122:55 kg (121 lb)
143:Metropolitan WC, London
86:, London, Great Britain
1316:People from Hillingdon
218:European Championships
1156:(3000 m steeplechase)
526:racewalkingrecord.com
500:United Kingdom list:
401:Frimley Park Hospital
397:1970 New Year Honours
359:Sportsman of the Year
284:Thompson was born in
253:Donald James Thompson
574:News, 6 October 2006
484:Sports Reference LLC
370:1964 Summer Olympics
353:, in the 200 m
299:1956 Summer Olympics
273:, in the 50 km
271:1960 Summer Olympics
65:Personal information
59:at the 1960 Olympics
998:Robert Korzeniowski
975:Robert Korzeniowski
952:Robert Korzeniowski
906:Vyacheslav Ivanenko
265:. He was the only
55:, Don Thompson and
42:
1265:Mark Lewis-Francis
508:The London Gazette
403:after suffering a
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23:British racewalker
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1281:2012 & 2016:
1267:(4 x 100 m relay)
1224:1980 & 1984:
1215:1980 & 1984:
1107:
1106:
586:, 24 October 2006
564:, 11 October 2006
552:, 10 October 2006
490:on 17 April 2020.
429:independent.co.uk
378:100 mile racewalk
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249:
244:
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105:, Surrey, England
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1244:Jonathan Edwards
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294:Achilles' tendon
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361:in 1960 by the
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321:fumes from the
319:carbon monoxide
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520:External links
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476:"Don Thompson"
474:; et al.
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405:brain aneurysm
343:John Ljunggren
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331:"Il Topolino"
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314:Olympic Games
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171:Representing
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1190:David Hemery
1174:(20 km walk)
1172:Ken Matthews
1165:(50 km walk)
1163:Don Thompson
1162:
1090:Dawid Tomala
791:Abdon Pamich
768:Don Thompson
767:
722:Pino Dordoni
593:
583:The Guardian
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561:The Scotsman
559:
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537:The Guardian
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488:the original
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472:Mallon, Bill
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456:The Guardian
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355:breaststroke
339:Mickey Mouse
330:
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252:
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151:Medal record
135:Race walking
97:(2006-10-03)
57:Abdon Pamich
30:Don Thompson
25:
1311:2006 deaths
1306:1933 births
1276:(long jump)
1228:(decathlon)
1208:Steve Ovett
1199:Allan Wells
1183:(long jump)
1181:Lynn Davies
745:Norman Read
653:Tommy Green
594:Track Stats
503:"No. 44999"
1300:Categories
1067:Matej Tóth
411:References
382:collarbone
286:Hillingdon
263:racewalker
239:50 km walk
84:Hillingdon
76:1933-01-20
549:The Times
374:marathons
307:Australia
303:Melbourne
205:1960 Rome
165:athletics
1283:Mo Farah
1219:(1500 m)
578:Obituary
568:Obituary
556:Obituary
544:Obituary
323:paraffin
1237:(100 m)
1210:(800 m)
1201:(100 m)
335:Italian
267:British
260:English
103:Frimley
1272:2012:
1263:&
1251:2004:
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1233:1992:
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386:Thanet
376:and a
347:Sweden
290:London
179:
163:Men's
119:Weight
111:Height
132:Sport
127:Sport
1080:2020
1057:2016
1034:2012
1011:2008
988:2004
965:2000
942:1996
919:1992
896:1988
873:1984
850:1980
827:1972
804:1968
781:1964
758:1960
735:1956
712:1952
689:1948
666:1936
643:1932
327:képi
317:was
275:walk
140:Club
92:Died
70:Born
1096:POL
1073:SVK
1050:AUS
1027:ITA
1004:POL
981:POL
958:POL
935:EUN
912:URS
889:MEX
866:GDR
843:FRG
820:GDR
797:ITA
774:GBR
751:NZL
728:ITA
705:SWE
682:GBR
659:GBR
345:of
337:: "
301:in
256:MBE
36:MBE
1302::
1259:,
1255:,
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623:e
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333:(
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74:(
20:.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
