Sydney Wooderson

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Sydney Charles Wooderson MBE (born August 30, 1914 – died 21st December 2006), dubbed "The Mighty Atom", was an English athlete whose peak career was in the 1930s and 1940s. He was one of Britain’s greatest middle-distance runners and had an amazing sprint finish. His appearance, he was slightly built and bespectacled, disguised immense reserves of strength and an overwhelming turn of speed.

He set the world mile record of 4min 6.4sec at London’s Motspur Park on August 28, 1938. This record stood for nearly five years.

[edit] Career

Born in Camberwell, London, he was 5ft 6in and weighed less than 9st. He attended Sutton Valence School, Kent. 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.

At the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, he suffered an ankle injury and failed to qualify for the final. However, in 1937, after surgery, his performance increased and culminated in his world mile record of 1938. Also in 1938, he set world records in the 800m and 880 yards with times of 1min 48.4sec and 1min 49.2sec respectively.

Off the track Wooderson was a City of London solicitor 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. He joined the pioneer corps and was a firefighter during the Blitz and then later, in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers as a radar operator. In 1944, he spent several months in hospital suffering from rheumatic fever and was warned by doctors he might never run again.

Immediately after the war, however, in 1945, he ran his fastest mile, 4min 4.2sec, just behind Arne Andersson of Sweden. In Oslo at the 1946 European Championships, when he won the 5,000m in 14min 8.6sec, 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 runner to carrying the Olympic torch into Wembley stadium for the 1948 Summer Olympics. 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 instead. ^[1]

He was awarded an MBE in the 2000 Birthday Honours List for services to Blackheath Harriers and athletics.

Wooderson lived in retirement in Devon in the South of England. He remained a life member of Blackheath Harriers and was twice its president .

Wooderson died on Thursday 21st December 2006 in a nursing home at Wareham, Dorset .

[edit] References

Records
Preceded by Elroy Robinson	Men's 800 metres World Record Holder 1938-08-20 – 1939-06-15	Succeeded by Rudolf Harbig
Preceded by Glenn Cunningham	Men's Mile World Record Holder August 28, 1937 – July 1, 1942	Succeeded by Gunder Hägg