Allan Jay

{{Infobox sportsperson

| name = Allan Louis Neville Jay

| birth_name =

| image = Allan Jay, Giuseppe Delfino, Bruno Habārovs 1960 Olympics.jpg

| imagesize = 250px

| caption = Jay (left) at the 1960 Olympics

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| birth_date = {{birth date|1931|6|30|df=yes}}

| birth_place = London, England

| death_date = {{death date and age|2023|3|5|1931|6|30|df=yes}}

| death_place =

| height = 175 cm

| weight = 80 kg

| website =

| country = {{GBR2}}

| sport = Fencing

| event = Foil and epee

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Allan Louis Neville Jay MBE (30 June 1931 – 5 March 2023) was a British five-time-Olympian foil and épée fencer, and world champion.

Early life

Jay was born in London, England, and was Jewish.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=883&dat=19540730&id=6vFOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=e0wDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1804,1911973 |title=Eight Jewish Athletes at BEG |work=The Canadian Jewish Chronicle |date= 30 July 1954}}{{cite book|author=Ron Kaplan|title=The Jewish Olympics: The History of the Maccabiah Games|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SbVGCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT38|year=2015|publisher=Skyhorse Publishing|isbn=978-1-63220-855-2|page=38}} His father died fighting in World War II in 1943. He attended Cheltenham College from 1944 to 1948. He spent much of his childhood in Australia. After 1950 he returned to Britain to study law at the University of Oxford, and later worked as a solicitor while serving as fencing official with the Fédération Internationale d'Escrime. Jay and his wife Carole have two children.[https://www.thejc.com/lifestyle/features/looking-back-to-our-olympic-glory-1.61874 "Looking back to our Olympic glory"]

Fencing career

Jay competed internationally in 1950 for Australia. He was a five times British champion winning five titles at the British Fencing Championships,{{cite web|url=https://www.britishfencing.com/uploads/files/british_champions.pdf |title=British Champions |website=British Fencing |access-date=28 October 2022}} épée champion in 1952, 1959, 1960, and 1961, and foil champion in 1963.{{cite book|author1=W. Rubinstein|author2=Michael A. Jolles|title=The Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_T_HCg17ufIC&pg=PA473|year=2011|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK|isbn=978-0-230-30466-6|page=473}} Jay competed in five Olympics in both épée and foil, winning silver medals at the 1960 Rome Olympics in individual and team épée.{{cite web|url=http://www.jewishsports.net/BioPages/AllanJay.htm |title=Allan Jay |publisher=Jewishsports.net |date=30 June 1931 |access-date=26 May 2014}}{{cite web|url=http://www.databaseolympics.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=JAYALL01 |title=Olympics Statistics: Allan Jay |access-date=19 September 2010 |work=databaseolympics.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017225141/http://www.databaseolympics.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=JAYALL01 |archive-date=17 October 2012 }} He was Great Britain's flag bearer in the 1964 Olympic Games.

At the World Fencing Championships, Jay won a bronze medal in team foil in 1955, a bronze medal in individual foil in 1957, and a gold medal in individual foil while also winning a silver medal in individual épée in 1959, becoming the first British world champion in foil and the last fencer to win two individual medals in one year.{{cite web |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ja/allan-jay-1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417162638/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ja/allan-jay-1.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 April 2020 |title=Allan Jay Olympic Results |access-date=19 September 2010 |work=sports-reference.com}}{{cite book|author=Bob Wechsler|title=Day by Day in Jewish Sports History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dAq4TGQsWwwC&pg=PA197|year=2008|publisher=KTAV Publishing House, Inc.|isbn=978-0-88125-969-8|page=197}}

Jay won a gold medal in epee at the 1950 Maccabiah Games.{{Cite news|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1953/09/26/84425427.html?pdf_redirect=true&site=false|title=U. S. TENNIS TEAMS TRIUMPH IN ISRAEL; Golden Shares in Maccabiah Doubles Titles With Miss Kanter and Eisenberg|work=The New York Times }} He won three gold medals while fencing both foil and épée (where he won the gold medal in 1953, defeating American Ralph Goldstein in the final) at each of the 1953 Maccabiah Games and the 1957 Maccabiah Games.{{cite book|author=Joseph M. Siegman|title=The International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qpiphgls99IC&pg=PA102|year=1992|publisher=SP Books|isbn=978-1-56171-028-7|page=102}} He is a member of the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, having been elected in 1985.

Death

Jay died from COVID-19 on 5 March 2023, at the age of 91.{{cite web |title=Allan Jay |url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/22153 |website=Olympedia |access-date=21 March 2023}}{{cite news |title=Allan Jay obituary |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/obituaries/article/allan-jay-obituary-0dfhc83jn |access-date=24 March 2023 |work=The Times |date=22 March 2023}}

References

External links

{{cite web|url=http://www.allcompetitions.com/fen_og1.htm |title=Olympic results |access-date=23 September 2013 |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080827202118/http://www.allcompetitions.com/fen_og1.htm |archive-date=27 August 2008 }}
[http://www.gbrathletics.com/commonwealth/fencing.htm Commonwealth Games medals]
[http://www.jewishsports.net/BioPages/AllanJay.htm Jewish Sports bio]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20160303193519/http://www.jewsinsports.org/olympics.asp?ID=43 Jews in Sports bio]
[https://books.google.com/books?id=lvszXWxqAR4C&dq=%22allan+jay%22+gold+-kellogg&pg=RA1-PA75 Jewish Sports Legends bio]
{{Team GB|79KwpYO5ky1HemCwYhkeGm}}
{{Olympics.com|allan-louis-neville-jay}}
{{CGF profile}}

Category:1931 births

Category:2023 deaths

Category:British male fencers

Category:Australian male fencers

Category:Jewish épée fencers

Category:Jewish foil fencers

Category:English Jews

Category:Olympic fencers for Great Britain

Category:Fencers at the 1952 Summer Olympics

Category:Fencers at the 1956 Summer Olympics

Category:Fencers at the 1960 Summer Olympics

Category:Fencers at the 1964 Summer Olympics