Bevil Rudd

{{Infobox sportsperson

| honorific_prefix =

| name =Bevil Rudd

| honorific_suffix =

| image =Bevil Rudd 1920.jpg

| image_size =

| alt =

| caption =

| nationality =

| birth_date = {{birth date|1894|10|05|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Kimberley, Northern Cape

| death_date = {{death date and age|1948|02|02|1894|10|05|df=yes}}

| death_place = South Africa

| height = 180 cm

| weight = 77 kg

| module =

| sport = Athletics

| event = Sprints/400m/middle-distance

| club = University of Oxford AC
Achilles Club

| show-medals =

| medaltemplates =

{{MedalCountry| {{flag|South Africa|1910}} }}

}}

Bevil Gordon D'Urban Rudd (5 October 1894 – 2 February 1948) was a South African athlete, the 1920 Olympic Champion in the 400 metres.{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/75317 |title=Bevil Rudd |work=Olympedia |access-date=8 July 2021}}

Biography

Rudd was born in Kimberley. He was the son of Henry Percy Rudd and Mable Mina Blyth; paternal grandson of Charles Rudd, who co-founded the De Beers diamond mining company, and Frances Chiappini and maternal grandson of Captain Matthew Smith Blyth CMG, chief magistrate of the Transkei, and Elizabeth Cornelia Philpott.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

During his schooling at St. Andrew's College, Grahamstown (Upper House) he excelled both as a student and as an athlete, and he was granted a scholarship for the University of Oxford where he studied at Trinity College, Oxford.{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003212/19131029/232/0011 |title=Oxford Freshmen's Sports |work=Daily News (London) |date=29 October 1913 |via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |access-date=17 April 2025}} Rudd served in the First World War, and was awarded a Military Cross for bravery.

Ruud won two British AAA Championships titles in the 440 yards and 880 yards events at the 1920 AAA Championships.{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003358/19200704/166/0010 |title=The Athletic Championships |work=Weekly Dispatch (London) |date=4 July 1920 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |access-date=22 November 2024 }}{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000569/19200705/204/0009 |title=Athletics |work=Newcastle Journal |date=5 July 1920 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |access-date=22 November 2024 }}{{cite web|url=https://nuts.org.uk/Champs/AAA/index.htm |title=AAA, WAAA and National Championships Medallists |website=National Union of Track Statisticians |access-date=22 November 2024 }} The following month at the 1920 Olympic Games held in Antwerp, Belgium, Rudd won his gold medal.

Rudd finished runner-up in both the 440 and 880 yards at the 1921 AAA Championships{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001542/19210702/056/0003 |title=Athletics |work=Northern Whig |date=2 July 1921 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |access-date=30 November 2024 }}{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000669/19210704/131/0006 |title=Where Britain leads |work=Birmingham Daily Gazette |date=4 July 1921 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |access-date=30 November 2024 }} before completing his studies in England, and returning to South Africa, working as a sports journalist.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

He married Ursula Mary Knight, daughter of Clifford Hume Knight the Italian Consul to Cape Town, in 1926; they had at least two sons: Bevil John Blyth Rudd and Clifford Robin David Rudd, the South African Cricketer.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

In 1930, he became an editor for The Daily Telegraph, a position he held until after the Second World War. Shortly after his return to South Africa, he died there at age 53.

References

{{reflist|refs=

{{cite book|first=Marguerite|last=Poland|title=The Boy in You: A Biography of St. Andrew's College, 1855-2005|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CbYsygAACAAJ|year=2008|publisher=Fernwood Press|isbn=978-1-874950-86-8|author-link=Marguerite Poland|page=81}}

{{London Gazette|date=16 July 1918|supp=y|issue=30801|page=8471}}

{{Cite web | title = Bevil Gordon D'Urban Rudd | work = sprintic.com | access-date = 2016-02-03 | url = http://www.sprintic.com/athletes/bevil_gordon_durban_rudd/ | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110716122836/http://www.sprintic.com/athletes/bevil_gordon_durban_rudd/ | archive-date = 16 July 2011 | url-status = dead}}

}}

Category:1894 births

Category:1948 deaths

Category:Alumni of St. Andrew's College, Grahamstown

Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1920 Summer Olympics

Category:British military personnel of World War I

Category:Medalists at the 1920 Summer Olympics

Category:Olympic athletes for South Africa

Category:Olympic bronze medalists for South Africa

Category:Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field)

Category:Olympic gold medalists for South Africa

Category:Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field)