George Larner
{{Short description|British athlete}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{Infobox sportsperson
| headercolor =
| name = George Larner
| image = George Larner.jpg
| caption = George Larner, photographed in 1909
| birth_name =
| fullname = George Edward Larner
| nickname =
| nationality =
| residence =
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1875|3|7}}
| birth_place = Langley, Berkshire
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1949|3|4|1875|3|7}}
| death_place = Brighton, Brighton and Hove
| height =
| weight =
| sport = Athletics
| event = Racewalking
| club = Highgate Harriers
| show-medals = yes
| medaltemplates =
{{MedalCountry|{{GBR2}}}}
{{MedalCompetition|Olympic Games}}
{{MedalGold| 1908 London | 3500 metre walk}}
{{MedalGold| 1908 London | 10-mile walk}}
}}
George Edward Larner (7 February 1875 – 4 March 1949) was an English athlete who competed mainly in the 10-mile walk. He was a multi-time Amateur Athletic Association of England champion and won two gold medals at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London.{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/69234 |title=George Larner |work=Olympedia |access-date=11 March 2021}}{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000648/19080612/187/0008 |title=Olympic Games, Britain's team of athletes |work=Liverpool Daily Post |date=12 June 1908 |via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |access-date=10 April 2025}}
Career
Larner was a Brighton policeman,{{cite web|title=George Larner |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/la/george-larner-1.html |publisher=Sports-Reference |accessdate=9 July 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121013071201/http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/la/george-larner-1.html |archivedate=13 October 2012 |df=dmy }} and took up athletics at the age of 28 in 1903. At the 1904 AAA Championships, he won the Amateur Athletic Association of England (AAA) titles for the two and seven-mile track walk.{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000051/19040704/260/0011 |title=The Amateur Championships |work=Daily News (London) |date=4 July 1904 |via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |access-date=17 August 2024}} He went on to retain these titles in the following year.{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000687/19050703/347/0012 |title=Amateur Athletic Championships |work=Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer |date=3 July 1905 |via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |access-date=19 August 2024}}{{cite web|title=British Athletics Championships 1876–1914|url=http://www.gbrathletics.com/bc/bc1.htm|publisher=GBR Athletics|accessdate=9 July 2012}} He wanted to retire as he found training conflicted with his job, but was instead granted an extended leave period by the Police Force. In 1906, he took a two-year break from athletics to train for the upcoming 1908 Summer Olympics in London. After returning, he was disqualified in his first race in April 1908 at the AAA event in walking over seven miles, but the following July, he won the two-mile title.
He competed for Great Britain in the 1908 Summer Games in the 3500 metre walk on 14 July 1908, winning the race ahead of fellow Briton Ernest Webb, who took silver, and New Zealander Harry Kerr. Webb had initially taken the lead, but Larner caught up during the second lap and won the race by over twelve seconds. Afterward, he matched this with another gold medal in the 10-mile walk, this time in a British clean sweep, with Webb again winning silver and Edward Spencer winning bronze. Both he and Webb were inside the world record time, with Larner setting world records for both the 9-mile and the 10-mile distances. His final time was 1 hour, 15 minutes and 57.4 seconds.{{cite web|title=Athletics at the 1908 London Summer Games: Men's 10 mile Walk |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1908/ATH/mens-10-mile-walk.html |publisher=Sports-Reference.com |accessdate=9 July 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104113001/http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1908/ATH/mens-10-mile-walk.html |archivedate= 4 November 2012 |df=dmy }} He was one of ten competitors to win more than a single gold medal at the 1908 Games.{{cite news|title=First appearance for flags at Olympic opening ceremony|url=https://www.cbc.ca/sports/2.720/first-appearance-for-flags-at-olympic-opening-ceremony-1.770576|access-date=9 July 2012|newspaper=CBC|date=7 August 2009}}
In 1909, he wrote a book on walking entitled Larner's Text Book on Walking: Exercise, Pleasure, Sport. His final AAA success came at the 1911 AAA Championships when he won the 7 mile race once more.{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000289/19110703/161/0007 |title=Amateur Athletic Championship |work=Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette |date=3 July 1911 |via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |access-date=1 November 2024 }}{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000893/19110703/088/0006 |title=AAA Champions |work=Sporting Life |date=3 July 1911 |via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |access-date=1 November 2024 }}
Legacy
Larner broke the world record in walking in all distances between two miles and ten miles, and the longest distance in one hour, which he set at {{convert|13275|m|mi}}.{{cite web|title=British World Record Breakers|url=http://www.gbrathletics.com/bwr.htm|publisher=GBR Athletics|accessdate=9 July 2012}} The record he set for the 2-mile on 14 July 1904 stood for the following 39 years.{{cite web|title=George Larner – The First Olympic Walking Champion |url=http://www.vrwc.org.au/tim-archive/wo-george-larner.pdf |publisher=Victorian Race Walking Club |accessdate=9 July 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110216034915/http://www.vrwc.org.au/tim-archive/wo-george-larner.pdf |archivedate=16 February 2011 |df=dmy }}
The 1908 Summer Games was the only time that either the men's 10-mile walk or the 3500 metre walk took place. This technically means that Larner remains the reigning Olympic champion in both events, and the Olympic record holder.{{cite web|title=Athletics Men's 3,500 metres Walk Medalists |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/sports/ATH/mens-10-mile-walk.html |publisher=Sports-Reference.com |accessdate=9 July 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104114333/http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/sports/ATH/mens-10-mile-walk.html |archivedate= 4 November 2012 |df=dmy }}{{cite web|title=Athletics Men's 10-mile Walk Medalists |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/sports/ATH/mens-3500-metres-walk.html |publisher=Sports-Reference.com |accessdate=9 July 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104112951/http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/sports/ATH/mens-3500-metres-walk.html |archivedate= 4 November 2012 |df=dmy }} He is one of only a handful of British athletes to have won more than a single gold medal at any one Olympic Games, with only Charlotte Cooper having achieved it at an earlier Olympics, and Henry Taylor winning three medals at the 1908 Games.{{cite news|title=Holmes' place in history|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics_2004/athletics/3609442.stm|accessdate=9 July 2012|newspaper=BBC Sport|date=29 August 2004}}
Larner's name has been carried on the front of a Scania Omnidekka bus in the fleet of Brighton & Hove since October 2007.{{cite web|title=Names on the buses: 680 George Larner|url=http://history.buses.co.uk/history/fleethist/680gl.htm|publisher=Buses.co.uk|accessdate=9 July 2012}}
References
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Larner, George}}
Category:English male race walkers
Category:British male race walkers
Category:Sportspeople from Slough
Category:English Olympic competitors
Category:Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain
Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1908 Summer Olympics
Category:Olympic athletes for Great Britain
Category:Medalists at the 1908 Summer Olympics
Category:Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field)