Tim Johnston (runner)
{{Short description|British long-distance runner (1941–2021)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox athlete
| name = Tim Johnston
| image =
| caption =
| nationality = British (English)
| sport = Athletics
| event = Long-distance running
| club = Portsmouth AC
Cambridge University AC
Achilles Club
| birth_date = {{birth date|1941|3|11|df=yes}}
| birth_place = Oxford, England
| death_date = {{death date and age|2021|10|9|1941|3|11|df=yes}}
| death_place = The Hague, Netherlands
| height =175 cm
| weight =61 kg
}}
Timothy Frederick Kembal Johnston (11 March 1941 – 9 October 2021) was a British long-distance runner.{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/69199 |title=Tim Johnston |work=Olympedia |access-date=25 April 2022}} He competed at the 1968 Summer Olympics.{{cite Sports-Reference |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/jo/tim-johnston-1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200418041500/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/jo/tim-johnston-1.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=18 April 2020 |title=Tim Johnston Olympic Results |accessdate=7 May 2017}} In 1968, Johnston was a double British national champion and he won the silver medal in the men's event at the 1967 International Cross Country Championships.{{Citation |last=Magnusson |first=Tomas |date=24 March 2007 |title=International Cross Country Championships - 12.1km CC Men - Barry Date: Saturday, March 18, 1967 |url=http://mypage.bluewin.ch/tomtytom/iccu/wxc_SM1967S.html |publisher=Athchamps (archived) |accessdate=3 October 2013 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070807032004/http://mypage.bluewin.ch/tomtytom/iccu/wxc_SM1967S.html |archivedate=7 August 2007}} During the 1960s, Johnston set a British and World record in distance running.{{cite web|url=https://athleticsweekly.com/athletics-news/tim-johnston-gb-distance-star-of-the-1960s-dies-1039950504/ |title=Tim Johnston, GB distance star of the 1960s, dies |work=Athletics Weekly |date=13 October 2021 |access-date=25 April 2022}}
Biography
Johnston was born in Oxford, England in 1941. In the 1950s, he attended Bedales School in Hampshire,{{cite web|url=https://www.bedales.org.uk/alumni/tim-johnston |title=Tim Johnston |work=Bedales School |access-date=25 April 2022}} before going to Trinity College, Cambridge. At Bedales, Johnston became a two-time Hampshire Schools mile champion. While at Trinity College, he became a cross-country runner.
Johnston finished third behind Maurice Herriott in the steeplechase event at the 1964 AAA Championships.{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000729/19640712/262/0022 |title=White City round-up |work=The People |date=12 July 1964 |via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |access-date=8 May 2025}}
In 1968, he became the British 6 miles champion and the British marathon champion, after winning the British AAA Championships titles at the 1968 AAA Championships,{{cite web|url=https://www.nuts.org.uk/Champs/AAA/index.htm |title=AAA, WAAA and National Championships Medallists |website=National Union of Track Statisticians |access-date=8 May 2025}}{{cite web|url=http://www.gbrathletics.com/bc/aaa.htm |title=AAA Championships (men) |website=GBR Athletics |access-date=8 May 2025}} including setting a British record in the six mile event.{{cite web|url=https://www.racingpast.ca/john_contents.php?id=179 |title=Hill v Johnston v Alder v Roelants v Turner (1970) |work=Racing Past |access-date=25 April 2022}} Later that year, at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City, he represented Great Britain in the men's marathon,{{cite web|url=https://www.portsmouthathletic.co.uk/siteglide-blog/tim-johnston |title=Tim Johnston |work=Portsmouth Athletic |access-date=25 April 2022}} where he finished in eighth place.{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/results/60599 |title=Marathon, Men |work=Olympedia |access-date=25 April 2022}} Also during the 1960s, Johnston won two Inter-Counties crowns and three Southern titles. Johnston also tried to compete at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, but suffered from an Achilles tendon injury.
Outside of sport, Johnston was also a solicitor and worked at the European Economic Community as a lawyer-linguist. He later went to work at the International Court of Justice in The Hague as a legal translator.
In 2016, Johnston wrote a biography on Otto Peltzer, a German middle distance runner,{{cite web|url=https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/education/higher-education/271268/remembering-forgotten-olympic-hero-faced-brutality-nazis/ |title=Remembering a forgotten Olympic hero who faced brutality by the Nazis |work=The Courier |date=20 August 2016 |access-date=25 April 2022}} which was illustrated by fellow Olympian Donald Macgregor.{{cite web|url=https://digital.la84.org/digital/collection/p17103coll10/id/15093/ |title=His Own Man - The Biography of Otto Peltzer Champion athlete, Nazi victim, Indian Hero by Tim Johnston, Donald Macgregor |work=Digital Library Collections |access-date=25 April 2022}}
References
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External links
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Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1968 Summer Olympics
Category:British male long-distance runners
Category:British male marathon runners
Category:Olympic athletes for Great Britain
Category:Sportspeople from Oxford
Category:People educated at Bedales School