Douglas Lowe (athlete)
Douglas Lowe in 1926
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| Personal information | |||||||||||||
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| Born | 7 August 1902 Manchester, England |
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| Died | 30 March 1981 (aged 78) Cranbrook, Kent, England |
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| Alma mater | University of Cambridge | ||||||||||||
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) | ||||||||||||
| Weight | 70 kg (150 lb) | ||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||
| Sport | Athletics | ||||||||||||
| Event(s) | 400–1500 m | ||||||||||||
| Club | University of Cambridge Achilles Club |
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| Achievements and titles | |||||||||||||
| Personal best(s) | 400 m – 48.5 (1927) 800 m – 1:51.2 (1928) 1500 m – 3:57.0 (1924) |
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Medal record
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Douglas Gordon Arthur Lowe (7 August 1902 – 30 March 1981) was a British double Olympic Games champion, winning gold medals in 1924 and 1928. On both occasions he set British 800-metres records of 1:52.4 and 1:51.8 respectively, the latter also being an Olympic record.
Born in Manchester, Douglas Lowe first attended Harrow but moved at the age of 14 to Highgate School, where unusually he was made Head Boy for two years before leaving in July 1921. An all-round school sportsman, he excelled as a middle distance runner, winning the Public Schools' 880 yd (805 m) title in 1920. Later, at Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he studied law, he played football and won the 880 yd (805 m) against Oxford in 1922 and 1923, and both the mile (1609 m) and the quarter-mile (402 m) race against them in 1924.
In the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, Lowe won the 800 metres gold medal in a new European record time of 1:52.4. He beat the fellow Cambridge runner Henry Stallard, who had been considered the pre-race favourite. Stallard suffered a leg injury and could only finish fourth. Lowe also came fourth in the 1,500 metres in a time of 3:57.0.
Lowe was defeated in a famous 880 yards race with Germany's Otto Peltzer at the 1926 AAA Championships. Peltzer won by three yards in a time of 1:51.6 with Lowe (untimed but estimated at 1:52.0) also inside the world record of 1:52.2.
Lowe was a British champion in 440 yd (402 m) and 880 yd (805 m) in 1927 and 1928. At the Amsterdam Olympics Lowe won the 800 metres in a personal best performance of 1:51.8, a full second and eight yards ahead of a world class field. He also anchored the British 4×400 metres relay team that finished 5th.
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