Edwin Flack
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| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Men's athletics | ||
Representing  Australia
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| Olympic Games | ||
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1896 Athens | 800 metres |
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1896 Athens | 1500 metres |
| Men's tennis | ||
Representing a  Mixed team
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1896 Athens | Doubles |
Edwin Harold "Teddy" Flack (5 November 1873 – 10 January 1935) was an Australian athlete and tennis player. He was Australia's first Olympian, being its only representative in 1896, and the first Olympic champion in the 800 metres and the 1500 metres running events.
Born in London, England, Teddy Flack was five years old when his family migrated to Australia, to live in Berwick, Victoria. Soon after leaving the Melbourne Church of England Grammar School in 1892, where he studied Greek history, Flack joined his father's accountancy firm, Davey, Flack & Co.
From 1892 to 1894, Flack was active in middle distance and distance running in amateur athletics in the then colony of Victoria, competing with the Melburnian Hare & Hounds athletics club.
In 1892 he placed third in the inaugural Victorian 10 mile cross country championships, held at Caulfield Racecourse, in a time of 1:02.42.0.
On 9 to 11 November 1893, an intercolonial meet described as the "Australasian Championships" was held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, between athletes from the British Colonies that were later to form the nations of Australia and New Zealand. This was the second such meet, the first having been held at Moore Park in Sydney on 31 May 1890. Flack competed in the 1893 event and won the mile championship in a time of 4:44.0, with a winning margin of two yards. He also competed in the 880 yards (won by Ken McCrae of New South Wales in 2:06.8) and three miles championship (won by Charles Herbert of Victoria in 15:33.6), but was unplaced in both events. By virtue of his win in the mile event he was also awarded the Victorian 1893 mile championship title and, on a separate date in 1893 (day and month unknown), was third in the Victorian 10 mile cross country championship in a time of 1:05.21.
On 15 December 1894 he won both the 880yards (2:07.2) and mile (4:49.4) Victorian 1894 championships and, on an earlier date in 1894 (day and month unknown) was 2nd in the 10 mile cross country championships (1:00.02). The 1894 event was Flack's last appearance in the Victorian Championships.
At the age of 21 Flack was sent to London to receive further training as an accountant with the firm Price, Waterhouse & Co (now PricewaterhouseCoopers). A keen athlete in Victoria, Flack joined the London Athletic Club and was intent on attending the coming inaugural Olympics while in the city of New York.
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