Jack Lovelock
Lovelock at the 1936 Olympics
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| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||
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| Nationality | New Zealand | |||||||||||||||
| Born |
5 January 1910 Crushington, New Zealand |
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| Died | 28 December 1949 (aged 39) Brooklyn, New York, United States |
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| Height | 1.69 m (5 ft 7 in) | |||||||||||||||
| Weight | 61 kg (134 lb) | |||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Running | |||||||||||||||
| Event(s) | 1500 m, mile | |||||||||||||||
| Club | University of Oxford Achilles Club |
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| Achievements and titles | ||||||||||||||||
| Personal best(s) | 1500 m – 3:47.8 (1936) Mile – 4:07.6 (1933) |
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Medal record
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Dr. John "Jack" Edward Lovelock, MB ChB, (5 January 1910 – 28 December 1949) was a New Zealand athlete, and the 1936 Olympic champion in the 1500 metres.
Lovelock was born in the town of Crushington (near Reefton) as the son of English immigrants. From his early days at school he participated and excelled in fields beyond athletics. At Fairlie School (1919–23) he was dux of the primary school, represented the school in rugby, competed in swimming and athletics, and was a prefect. At Timaru Boys' High School, which he attended as a boarder from 1924, he set school athletics records but was also involved in nearly every area of school life. In 1928, his final year, Lovelock was school dux, head prefect, and won the school's boxing championship cup. The following year he went to University of Otago to study medicine. Lovelock showed a talent for sports while at the university, and competed for the university team in the New Zealand 1-mile (1.6 km) championships. In 1931 he became a Rhodes Scholar at Exeter College, Oxford from 1931 to 1934. He graduated as a medical practitioner.
In 1932—by then holder of the British Empire record for the mile—Lovelock competed in the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, and placed 7th in the final of the 1500 metres event.
The following year, he set a world mile record of 4:07.6 when running at Princeton against its emerging champion Bill Bonthron. Later, in September, he represented New Zealand in the first World Student Games where he renewed his rivalry with the 1500m champion from Los Angeles in 1932, Luigi Beccali. Beccali edged Lovelock in the final and equalled the world record for the event. In 1934 Lovelock won the gold medal in the mile at the British Empire Games. He also lost some races, and believed that he could only make one supreme effort in a season.
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