The family of the last British man to win two Olympic golds in events on the same day has congratulated gymnast Max Whitlock for matching the feat 84 years after it was first achieved.
Whitlock’s success in the floor exercise and the pommel horse last Sunday was the first double gold in single-day events since Hugh “Jumbo” Edwards did the same in the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics. Edwards’ rowing golds in the coxless pairs and the fours, in the space of an hour, were just two of his achievements in a remarkably heroic life that has been largely forgotten.
His sporting prowess later saved his life when he rowed to safety through a minefield in a dinghy after his plane was shot down off Land’s End. The rest of the plane’s crew were killed.
Edwards died in 1972 after a successful career as a disciplinarian rowing coach and a skilled airman – he also came second in the 1935 round-Britain race, the King’s cup.
The Edwards family hopes that Whitlock’s achievement will lead to wider recognition of Jumbo’s story. His granddaughter, Melissa Jamieson, said: “It’s an honour for our family to have such a talented athlete as Max to share this record.”
Her husband, Gavin, tweeted congratulations to Whitlock.
@maxwhitlock1 Many congratulations on behalf of the Jumbo Edwards family - the last GB athlete to win 2 golds on same day in 1932 Olympics.
— Gavin Jamieson (@gmbjamieson) August 17, 2016
Edwards’ gold medals alone represented a remarkable sporting comeback. Rowing for Oxford in the 1926 university boat race he collapsed at a crucial stage when Oxford were in the lead. Cambridge went on to win by five lengths.
Six years later he was selected for the Olympic team for the coxless pairs, but not initially for the fours, according to his son David, who won rowing medals under his father’s coaching in the 1958 and 1962 Commonwealth Games.
He said: “He only got called up to the fours late, because one of the other guys went down with flu at the last minute. The record is clear that he got two Olympic golds, but not many people know that it was achieved on the same day.”
Another British Olympian, Richard Meade, also won two golds, his coming in equestrian events in Munich in 1972. Meade won the individual eventing gold, and also the team eventing gold, but the latter took place over the course of three days.
Edwards said his father’s successes had been overlooked partly because he found them difficult to talk about as they prompted so many traumatic memories. Lewis Clive, Edwards’ partner in the gold-winning coxless pairs, was killed soon afterwards fighting on the Republican side in the Spanish civil war.
And Edwards’ brother Cecil, who rowed with him in the university boat race, was killed in the second world war when his plane was shot down over Holland.
His son said: “He didn’t talk much about the Olympics or about being ditched in a plane over the Atlantic. He lost all his crew of either seven or eight men. Survivor guilt is something that I’m sure affects people in those circumstances.”
Edwards said his father would have approved of Whitlock’s performance.
“He would have enormously admired his application, dedication and attention to detail, and I think we all do,” he said.
“He was very firm as a coach – if he thought anyone was not up to scratch he would have them booted out. I was told by my father: ‘You can’t expect to go fast in a boat with hair that long,’ and it wasn’t that long.”
