Edwin Flack

Edwin Harold Flack, known as Teddy, was an Australian athlete and tennis player, born in London on 5 November 1873 and brought to Berwick, Victoria as a baby, who died on 10 January 1935 after an operation. He worked in his family accountancy firm and trained in London, where he joined the London Athletic Club. He was Australia's first Olympian, the country's only representative at the 1896 Athens Games, where he won the 800 metres and the 1500 metres, the first Olympic champion in both events. A day later he tried the marathon despite never having run more than 16 kilometres and collapsed while leading. He also played the Olympic tennis singles and doubles, and his doubles semi-final with George Robertson earned a bronze medal that was awarded only in 2008. The crowd called him the Lion of Athens. He was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1985, and a statue stands on High Street in Berwick.