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Ralph Doubell
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Olympic medal record | |||
| Men's Athletics | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Gold | 1968 Mexico City | 800 metres | |
Ralph Douglas Doubell AM (born February 11, 1945) is an Australian former athlete, and gold medallist at the 1968 Summer Olympics.
Born in Melbourne, Ralph Doubell had a relatively short international athletics career, but he managed to reach his peak at just the right time and in just the right place - an Olympic Games final.
Doubell was a graduate from the University of Melbourne, where he had come under the tutelage of legendary Austrian-born coach Franz Stampfl. Doubell's first major international victory in 800 metres was at the World Student Games in Tokyo on 1967 in a time of 1:46.7. His next season (the Olympic season) was severely curtailed by Achilles' tendon injuries, and he was unable to compete for six months prior to the Olympic Games in Mexico City.
In Mexico, the overwhelming favourite in the Olympic 800 m final was Wilson Kiprugut of Kenya who led the field through 400 m in 51.0, and was still leading at the home turn, where Doubell made his move, passing Kiprugut down the straight to win the gold medal in a world record equalling time of 1:44.3. Doubell had planned to compete at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, but was prevented by calf injuries, which hastened his retirement.
After retirement from sports Doubell worked as a Head of Relationship Management and a Director and Divisional Head of Corporate and Institutional Banking of the Deutsche Bank Group in Australia. Now he is a Director of a Telstra Stadium in Sydney.
On 12 June 2006, in the Queen's Birthday Honours List, he was made a Member (AM) of the Order of Australia, for "services to athletics through administrative roles, particularly with Athletics New South Wales, and as a competitor".
| Olympic champions in men's 800 m |
|---|
|
1896: Teddy Flack | 1900: Alfred Tysoe | 1904: Jim Lightbody | 1906: Paul Pilgrim | 1908: Mel Sheppard | 1912: Ted Meredith | 1920: Albert Hill | 1924: Douglas Lowe | 1928: Douglas Lowe | 1932: Thomas Hampson | 1936: John Woodruff | 1948: Mal Whitfield | 1952: Mal Whitfield | 1956: Tom Courtney | 1960: Peter Snell | 1964: Peter Snell | 1968: Ralph Doubell | 1972: Dave Wottle | 1976: Alberto Juantorena | 1980: Steve Ovett | 1984: Joaquim Cruz | 1988: Paul Ereng | 1992: William Tanui | 1996: Vebjørn Rodal | 2000: Nils Schumann | 2004: Yuriy Borzakovskiy |