One of Australia’s great Olympic rowers, Mervyn Wood, passed away on the weekend of August 20 and 21 after a long battle with cancer, the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) said on Monday. He was 89.
Wood represented Australia at four Olympic Games and won three medals. He is the only Australian athlete to carry his country’s flag at two Olympic opening ceremonies — in Helsinki in 1952 and again in Melbourne in 1956.
He went to his first Olympic Games at 19 as a member of the eight in Berlin in 1936.
He won a gold medal in the single sculls at the 1948 London Olympics, followed by a silver medal at Helsinki four years later in the same event.
At the 1956 Melbourne Games, Wood teamed with Murray Riley for bronze in the double sculls.
“In terms of longevity, Merv’s record is unsurpassed. He was on top in his sport for over 20 years,” AOC president John Coates said in a statement.
Coates said World War II had robbed Wood of attending two Olympics at a time when he was in his 20s and at his athletic peak.
“One wonders what his record might have been if not interrupted by the war,” he said. — AFP