On the 30 August, 1914, the English athlete, Sydney Wooderson, MBE, was born in Camberwell, London. Standing just 5 ft 6 inches tall, and weighing in at less than 9 stone, he was dubbed ‘The Mighty Atom’, and was at his peak in the 1930s and 1940s, setting a world mile record of 4 minutes 06.4 seconds at London’s Motspur Park in 1937, which stood for nearly 5 years.

He attended Sutton Valence School in Kent, where at 18 he became the first British schoolboy to break 4 minutes 30 seconds for the mile.

At the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, he suffered an ankle injury and failed to qualify for the 1,500 metres final.  However, after surgery, his performance increased and culminated in his world mile record. In 1938 he set world records in the 800 metres and 880 yards, with times of 1 minute 48.4 seconds and 1 minute 49.2 seconds, respectively.

Off the track Wooderson was a  solicitor, his poor eyesight ruling him out of active service during World War 2. Immediately after the war, he ran his fastest mile, 4 minutes 04.2 seconds, just behind Arne Andersson of Sweden.

He was awarded an MBE in the 2000 Birthday Honours List for services to Blackheath Harriers and athletics.

Wooderson lived in retirement in Dorset in the South of England. He remained a life member of Blackheath Harriers and was twice its President. He died in 2006 in a nursing home at Wareham, Dorset.

30 August, 2019