George Weedon (gymnast)

George G. Weedon (3 July 1920 – 22 February 2017) was a British gymnast who competed at two Summer Olympic Games. In 1948 in London he participated in the Men's Individual All-Around, Team All-Around, Floor Exercise, Horse Vault, Parallel Bars, Horizontal Bar, Rings, and Pommelled Horse, placing 12th out of 16 nations in the team competition, and no higher than 38th individually. In 1952 in Helsinki he competed in the same events, finishing 21st out of 23 countries in the team tournament and no higher than 116th in the individual ones.^[1] A lifelong friend was fellow competitor Frank Turner.^[2]

Weedon was born in Richmond, London and was a member of the Regent Street Polytechnic Gymnastics Club.^[1] He married another British Olympic gymnast, Joan Airey, with whom he had three sons and one daughter. One grandchild, Lindsey Weedon, was a British representative modern pentathlete.^[3] Before and after retiring from active competition, he taught physical education at various schools including, from 1950 to 1971, the John Lyon School in Harrow on the Hill, Middlesex^[4]

In 2010 he was interviewed by the BBC about his experiences at the 1948 Games, in anticipation of the 2012 Summer Olympics to be held in London, and professed his belief that the city had not been properly prepared to host the earlier edition, due to its insufficient infrastructure.^[2] He was the subject of a 2011 short film, Walk Tall, by filmmaker Kate Sullivan. On 11 July 2012 he was a torch bearer during the 2012 Summer Olympics torch relay.^[5] Weedon died in February 2017 after a short illness.^[6]

References

1. Gjerde, Arild; Jeroen Heijmans; Bill Mallon; Hilary Evans (June 2016). "George Weedon Bio, Stats, and Results". Olympics. Sports Reference.com. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
2. Donohoe, Catherine; Laura Foster (23 July 2010). "London athletes' memories of the 1948 Olympics". BBC. Retrieved 2 August 2010.
3. "Athlete Profile". Lindsey Weedon. Archived from the original on 20 August 2008. Retrieved 3 October 2010. My Grandparents... both competed at the Olympic Games in the gymnastics competitions... in the London Games of 1948
4. The Lyonian school magazine, December 1971
5. "George Weedon". Torchbearers. London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. July 2012. Archived from the original on 15 July 2012. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
6. "George Weedon". The Lyonian Association. March 2017. Archived from the original on 16 September 2017. Retrieved 18 March 2017.

External links

• Walk Tall, a short film by Kate Sullivan featuring Weedon
• 1948 Olympic Gymnastics Hero George Weedon - video made by British Gymnastics in 2012.
• George G. Weedon Archived 16 March 2017 at the Wayback Machine obituary at British Gymnastics