Sir Arthur Porritt

Born Wanganui 1900, died 1 January 1994 London. Olympian 12.

Porritt earned the Olympic 100m sprint bronze medal at Paris in 1924, behind the legendary Harold Abrahams and Jackson Scholz. That final has been made more famous by the award-winning film Chariots of Fire. Porritt was New Zealand team captain and flag-bearer at Paris.

He was second in his heat, quarter-final and semi-final before claiming the bronze, becoming the only New Zealander to win an Olympic sprint medal. He also competed in the 200m in Paris where he won his heat and quarter-final, but finished fifth in the semi-final missing out on the final.

Also in 1924 in Warsaw at the World Student Games he won gold in the 100m and 200m and silver in the 110m hurdles.

Interestingly he won only one New Zealand title, the 100 yards in 1923, the same year that he was awarded a Rhodes scholarship to study medicine at Oxford University.

He became a house surgeon at St Mary’s ...