The Legend of JWL

This is a picture of my Grandpa, John Wilfrid Loaring, taken moments after winning the silver medal in the 400m hurdles at the 1936 Olympic Games.

Yesterday, I received an interesting forwarded email from my uncle, David Loaring:

Dear Mr Loaring, I am the editor of a track and field quarterly journal published in Great Britain. One of the series which we have been carrying is concerned with the imaginary results of the abandoned 1940 Olympics and my colleague, David Thurlow, has written about the 400 metres hurdles. I thought you might like to know that he has your father winning this race in one-tenth of a second outside the World record. I have long been intrigued by your father's track and field performances because he seems not to have run any hurdles races at all between winning the hurdles silver medal at the 1936 Berlin Olympics and then the gold in the 1938 Empire Games. He also, astonishingly, ran 53.4 for 440 hurdles with very little training in a services' meeting in Portsmouth, in the south of England, in September of 1942. I have only just learned of his war service and his survival from the sinking of the HMS Fiji, and so this Portsmouth achievement is all the more remarkable. I am putting together an article about this for the journal and would very much appreciate the opportunity of sending it to you in advance of publication. Best wishes for 2008, Bob Phillips

Young Johnny Loaring turned 21 during the 36 Olympics and and I have always wondered how he would have faired if the 1940 and 1944 Olympic Games were not cancelled due to WWII...

S0me notable achievements (that I am cutting and pasting from research performed by my dad) include:

1.** 1934-Nov-09 Intra-Empire (Schoolboy) Games, Melbourne, Australia. This was JWL's first international competition. He won two firsts in the 120yd hurdles & 4 x 440yd relay. (There wasn't a 440yd hurdles event.)

2. ** 1936-Jul-10 & 11 Canadian Championships & Olympic Trials, Montreal, Quebec. JWL set Ontario records in both the 400m hurdles (Jul-10) and the 400m run (Jul-11). His 400m hurdles time of 54.0 broke the Canadian record by 1.6 sec. This was the first time he ran the 400m/440yd hurdles event in competition, as confirmed by several publications/documents.

-- "Canada at the XI Olympiad 1936" states:
"Prior to this competition, Loaring had only one 400 metres hurdles race in his life, and that occasion qualified him for the Olympic trip. With such comparative inexperience, competing against world specialists, no one conceded the Canadian a chance. Nevertheless, Johnny in round one finished second in the fastest heat; in the semi-final he again finished second in the fastest heat, and in the final he was beaten only by Glenn Hardin, the world-record holder.... In his three [400m hurdles] races at Berlin Loaring improved in each competition, and his final time was 1-1/2 seconds faster than his first ...."

3.** 1936-Aug Berlin Olympic Games. This was JWL's second significant international competition. His first of nine races, between Aug-03 & 09, coincided with his 21st birthday.
Very long ago, Dr. Mallon verified my belief that JWL was the only male Olympian to have completed all three Olympic Athletics finals involving the 400m distance (2nd 400m hurdles, 6th 400m run, 4th 4x400m relay) in any combination of Olympic Games - which is still true today. And he did so in just the one Olympic Games, deprived of opportunities in the cancelled 1940 & 1944 Olympic Games

.** 1938 British Empire Games, Sydney. Three golds and a fifth place. As confirmed in sports publications, in the 440-yard hurdles, JWL was very far ahead, and he noticeably eased up toward the end, still winning by 15 yards, in 1938's world fastest 440yd/400m hurdles time, missing the 440yd hurdles world record by 3/10ths of a second. I still remember him talking at a family dinner, when I was a youth, about his first failed opportunity to easily break the 440yd hurdles world record.

10. ** 1942 Amateur Athletic Association Meets, England. About a week or so after upsetting a British Olympian in a 440yd race, JWL gave that Olympian a chance to avenge the defeat, despite his entry in a 440yd hurdle event 45 minutes later, for which the press were touting his world record attempt. In the 440yd run, JWL gave his all; this time he lost. 45 minutes later, he easily won the 440yd hurdles, but missed the world record by 0.9 sec. The date was 15 months after his ship had been sunk in the Battle for Crete, where he suffered from oil poisoning, and a lack of training.


How many Canadians have run 48 seconds for 400m? My Grandpa did this over 70 years ago, on a 'slow' cinder track, and without starting blocks, at the young age of 20. Unreal! I wish I have that speed!

JWL would have certainly have been a great triathlete. Legend has it that he could ride around the neighbourhood on his beater bike faster than any kid on the block. His swimming credentials were impressive--he won four CIS gold medals as captain of the University of Western Swim Team and the 50m and 100m free.