Lynn Davies

Lynn Davies

Lynn Davies at the 1964 Olympics
Personal information
Nickname(s)	Lynn the Leap
Nationality	Welsh
Born	(1942-05-20) 20 May 1942 Nantymoel, Wales
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight	77 kg (170 lb)
Sport
Sport	Athletics
Event(s)	Long jump, sprint
Club	Roath Harriers, Cardiff Cardiff AAC[1]
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	LJ – 8.23 m (1968) 100 m – 10.51 (1967)
Medal record Competitor for  Great Britain Olympic Games Tokyo 1964 Long jump European Championships Budapest 1966 Long jump Athens 1969 Long jump Competitor for  Wales Commonwealth Games Kingston 1966 Long jump Edinburgh 1970 Long jump

Lynn Davies CBE (born 20 May 1942) is a Welsh former track and field athlete who specialised in the long jump. He was the 1964 Olympic champion in the event. He was born in Nantymoel near Bridgend and was a member of the Cardiff Amateur Athletic Club.^[2]

He won an Olympic gold medal in the long jump in 1964 (earning himself the nickname "Lynn the Leap") with a leap of 8.07 metres. He finished ninth in 1968, having been flag bearer at the opening ceremony. In 1964 he also competed in the 100 metres and 4×100 metres contests.^[2] He was 18th in the long jump at the 1972 Olympics,^[1] his selection being something of a surprise at the time.

Outside of the Olympics, he was the 1966 European champion in the long jump and was the silver medallist three years later. He was also twice the Commonwealth Games champion, having won titles in 1966 and 1970 (becoming the first man to win that title two times).^[1]

Davies was a two-time winner of the BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year award, taking the honour in 1964 and 1966. After retiring from competitions in 1973 he became technical director of Canadian athletics until 1976 and later prepared the British team to the Moscow Olympics. During the 1990s, he was a member of BBC Cymru/Wales' sports department. Davies was created a CBE on 17 June 2006, having previously received an MBE in 1967.^[1] He was elected unopposed as President of the UK Athletics Members Council for a further four years following the close of nominations.^[1]

References

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