Olympic story of city athlete who was made to wait
FOR all those athletes cursing their luck and fretting over the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics, think again.
A 12-month delay is nowhere near as bad as the one suffered by those hoping to go to the 1940 Olympic Games.
Originally scheduled for Tokyo between September 21 and October 6, the XII Olympiad was rescheduled two years out to take place in Helsinki between July 20 and August 4.
They were eventually cancelled due to the outbreak of World War Two, thus wrecking the hopes and dreams of athletes across the globe.
Among them was the Swansea gymnast Arthur Whitford, who missed out on a third successive trip to the Games despite being Britain’s outstanding performer in his sport.
One of the greatest of all British gymnasts, he won the first of his 10 British titles in his native Swansea as a teenager in 1928.
That triumph, along with victory in the Olympic trial, earned him a ticket to the Games in Amsterdam.
The British team finished 11th overall and Whitford was the highest placed individual in 63rd place, leaving his Swansea YMCA and Wales team mate Bert Cronin and the six other Brits trailing in his wake by more than 20 points.
If 1928 set him on a course that saw him become the dominant forced in British gymnastics – he also won the Welsh championships nine times, the Scottish four times and the Irish twice – it was also his one and only appearance at the Olympic Games.
The Amateur Gymnastics Association decided not to send a men’s team to Los Angeles in 1932.
Whitford stood head and shoulders above the rest of his British colleagues, but how would he fare on a world stage?
The AGA decided to send him to Paris for the World Championships in 1931, the first Briton to enter the event, to test him out. He finished 29th and in consultation with the British Olympic Association it was decided the quality in the British squad didn’t merit the expense.
Four years later the Swansea YMCA coach Walter Standish was appointed as the British coach and it seemed certain a men’s team would be sent to Berlin. An eight strong women’s team did head to Germany, but after selecting a squad, which included Whitford as the likely captain, the men did not travel.
By that stage of his career Whitford had been British champion for nine years and decided enough was enough. He quit while still at the top.
“He was out of the game for two years and then his father persuaded him to have another go for the 1940 Helsinki Olympics,” recalled former Swansea and Wales team mate, Walter Walsh.
“He agreed, and within three weeks of making this decision he again won the British championship.
“With Mr Standish another plan of campaign was set out.
“In short, it was for Whitford to win the Olympic gold medal on the rings in Helsinki. His artistry on this piece, allied to his tremendous strength, was memorable. Alas, it was not to be, as Mr Hitler had other ideas.”
And so one of the finest British gymnasts of all-time only managed one Olympic Games as a performer, but Whitford’s Olympic story wasn’t at an end. After his competitive career he went into coaching and once again reached the top.
Having started a causal outdoor gym in his hometown it quickly turned into an indoor affair named Sketty Olympic Gymnasium. By the time competitive gymnastics ceased at the onset of WWII, his teams held Welsh titles.
He also trained his younger brother, Jack Whitford, to follow in his footsteps and win three British titles (1947-48-52). Jack was made captain of the British team for the 1948 Olympic Games in London when Arthur was the coach.
Unfortunately, Jack was forced to pull out after breaking his arm in training a week before the event. His future wife, Pat Evans, did get to compete in London and Jack went on to become an Olympian in Helsinki in 1952 when Arthur was the British trainer for a second Games.