John Elliott (British boxer)

John Elliott (12 October 1901 – 3 July 1945) was a British middleweight boxer who competed in the 1920s.[1]

John Elliott
Personal information
NationalityBritish (English)
Born(1901-10-12)12 October 1901
Hoxton, London, England
Died3 July 1945(1945-07-03) (aged 43)
Balikpapan, Indonesia
Sport
Sportboxing
Medal record
Representing  Great Britain
Men's Boxing
Silver medal – second place 1924 Paris Middleweight

Biography

Elliott won a silver medal in boxing at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, losing against the successful British boxer Harry Mallin in the final bout. He won the Amateur Boxing Association 1924[2] and 1925[3] middleweight title, when boxing out of the Polytechnic Boxing Club.[4]

At some point following his Olympic appearance, Elliott emigrated to Australia. On 8 April 1941, a year-and-a-half after the outbreak of the Second World War, he enlisted in the Australian Army in Paddington, New South Wales, giving his residence as Sydney.[5] He was discharged as a staff sergeant in 1943 and became a war correspondent.[5] On 3 July 1945, while covering the invasion of Balikpapan with fellow journalist William Smith, Elliott went ahead of the advancing Australian troops; a Bren gunner, believing them to be Japanese troops, shot and killed them both.[6][7]

References
  1. "John Elliott". Olympedia. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  2. "Amateur Association Championships". Northern Whig. 10 April 1924. Retrieved 29 December 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  3. "Amateur Boxing Championships". Birmingham Daily Gazette. 2 April 1925. Retrieved 31 December 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  4. "Roll of Honour". England Boxing. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
  5. "World War Two Service". Australian Government. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
  6. Long, Gavin (1963). The Final Campaigns. Australia in the War of 1939–1945. Canberra, Australia: Australian War Memorial. p. 524.
  7. "John Elliott – WAR CORRESPONDENT – 1901-1945". ABC. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.