Geoff Elliott

Geoffrey ("Geoff") Michael Elliott (born 7 April 1931 in Ilford) is a retired male pole vaulter, shot putter and decathlete from England.

Athletics career
He represented Great Britain in both the pole vault and decathlon events at the 1952 Olympic games in Helsinki. He set his personal best in the pole vault (4.30 metres) on 28 August 1954 in Bern.

He represented England and won a gold medal in the pole vault at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Vancouver, Canada. Four years later, in Cardiff he repeated the success at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games. Just before those games, he was one of many signatories in a letter to The Times on 17 July 1958 opposing 'the policy of apartheid' in international sport and defending 'the principle of racial equality which is embodied in the Declaration of the Olympic Games'.

Achievements

References

 Brown, Geoff and Hogsbjerg, Christian. Apartheid is not a Game: Remembering the Stop the Seventy Tour campaign. London: Redwords, 2020. .
 British Olympic Committee
 

He also played rugby football at school, Wanstead County Grammar, as a fly half (No 10 these days) and as a 17 or 18 year old schoolboy performed at full-back for the men's Eastern Counties side with distinction. Many believe that had he not chosen athletics he could well have had a future in the England 15.

Category:1931 births
Category:Living people
Category:British decathletes
Category:British male pole vaulters
Category:British male shot putters
Category:English male pole vaulters
Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1952 Summer Olympics
Category:Olympic athletes of Great Britain
Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games
Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games
Category:Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England
Category:European Athletics Championships medalists
Category:English male shot putters
Category:English decathletes
Category:People from Ilford
Category:Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics