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Robbie Brightwell

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British athlete (1939–2022)

Robbie Brightwell
MBE
Personal information
Born27 October 1939 (1939-10-27)
Rawalpindi, British Raj
Died6 March 2022 (aged 82)
Congleton, England
Sport
SportAthletics
Event4x400 meters relay race,
Medal record
Men's athletics
Representing  Great Britain
Olympic Games
Silver medal – second place 1964 Tokyo 4x400 metres relay
European Athletics Championships
Gold medal – first place 1962 Belgrade 400 metres
Silver medal – second place 1962 Belgrade 4x400 metres relay

Robert Ian Brightwell MBE (27 October 1939 – 6 March 2022) was a British track and field athlete and silver medallist.

Biography

Brightwell was born in Rawalpindi, British Raj (now part of Pakistan), but moved to the UK with his family in 1946 and grew up in Donnington, Telford, Shropshire. He was educated at Trench Secondary Modern School where he became head boy and set a number of school running records, and he played as goalkeeper in the local Donnington Swifts football team. He gained his athletic training at Shrewsbury Technical College and went on to become a sportsmaster at Tiffin Boys' School in Surrey, England.

He came to prominence as a 400m runner, and in the course of his career he broke the British record for both 440 yards and 400 metres as well as the European 400 metres record. He narrowly failed to reach the final of the individual 400 metres at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, finishing 4th in his semi-final in a hand-timed 46.1. He also ran the anchor leg in the men's 4x400 Relay, where the Great Britain team finished 5th in the final.

During the Olympic Games held in Tokyo, he was captain of the men's British Olympic Team. Running the final stage in the men's 4 x 400 metres relay, he passed Wendell Mottley of Trinidad and Tobago to finish second to Henry Carr of the US. In the individual 400 metres he finished fourth.

His fiancée at that time was Ann Packer who won a gold medal in the women's 800 metres (run) on the day after the men's individual 400 metres final. After winning a silver medal in the 400 metres Packer had no plans to run in the 800 metres and had a shopping trip planned until Brightwell's disappointing 400 metres. She said she ran it for him and broke the world record in the process.

The captaincy of the British Team and his silver medal was the climax of his career. Aged 24 years early in 1964 he announced that he would retire after the Olympic Games. He and Packer were each appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1965 New Year Honours for services to athletics.

Brightwell and Packer were married on 19 December 1964 and had three sons: Gary, and two former Manchester City players Ian and David. Brightwell went into teaching before moving to lecture at the then Loughborough College and before taking up successive directorships with sports companies Adidas UK and Le Coq Sportif UK. He also ran a fishing tackle business for thirty years.

Brightwell lived in Congleton, Cheshire. He died in March 2022, at the age of 82.

In 2023 a meeting room at the re-opened Congleton leisure centre was named the Brightwell suite in honour of Robbie Brightwell and his wife Ann Packer.

References

  1. ^ "Death of Olympian who "influenced and inspired" the town". Congleton Chronicle. 10 March 2022. p. 16.
  2. ^ "Remembering Robbie Brightwell". Team GB. 7 March 2022. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  3. "Death Notices, 17th March 2022". 24 March 2022.
  4. ^ Times On Line biography of Robbie Brightwell and Ann Packer Archived 27 September 2007 at archive.today
  5. "Shropshire's greatest runner dies, aged 82". Shropshire Star. 12 March 2022. p. 72.Report by Toby Neal.
  6. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Robbie Brightwell". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 19 June 2015.
  7. https://www.tokyoupdates.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/en/post-334/
  8. United Kingdom list: "No. 43529". The London Gazette (Supplement). 29 December 1964. p. 15.
  9. Yates, Joe (6 July 2023). "Reopened leisure centre 'an active hub for community'". Congleton Chronicle. p. 19.
European Athletics Championships champions in men's 400 metres
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