Jack Beresford
© IOC
Jack Beresford (1899-1977) was the outstanding British oarsman and sculler of the inter-war years,
who won five Olympic medals and an equally impressive 10 wins and one shared prize at Henley.
Beresford’s original enthusiasm
had been for rugby, but a wound
suffered while serving in the army
at the end of World War I forced
him to turn to the river. He joined
Thames Rowing Club of which he
was captain from 1928 to 1929,
vice-president from 1936 to 1970
and president from 1970 until his
death in 1977.
At the Henley Royal Regatta, Jack
showed the same qualities as those
of other great competitors such as
Walter Bradford Woodgate and
Guy Nickalls, in that each of them
proved their worth in every kind
of sweeping and sculling boat at
the regatta. In Beresford’s case,
the achievements were all the
more remarkable in that he was
basically a lightweight oarsman at
a time when such a category was
not recognised. His rowing weight
was normally just less than 70 kg
and he stood about 1.78 m tall.
always be remembered, winning
a medal at each of the five inter-war Olympic Games. At the 1920
Games in Antwerp, he won silver
within a second of Jack Kelly
of the USA (father of the late
Princess Grace of Monaco). In
1924, at the Olympics in Paris,
Beresford won gold in the single
sculls and then in 1928 another
silver in the final in Amsterdam.
In Los Angeles in 1932 he became
Olympic champion yet again in
the coxless fours event.
The Berlin medal was Beresford’s
finest moment. The first five of
the seven Olympic titles had
gone to the Germans, under the
watchful eye of their chancellor,
Adolf Hitler, who was presenting
the medals.
Beresford and partner Leslie
‘Dick’ Southwood lost to the
Germans in the first heat, the
latter crossing into their lane,
but qualified for the final
by winning a repechage in
champion form. In the final
both crews jumped the start
having observed that the starter,
Victor de Bisschop, was using
a megaphone so large that he
could see nothing once he raised
it to his lips. The British led
for 500 metres and then Willy
Kaidel and Joachim Pirsch
went ahead. At 1800 metres the
crews were level. The Germans
then wandered from their lane;
Southwood shouted and Pirsch
stopped rowing. The British
had rowed the Germans down.
It was “the sweetest race I ever
rowed in,” said Beresford.
His record of rowing medals
in five consecutive Games was
unsurpassed until 2000, when
Steve Redgrave of Britain won his
fifth consecutive gold in Sydney.
This outstanding list of
achievements was recognised
by Beresford being awarded the
Olympic Diploma of Merit in
1949. In 1960 he was awarded the
CBE for his services to British
and international rowing.
Edited from Christopher Dodd’s
entry in the Oxford Dictionary
of National Biography and Eric
Halladay’s entry in the River &
Rowing Museum biographical
archive.
From the beginning of his rowing
career, Beresford displayed the
tactical brilliance of a winner,
assessing his opponents’
capabilities and pacing his
training, and usually his racing,
to do just enough to beat them,
although he was clearly possessed
by the killer instinct which
motivates a winner and a breaker
of records. “He was very vicious
in the boat,” said Eric Phelps, his
coach for the Berlin Olympics.
“He would give a sickly smile to
the man next to him. He never
knew what it was to pack up.”
But he also epitomised the view
of an amateur oarsman prevalent
at the time. He was sporting,
displayed loyalty to his club, and
when he was not in a boat was
an ambassador for a gentlemanly
way of life.
© IOC
It is as an Olympic oarsman 1936 Olympic champions Jack Beresford (bow) and Leslie Southwood in Berlin. / Jack Beresford (proue) et Leslie Southwood, champions
and sculler that Beresford will olympiques 1936 à Berlin.
