The son of a London baker, who owned a snack bar in Marble Arche, Freddie Hodges was a keen footballer until he was talked into taking up diving at school as a 13-year-old. It was soon apparent he had an outstanding talent, and won that year’s Southern Counties ASA Junior title, after just eight months in the sport. A member of the Highgate Club, Hodges was third in the springboard competition at the ASA Championships at New Brighton in 1935, but was champion for the next four years, 1936-39. Coached by John Rasch, who later married Hodges’ 1936 Olympic team-mate Betty Slade, Hodge won the springboard bronze medal at the 1938 European Championships at Wembley. It would be another 45 years before a British diver, Chris Snode, would win a European springboard medal. Hodges served in the Royal Navy between 1940-46 and resumed his diving career after the war, but no more British titles came his way.
Great Britain