George de Relwyskow

George de Relwyskow of Hammersmith won the British lightweight and middleweight titles in 1907 and 1908 and contested both events at the 1908 Olympics. After losing to Stanley Bacon in the middleweight final, de Relwyskow had no difficulty in winning the gold medal in the lightweight division where he defeated the novice William Wood, who had only taken up the sport six months previously. De Relwyskow had celebrated his 21st birthday the previous months and held the record of being the youngest winner of an Olympic gold medal for wrestling until 1976 when the 20-year-old Russian Suren Nalbandyan won the Greco-Roman lightweight title. He returned to the UK from South America on the outbreak of WW1 and enlisted in the army where he was to teach soldiers unarmed combat and bayonet fighting. De Relwyskow, who was coach to the 1924 British Olympic team, eventually settled in Yorkshire and was a builder and decorator in Leeds, where he was also a part-time masseur to various sporting clubs.

He enlisted again at the start of WW2 and taught Unarmed Combat and Silent Killing with the Special Operations Executive. After an injury forced his retirement from the ring his son, George Jr. founded Relwyskow Promotions which became one of Northern England’s premier wrestling promotions which was active until the 1990s. A grandson, using the ringname Barry Douglas, had a long career as a pro wrestler.