George Farquhar

Wrestler George Farquhar was a member of the Milton Wrestling Club in Abbeyhill, Edinburgh, where he was coached by Sandy Munro, one of Britain’s top coaches. Farquhar went on to win Scottish titles at both middle- and lightweight and was the British middleweight champion four times in 1955-57, 1963, and was also the welterweight champion in the latter of those years.

Farquhar competed in the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Vancouver but got injured in his first bout and took no further part in the competition. However, at Cardiff four years later he won the middleweight silver medal when, going into the final against South African Manie van Zyl he was the only wrestler in all weight divisions not to have a penalty point against him, having won all three bouts by a fall. A win or draw in the final would have given him the gold medal but the defending champion was too good for the Scot, who was beaten by a fall. The silvers won by Farquhar and fellow-Scot Alistair Duncan heralded the start of a streak whereby Scotland won at least one medal at each of the next nine Games in which wrestling was included in the programme.

A plumber by trade, Farquhar also competed in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics but was eliminated in the second round of middleweight event.