Alan Paterson

In 1944, as a 16-year-old, Alan Paterson cleared 1.90m to set a new Scottish native high jump record. Two years later, when still only 18, he became the first British high jumper to clear 2.00m at a meeting at Antwerpen. He also won the first of three AAA titles in 1946, and was runner-up at the European Championships, as well as the Scottish senior and junior champion, that same year. At the Glasgow Rangers’ Meeting at the Ibrox Stadium in 1947, he set a new British record 2.02m. That year, he was also the Inter-services champion during his time in the Army. In 1948 Paterson finished second to the Australian Jack Winter at the AAAs. Winter went on to win the Olympic title that year with Paterson in joint seventh, after clearing just 1.90m.

Paterson regained his AAAs title in 1949, when the respected US magazine, Track and Field News, ranked the Scot as the world’s number one high jumper of the year. Paterson went on to win the AAAs title for the third time in 1950, when he also won the gold medal at the Europeans and silver at the British Empire Games, representing Scotland. It would be 44 years before Britain won another high jumping medal at the championships, when Steve Smith won silver at Helsinki in 1994. When Paterson went to the 1950 Empire Games in Auckland, he could not get time off work as a trainee chartered accountant to make the length trip by boat. Cinema magnate Sir Alexander King, however, paid for him to fly to New Zealand. Paterson competed in his second Olympics in 1952 but failed to reach the final. He quit serious competition afterwards, and emigrated to Canada. He was such a popular sportsman that he was depicted in wax at the famous Madame Tussaud’s museum. His sister Johanna was a noted pianist.

Personal Best: HJ – 2.019 (1947).