Bill Tancred

Bill Tancred was born in Quetta, India (now in Pakistan) while his father was serving in the British Army. He moved with his family to the UK when he was aged seven and was brought up in Suffolk. With the encouragement of his father as his first coach, Tancred got into athletics at the age of 14. He joined Ipswich Harriers and started as a javelin thrower but, after injuring an elbow, turned to the shot and discus, and went on to become Britain’s greatest ever discus thrower.

Tancred won the first of a record 12 AAA discus medals in 1964, which included seven titles: five successive 1966-70, and again in 1972-73. He also enjoyed three shot put podium finishes to take his tally of senior AAA medals to 15. He won 55 Great Britain vests from 1964 when he made his début, and broke the British discus record 19 times, holding it for 25 years from 1974. His 19.43m PB for the shot was one of the top 10 throws by a Briton for decades.

In addition to his successes at the AAA Championships, Tancred won many other domestic honours including two AAA indoor shot titles, six Southern and three Midlands County discus titles, the British Universities shot and discus titles in 1972, and gold in the same two disciplines at the 1969 and 1970 Universities Athletic Union (UAU) Championships.

On the world stage, Tancred competed at the 1968 and 1972 Olympics but failed to reach the discus final on both occasions. He did, however, win two British Empire and Commonwealth Games medals. Firstly, he took bronze at Edinburgh in 1970 and, at Christchurch, New Zealand, four years later, won silver. Tancred also competed in three European Championships (1966, 1969, 1974) but, like the Olympics, failed to qualify for a final.

Tancred followed his father into the British Army, and served with the East Anglian Regiment and then the Army Physical Training Corps. He also trained to be a teacher at Loughborough College and took a master’s degree in human biology, and a second one in physical education. Tancred also received a fellowship to study for a PhD in sports management at West Virginia University in the USA.

Tancred had a teaching career, which included being the director of physical education and sport at Sheffield University for 30 years, and was involved in the organisation of the World Student Games (Summer Universiade) when they were held in the city in 1991. Tancred also served as chairman of the International Athletes Club and was the national event coach for the British Amateur Athletics Board (BAAB). He also taught at IAAF courses and was on the board if the British Olympic Association (BOA). Tancred retired in 2014 and returned to Felixstowe, the town where he was brought up as a youngster.

Tancred was honoured with an MBE in 1992 and his autobiography Bill Tancred: An Ordinary Olympian But What a Life was published in 2016. Tancred´s two brothers Geoff and Peter were also discus throwers. Peter won two AAA titles and competed at the 1976 Olympics while Geoff, who co-wrote the book Weight Training for Sport with Bill, was a County champion.

Personal Best: DT – 64.94 (1974).