Athletics at the 1938 British Empire Games

Athletics at the 3rd British Empire and Commonwealth Games
The events took place with a makeshift track at the cricket ground
Dates	5–12 February 1938
Host city	Sydney, Australia
Venue	Sydney Cricket Ground
Level	Senior
Events	28
Participation	187 athletes from 11 nations
← 1934 London 1950 Auckland → 1938 British Empire Games

At the 1938 British Empire Games , the athletics events were held at the Sydney Cricket Ground in Sydney, Australia in February 1938, with several events also being held at the Sydney Sports Ground. ^[1] A total of 28 athletics events were contested at the Games, 20 by men and 8 by women.

Medal summary

Men

( 'e' denotes an estimated time )

Medallists for men's events, with times, heights and distances; links to event details

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 yards details	Cyril Holmes  (ENG)	9.7	John Mumford  (AUS)	9.8e	Ted Best  (AUS)	9.9e
220 yards details	Cyril Holmes  (ENG)	21.2	John Mumford  (AUS)	21.3e	Ted Best  (AUS)	21.4e
440 yards details	Bill Roberts  (ENG)	47.9	William Fritz  (CAN)	47.9e	Denis Shore  (SAF)	48.1e
880 yards details	Pat Boot  (NZL)	1:51.2	Frank Handley  (ENG)	1:54.0e	Bill Dale  (CAN)	1:54.2e
1 mile details	Jim Alford  (WAL)	4:11.6	Gerald Backhouse  (AUS)	4:12.2e	Pat Boot  (NZL)	4:12.6e
3 miles details	Cecil Matthews  (NZL)	13:59.6	Peter Ward  (ENG)	14:05.4	Scotty Rankine  (CAN)	14:24.0e
6 miles details	Cecil Matthews  (NZL)	30:14.5	Scotty Rankine  (CAN)	+180 yds (~30:45)	Wally Hayward  (SAF)	+250 yds (~31:28)
Marathon details	Johannes Coleman  (SAF)	2:30:15	Bert Norris  (ENG)	2:37:57	Jackie Gibson  (SAF)	2:38:20
120 yards hurdles details	Tom Lavery  (SAF)	14.0w	Larry O'Connor  (CAN)	14.2ew	Sid Stenner  (AUS)	14.4ew
440 yards hurdles details	John Loaring  (CAN)	52.9	John Park  (AUS)	54.6e	Alan McDougall  (AUS)	55.2e
4 × 110 yards relay details	Canada Jack Brown Pat Haley John Loaring Larry O'Connor	41.6	England Ken Richardson Sandy Duncan Lawrence Wallace Cyril Holmes	41.8e	Australia Ted Best Alf Watson Ted Hampson Howard Yates	41.9e
4 × 440 yards relay details	Canada Lee Orr Bill Dale William Fritz John Loaring	3:16.9	England Frank Handley Henry Pack Brian MacCabe Bill Roberts	3:19.2	New Zealand Alan Sayers Arnold Anderson Graham Quinn Harold Tyrie	3:22.0
High jump details	Edwin Thacker  (SAF)	1.96	Robert Heffernan  (AUS)	1.88	Doug Shetliffe  (AUS)	1.88
Pole vault details	Andries du Plessis  (SAF)	4.11	Les Fletcher  (AUS)	3.97	Stuart Frid  (CAN)	3.88
Long jump details	Harold Brown  (CAN)	7.43	Jim Panton  (CAN)	7.25	Basil Dickinson  (AUS)	7.15
Triple jump details	Jack Metcalfe  (AUS)	15.49	Lloyd Miller  (AUS)	15.41	Basil Dickinson  (AUS)	15.28
Shot put details	Louis Fouché  (SAF)	14.48	Eric Coy  (CAN)	13.95	Francis Drew  (AUS)	13.80
Discus throw details	Eric Coy  (CAN)	44.76	David Young  (SCO)	43.04	George Sutherland  (CAN)	41.47
Hammer throw details	George Sutherland  (CAN)	48.71	Keith Pardon  (AUS)	45.11	Jim Leckie  (NZL)	44.21
Javelin throw details	Jim Courtright  (CAN)	62.80	Stan Lay  (NZL)	62.21	Jack Metcalfe  (AUS)	55.53

Invitation events

Medallists in men's invitation events, with times and/or distances

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
220 yards hurdles details	Phillip Sharpley  (NZL)	24.7	Alan McDougall  (AUS)	+2 yds (~24.9)	Jack Lobban  (AUS)	+0.5 yd
2 miles walk details	Athol Stubbs  (AUS)	13:51.4	R. Stephenson (AUS)	+250 yds (~14:50)	W. Hayward (AUS)	+20 yds

Women

Medallists for women's events, with times, heights and distances; links to event details

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
100 yards details	Decima Norman  (AUS)	11.1	Joyce Walker  (AUS)	11.3e	Jeanette Dolson  (CAN)	11.4e
220 yards details	Decima Norman  (AUS)	24.7	Jean Coleman  (AUS)	25.1e	Eileen Wearne  (AUS)	25.3e
80 metres hurdles details	Barbara Burke  (SAF)	11.7w	Isabel Grant  (AUS)	11.7ew	Rona Tong  (NZL)	11.8ew
110–220–110 yards relay details	Australia Jean Coleman Eileen Wearne Decima Norman	49.1	Canada Aileen Meagher Jeanette Dolson Barbara Howard	49.9e	England Kathleen Stokes Dorothy Saunders Winifred Jeffrey	51.3e
220–110–220–110 yards relay details	Australia Decima Norman Joan Woodland Jean Coleman Thelma Peake	1:15.2	England Kathleen Stokes Ethel Raby Dorothy Saunders Winifred Jeffrey	1:17.2e	Canada Violet Montgomery Barbara Howard Aileen Meagher Jeanette Dolson	1:19.0e
High jump details	Dorothy Odam  (ENG)	1.60	Dora Gardner  (ENG)	1.57	Betty Forbes  (NZL)	1.57
Long jump details	Decima Norman  (AUS)	5.80	Ethel Raby  (ENG)	5.65	Thelma Peake  (AUS)	5.55
Javelin throw details	Robina Higgins  (CAN)	38.28	Antonia Robertson  (SAF)	36.98	Gladys Lunn  (ENG)	36.41

Medal table

Decima Norman was Australia's most successful athlete of the games with five gold medals.

  *   Host nation (Australia)

Medals won by nation with totals, ranked by number of golds—sortable

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Canada  (CAN)	8	6	6	20
2	Australia  (AUS)*	6	11	12	29
3	South Africa  (RSA)	6	1	3	10
4	England  (ENG)	4	8	2	14
5	New Zealand  (NZL)	3	1	5	9
6	Wales  (WAL)	1	0	0	1
7	Scotland  (SCO)	0	1	0	1
Totals (7 entries)		28	28	28	84

Participating nations

•   Australia (78)
• British Ceylon (4)
• Canada (37)
•   England (24)
•   New Zealand (19)
•   Northern Ireland (3)
•   Scotland (4)
• South Africa (12)
• Southern Rhodesia (2)
• Trinidad and Tobago (3)
• Wales (1)

References

1. "Boots Run In 880 Final Magnificent". The Telegraph Brisbane. 8 February 1938. p. 16. Retrieved 27 August 2025– via Trove.
2. Fact sheet 188 – Empire Games, Sydney, 1938. National Archives of Australia. Retrieved on 2010-09-02.

Results

• Commonwealth Games Medallists - Men. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2010-09-02.
• Commonwealth Games Medallists - Women. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2010-09-02.

External links

• 1938 Games Commentary and video of men's 100 yards from British Pathé