 Doubell in 1968 | ||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | 11 February 1945 (age 78) Melbourne, Australia | |||||||||||
| Alma mater | University of Melbourne | |||||||||||
| Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) | |||||||||||
| Weight | 65 kg (143 lb) | |||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||
| Sport | Middle-distance running | |||||||||||
| Club | University of Melbourne | |||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | ||||||||||||
| Personal best(s) | 1:44.30 (800 m, 1968) [1] | |||||||||||
Medal record
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Ralph Douglas Doubell AM (born 11 February 1945) is an Australian former athlete, and gold medallist at the 1968 Summer Olympics.
Doubell was born in Melbourne, was educated at Melbourne High School [2] and graduated from the University of Melbourne, where he had come under the tutelage of Austrian-born coach Franz Stampfl. [3]
Doubell's first major international victory in 800 metres was at the World Student Games in Tokyo in 1967 in a time of 1:46.7. His next season (the Olympic season) was severely curtailed by Achilles' tendon injuries, and he was unable to compete for six months prior to the Olympic Games in Mexico City. [1] Doubell, however, was able to recover in time for Mexico City and won the 800 m gold medal, passing the pre-race favourite Wilson Kiprugut of Kenya down the straight to win in a world record equalling time of 1:44.3. [1]
Doubell also won the 800 metres gold medal at the 1969 Pacific Conference Games, in a time of 1:48.0. [4]
Doubell had planned to compete at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, but was prevented from doing so by calf injuries, which brought on his retirement from competitive athletics. [2]
After retirement from sports, Doubell enrolled at Harvard Business School. He then worked as a Head of Relationship Management and a Director and Divisional Head of Corporate and Institutional Banking of the Deutsche Bank Group in Australia. He was a Director of Telstra Stadium in Sydney until 2007. [1]
Doubell was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1985. [2] On 12 June 2006, in the Queen's Birthday Honours List, he was made a Member (AM) of the Order of Australia, for "services to athletics through administrative roles, particularly with Athletics New South Wales, and as a competitor". [5]
Elizabeth Alyse Cuthbert,, was an Australian athlete and a four-time Olympic champion. She was nicknamed Australia's "Golden Girl". During her career, she set world records for 60 metres, 100 yards, 200 metres, 220 yards and 440 yards. Cuthbert also contributed to Australian relay teams completing a win in the 4 × 100 metres, 4 × 110 yards, 4 × 200 metres and 4 × 220 yards. Cuthbert had a distinctive running style, with a high knee lift and mouth wide open. She was named in 1998 an Australian National Treasure and was inducted as a Legend in the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Athletics Australia Hall of Fame in 2000.
Kieren John Perkins, OAM is a former Australian freestyle swimmer. He specialised in the 1500-metre freestyle and won successive Olympic gold medals in this event in the 1990s. He won his first at the 1992 Olympics which he won in world record time and then at the 1996 Olympics when he defended his title. In total he won four Olympic medals.
Sir Murray Gordon Halberg was a New Zealand middle-distance runner who won the gold medal in the 5000 metres event at the 1960 Olympics. He also won gold medals in the 3 miles events at the 1958 and 1962 Commonwealth Games. He worked for the welfare of children with disabilities since he founded the Halberg Trust in 1963.
Ronald William Clarke, AO, MBE was an Australian athlete, writer, and the Mayor of the Gold Coast from 2004 to 2012. He was one of the best-known middle- and long-distance runners in the 1960s, notable for setting seventeen world records.
Susan O'Neill, is an Australian former competitive swimmer from Brisbane, Queensland, nicknamed "Madame Butterfly". She achieved eight Olympic Games medals during her swimming career.
Raelene Ann Boyle is an Australian retired athlete, who represented Australia at three Olympic Games as a sprinter, winning three silver medals, and was named one of 100 National Living Treasures by the National Trust of Australia in 1998. Boyle was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1996 and subsequently became a board member of Breast Cancer Network Australia (BCNA). In 2017, she was named a Legend in the Sport Australia Hall of Fame.
Pamela Kilborn-Ryan, AM, MBE is an Australian former athlete who set world records as a hurdler. For three years, she was ranked as the world's top woman hurdler.
Lorraine Joyce Thurlow,, née Crapp, is a former Olympic swimming champion representing Australia. In world swimming history, Crapp earned a place as the first woman to break the five-minute barrier in the 400 m freestyle.
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John Thomas Devitt, AM was an Australian sprint freestyle swimmer of the 1950s and 1960s, who won a gold medal in the 100-metre freestyle at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. He won in controversial circumstances, being awarded the gold medal despite the timekeepers recording a slower time than the American silver medallist Lance Larson. He also claimed a gold medal at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, in the 4×200-metre freestyle relay.
Steven Leslie Hooker OAM is an Australian former pole vaulter and Olympic gold medalist. His personal best, achieved in 2008, is 6.06 m making him the fourth-highest pole vaulter in history, behind Sergey Bubka, Renaud Lavillenie and Armand Duplantis.
Sally Pearson, OAM is a retired Australian athlete who competed in the 100 metre hurdles. She is the 2011 and 2017 World champion and 2012 Olympic champion in the 100 metres hurdles. She also won a silver medal in the 100 m hurdles at the 2008 Summer Olympics and the 2013 World Championships.
Michael George Raymond Agostini was a Trinidadian track and field athlete. He was the first athlete from his country to win a gold medal at what is now known as the Commonwealth Games, when he won the 100 yards final in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on 31 July 1954.
Norman "Nugget" Alfred Vale May was an Australian radio and television sports broadcaster. His most famous moment was calling "GOLD, GOLD for Australia, GOLD" during the men's 4 × 100 metres medley final in the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games.
Franz Ferdinand Leopold Stampfl MBE was one of the world's leading athletics coaches in the twentieth century. He pioneered a scientific system of Interval Training which became very popular with sprint and middle distance athletes. His most striking success was the world's first sub-four minute mile by Roger Bannister in 1954. Stampfl was posthumously awarded the World Athletics Heritage Plaque as a "legendary and pioneering coach" on 26 September 2019.
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Raymond Henry Weinberg AM was an Australian athlete and coach. He was one of Australia's finest hurdlers, being ranked in the Top 8 in the world for 4 years; an Olympic finalist; in 1952 having the fastest time in the world for 220 yards hurdles; and holding the national 110 metres hurdles record for 20 years. He also held the Victorian record in the decathlon. In addition, he created, designed and had manufactured the first Australian Olympic lapel pin.
The men's 800 metres competition at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, Mexico. The event were held at the University Olympic Stadium on October 13–15. Forty-four athletes from 32 nations competed. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by Ralph Doubell of Australia, the nation's second title in the men's 800 metres—and its first medal in the event since its first title in 1896. Wilson Kiprugut of Kenya improved on his 1964 bronze to take silver, becoming the seventh man to win a second medal in the 800 metres. Tom Farrell's bronze put the United States back on the podium for the first time since 1956.
Joseph Deng is an Australian middle-distance runner.
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