Sports Physician - Athlete 1929

1929

British Sir Roger Bannister (1929-2018) ran the first sub-4-minute mile. At the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki he competed the 1500m final, which was surprisingly won by the Luxembourger Josy Barthel (1927-1992). A very exciting race in which Bannister finished fourth and the first eight runners all stayed below the then Olympic record. In 1954 Bannister won the European championship 1500m. He graduated at the University of Oxford and at St Mary's Hospital Medical School and went on to become a distinguished neurologist. After retiring from athletics in 1954, Bannister spent the next forty years practising medicine in the field of neurology. His major contribution to academic medicine was in the field of autonomic failure, an area of neurology focusing on illnesses characterised by the loss of certain automatic responses of the nervous system. He ultimately published more than eighty papers, mostly concerned with the autonomic nervous system, cardiovascular physiology, and multiple system atrophy. He was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2011

1929

Dutch rower Han Heijenbrock (1929-2015) competed in te coxed four at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki. He graduated from the University of Amsterdam and established himself as a general practitioner in Purmerend.

1929

David Jennens (1929-2000) finished fourth with the British in the final of te coxed eights at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki. With Cambridge he won the annual rowing race against Oxford in 1949, two years later he became European champion with the British coxed eights in the French Mâcon and in 1952 he won the Grand Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatte with Leander Club. After qualifyingd as a doctor at St Thomas' Hospital in London, he worked for a while in Canada, before returning to general practice in Cambridge.

1929

In 1954, Eberhard Schenk (1929-2010) became GDR champion of the then 200m hurdles and a year later of the 110m hurdles. After graduating from Rostock Univeristy, he established himself as a general practitioner in Bergen auf Rügen. In 1988 his son Christian Schenck (1965-) became Olympic champion decathlon in Seoul, he also started with Medicine studies but after a few years he switched to journalism and he finally founded a marketing company for Sports and Health in Berlin.

1929

Joris Tjebbes (1929-2001) was a Dutch freestyle swimmer who won the bronze medal at the 100m freestyle at the European Championships in Vienna in 1950. At the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, he participated in the 100 and 400m freestyle. Between 1950 and 1952 he was national champion in the 100 and 400m frees style and he improved the national record 9 times. He graduated as a doctor and after his specialization he established himself as a Surgeon in Hoogeveen in Drenthe.