Sir Arthur passed test of time with distinction - The Jewish Chronicle

The late Sir Arthur Gold has become the fourth Jewish inductee into the British Athletics Hall of Fame. His son, Jonathan, was presented with the award earlier this month by fellow inductee, athletics historian and journalist Mel Watman. Arthur Gold earned his living as the owner of a motor garage in north London, but he gave a lifetime’s unpaid service to the sport of athletics. As a competitor in the immediate pre-war years, he was the second best high jumper in the country, with a personal best of 1.90m when the British record was 1.95m. He turned to coaching after the war, helping Dorothy Tyler switch high jump technique from scissors to western roll. Tyler had already won Olympic high jump silver medals in 1936 and 1948, and the new technique allowed her to extend her medal-winning career. Gold went on to become one of the world’s most respected athletics administrators, knighted for services to athletics in 1984. He served as Honorary Secretary of the British Amateur Athletics Board from 1965 to 1977 and led the British athletics teams at the Mexico, Munich and Montreal Olympics. He was chairman of the Commonwealth Games Council for England from 1979 to 1990, a role in which he led English teams for three Commonwealth Games. His highest appointment within the sport was to serve as president of the European Athletics Association from 1976 to 1987. In 1992, as chairman of the British Olympic Association, he was commandant of the entire team at the Winter and Summer Olympics. He was elected president of the Amateur Athletics Association three years later. Gold was a passionate fighter against drug-taking throughout his administrative career. He served as chairman of the Sports Council Drug Abuse Advisory Committee and the European Sports Confederation Drug Abuse Advisory Group, and vice-chairman of the Council of Europe’s committee on doping in sport. He believed that effective testing and life bans were the necessary deterrents against drug cheating. The early 1980’s saw athletics evolve from a pseudo-amateur to a professional sport. Sir Arthur Gold fought to prevent over-commercialisation tarnishing the sport and its capacity for enhancing the well-being and happiness of young people. Gold was always immaculately dressed. But his conventional appearance belied his more quirky side, better illustrated by his 1960 book, ‘Ballet Training Exercises for Athletes’. When Sir Arthur Gold died 12 years ago, Brendan Foster made this fitting tribute: "He did a professional job for countless years for athletics on an amateur, unpaid, basis. "When the sport finally turned totally professional he helped guide the important changes through. "His knowledge of the sport was unbelievable and his enthusiasm for athletics unmatchable.