Harry Mallin

Harry Mallin

Mallin in the early 1920s
Personal information
Full name	Henry William Mallin
Nationality	English
Born	1 June 1892 Shoreditch, England
Died	8 November 1969 (aged 77) Lewisham, England
Height	5 ft 10.5 in (180 cm)
Sport
Sport	Boxing
Rated at	Middleweight
Club	Eton Manor Old Boys Amateur Boxing Club Hackney Wick, Metropolitan Police Amateur Boxing Club
Medal record Men's Boxing Representing  Great Britain Olympic Games 1920 Antwerp Middleweight 1924 Paris Middleweight

Henry William "Harry" Mallin (1 June 1892 – 8 November 1969) was an English middleweight amateur boxer.

He came originally from Hackney Wick, his younger brother was the Olympic boxer Fred Mallin . He lived in Dartmouth Park, North London and worked as a police officer.^[1]

Boxing career

Mallin was British Champion five years in a row from 1919 to 1923. He was also world champion in the middleweight class between 1920 and 1928. He never lost an amateur bout and never turned professional.

In the 1920 Summer Olympics he won a gold medal in middleweight division, defeating Canadian boxer Georges Prud'Homme in the final. In 1924 he went on to win another gold in the same weight class in boxing at the 1924 Summer Olympics. Mallin was the first to successfully defend an Olympic title in two consecutive games, and remained for 92 years the only British boxer to do so until the victory of Nicola Adams at the 2016 Summer Olympics^[1]

Subsequently, he managed the British Olympic boxing teams at the 1936 and 1952 Summer Olympics.^[2]

In 1937, he achieved the distinction of being the first British television sports commentator, when he gave commentary on two boxing matches that were broadcast by the BBC from Alexandra Palace.^[2]

Henry Mallin died at a nursing home in Lewisham in November 1969.

References

1. Burrowa, Thomas; Fagge, Nick (20 August 2016). "'I've made history!' Nicola Adams wins gold as she becomes the first Briton to defend an Olympic boxing title in 92 years". The Daily Mail. London. Retrieved 20 August 2016.
2. "Harry Mallin". Sports-reference.com. Retrieved 21 August 2016.