Don Thompson

Who was Don Thompson?

Donald James Thompson MBE was an English athlete. He was the only British man to win a gold medal at the 1960 Summer Olympics, held in Rome, in the men's 50 km walk. He also won a bronze medal at the 1962 European Championships, also for the 50 km walk.

Thompson was born in Hillingdon, London and taught maths at Southlands comprehensive school in the early 1980s. A small man, only 5'5" tall, he was originally a runner, but an injury to his Achilles' tendon forced him to take up race walking instead. He came second in the 52½ miles London to Brighton road race in 1954, and then won the event in each of the following eight years. He raced in the 50 km walk in the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia, but withdrew dehydrated after 45 km while in fifth place.

He practised to compete at the Olympics Games in Rome in 1960 by exercising in a steam-filled bathroom at home, with the heating turned up and wearing a heavy tracksuit. After exercising for about half an hour, he would feel faint. At the time, he attributed his light-headedness to the effects of heat and humidity, but later realised that it was carbon monoxide fumes from the paraffin heater.