John Cheffers

Who was John Cheffers?

Dr. John Cheffers was the second Director of the Australian Institute of Sport. He succeeded Don Talbot as AIS Director in 1984 and stayed in the role until 1986. Ronald Harvey took over the directorship of the Institute after his departure. John was a Professor of Education and Coordinator of the Human Movement Program at Boston University and contributed a number of [journal articles] on sport and physical education.

Dr. Cheffers first came to note as an athletics coach. His most successful athlete was Jean Roberts who won several Commonwealth Games silver and bronze in the Discus and Shot Put during the 1960s and 1970s. He also played four senior games with Carlton in the Victorian Football League in 1955, as well as being a fitness advisor to Hawthorn in the mid 1960s.

In 1968 John became the head athletic coach for Zimbabwe, then called Rhodesia. His experiences coaching the multiracial team that was selected are detailed in his book: "A Wilderness of Spite: Rhodesia Denied". This team was denied entry to Mexico for the Olympics by the Mexican government, and was, de facto, banned from the Olympic Games at this point.