Emil Voigt (athlete)

Emil Robert Voigt (31 January 1883 – 16 October 1973) was a British athlete, winner of the Olympic 5 miles race in 1908 representing Great Britain.

Emil Voigt

Emil Voigt
Medal record
Men’s athletics
Representing  United Kingdom
Olympic Games
1908 London 5 miles

Biography

Born in Manchester to German parents, Voigt won the 1908 Amateur Athletic Association (AAA) championship in the 4 miles,[1] making him one of the favourites for the 5 miles at the 1908 Summer Olympics, which were held in London. Voigt, a vegetarian,[2] indeed won the race easily, and became the second and last Olympic champion in the event, which was replaced by the 5000 m and 10000 m events in 1912.

After winning three more AAA titles in 1909 and 1910, as well as winning numerous other races in the UK and in Europe, he emigrated to Australia in 1911. He won a number of Australian titles over the next three years then retired from athletics in 1914 when the outbreak of war in Europe put an end to his career.

In Australia he became one of the foremost pioneers of early radio, helping to set up 2KY on behalf of the Labor movement.[3]

He moved back to England in 1936, finally retiring to Auckland, New Zealand, in 1948, where he died at age 90.[3]

Vegetarianism

Voigt became a vegetarian for humanitarian motives.[2] He also avoided tea, coffee, and lentils.[2] He became a vegetarian at the age of 22 and joined the Vegetarian Cycling Club.[4] His diet consisted of brown bread, eggs, fruit, milk and vegetables.[4]

During the 1908 London Olympic Games, he was the only gold medal distance runner England had ever had and the only vegetarian out of 2023 competitors.[4] Voigt was a non-smoker and teetotaller.[4]

gollark: The best you could do is some sort of web interface which you can access on your phone which lets you receive/send messages.
gollark: Some mobile carriers let you email certain addresses to send texts to people using them, but not *all*, and I don't think you could receive any.
gollark: I mean, you probably couldn't do SMS (texts) to real-world phones unless you paid for it with something or other, but yes.
gollark: Yes.
gollark: Does flight still work?

References
  1. British Athletics Championships 1876-1914
  2. Stoddard, Katy (23 July 2012). "Emil Voigt, vegetarian Guardian writer who triumphed at the 1908 Olympics". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
  3. Cunneen, Chris (1990). "Voigt, Emil Robert (1883–1973)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. 12. Melbourne University Press. ISSN 1833-7538. Retrieved 11 March 2019 – via National Centre of Biography, Australian National University.
  4. Emil Voigt: The Unique Olympian. International Society of Olympic Historians.
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