Michael Lapage

Michael Clement Lapage (15 November 1923 – 20 July 2018) was an English missionary and rower who competed for Great Britain in the 1948 Summer Olympics.

Michael Lapage
Personal information
Birth nameMichael Clement Lapage
Born15 November 1923
Shaftesbury, England
Died20 July 2018 (94 years)
Height6 ft (183 cm) (1948)[1]
Weight13 st (182 lb; 83 kg) (1948)[1]
Medal record
Men's rowing
Olympic Games
Representing  Great Britain
1948 LondonEight
British Empire Games
Representing  England
1950 Auckland Eight

Biography

Lapage was born at Shaftesbury, Dorset, the son of Reginald H. Lapage, vicar of Shaftesbury, and his wife Dora Ehlvers. He was educated at Monkton Combe School where he was a contemporary of fellow Olympic rower Alfred Mellows. He gained a position as a reader of geography at Selwyn College of the University of Cambridge but did not manage to make the university's rowing team as World War II intervened. Lapage saw service as a Fleet Air Arm pilot in the Pacific during the war. Coming close to being shot down had a lasting impact on him.[1]

After the war Lapage was back at the University of Cambridge and was a member of the winning university's boat in the 1948 Boat Race.[1] Most of that crew then won the silver medal rowing at the 1948 Summer Olympics in the men's eight at the 1948 London Olympics.[2] The English athletes were still on rations at the time and Lapage believed that the winning Americans, who had ready access to meat, were at an advantage. At the 1950 British Empire Games he won the bronze medal as part of the English boat in the men's eight competition.[1]

In the late 1950s, Lapage became a Christian missionary due to his upbringing and his near death experience during the war.[1] He was ordained in Kenya in 1961.[3] On 19 May 2012 he carried the Olympic torch in the relay for the 2012 Olympic Games, in St Austell, Cornwall.[4]

Lapage died on 20 July 2018.[5]

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See also

References
  1. "Wartime pilot won an Olympic rowing medal and became a missionary in Africa". The Press. Telegraph Group. 7 August 2018. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
  2. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Michael Lapage". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
  3. Church Times Issue 7427 - 15 July 2005 Michael Lapage Fleet Air Arm pilot, rowing silver medallist in the 1948 British Olympics, and missionary teacher in Kenya
  4. "BBC News - 1948 Olympian Michael Lapage waves to the crowd as he takes his turn with the torch".
  5. "Lapage". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
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