Don Thompson, was the diminutive British race walker dubbed Il Topolino by the Italians after he won the Olympic 50km walk gold medal in Rome in 1960; he was Britain's only athletics winner at the games. His unusual approach to preparing for the Olympics and unathletic appearance fascinated people in Britain and turned him into a figure of novelty.
Born and brought up in Hillingdon, Middlesex, Thompson, a 5ft 5in insurance clerk, started out as a runner, but an injury forced him to turn to walking. He competed at the 1956 Olympics, but collapsed three miles from the Melbourne Cricket Ground when in fifth place and failed to finish.
When he struck Olympic gold in 1960, Thompson was only the second man to win a after war Olympic athletics gold medal for Britain. His victory came in an period of success for walkers from this country: British-born walkers had won the Olympic 50km gold medal on three of the previous five occasions, while in 1960 Stanley Vickers also won the bronze medal in the 20km event; four years later Ken Matthews would win the 20km gold and Paul Nihill the 50km silver at the Tokyo Olympics.
Thompson's preparations for the steamy heat of Rome have gone down in sporting legend. Determined to be properly prepared, he trained for the race by exercising in temperatures of up to 38C (100F) in the bathroom of his home in Kent, which he had converted into a steam room using heaters and kettles of boiled water. "There was an electric heater attached to the wall and I thought, 'Well, that won't provide enough heat,'" Thompson said in an interview two years ago. "I had to boost the humidity too, so I got a Valor stove and put that in the bath. Half an hour was more than enough; I was feeling dizzy by then. It wasn't until several years later that I realised I wasn't feeling dizzy because of the heat; it was carbon monoxide from the stove."
This unique training regime was coupled with regular training sessions that sometimes took place at 4am so that he could still get to work on time. He followed the routine of getting up early in the morning to train until he was in his 70s, when he continued to work as a self-employed gardener.
In Rome, his preparations paid off , as the temperature rose above 30C (86F) during the race, and Thompson found himself in the lead by the halfway stage. Three miles from the finish, his only challenger was the 40-year-old Swede John Ljungren, the gold medallist in the same event at the 1948 London games. But as Ljungren wilted, Thompson strode to victory. In his meticulously kept diary, he allowed himself to write two lines about his victory. Normally he only ever wrote one.
Nihill, Thompson's long-time friend and rival, remembered him as "clean-living and dedicated". He was, Nihill recalled, "a great athlete who defied what a top sportsman is. If asked to do a couple of press-ups, he couldn't."
Thompson's career continued for more than 40 years after his triumph in Rome, and in 1991 he made another small slice of history when - at the age of 58 years and 89 days - he became the oldest athlete to represent Britain, competing in an event in France. He also turned to marathon running and completed more than 150 such races, with a personal best of 2hr 51min.
He was awarded an MBE in 1970. He died at the age of 73 in 2006
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