Harry Edward, Britain’s first black Olympic medallist, to be inducted into England Athletics Hall of Fame
Harry Edward, recognised as Britain’s first black Olympic medallist, will be inducted into the England Athletics Hall of Fame at a ceremony in Birmingham in November. The event will also honour Mo Farah, Sonia Lannaman and Shirley Strong.
Edward’s citation included the tribute: “A true citizen of the world and a pioneer of British sport, England Athletics is proud and humbled to induct Britain’s first black Olympic medallist into the Hall of Fame.” He won two bronze medals, in the 100m and 200m, at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics and was a three-time AAA 100yd and 220yd champion.
In 1922 Edward won the 100, 220 and 440-yard AAA championships inside a single hour, and King George V came down from the stands to personally congratulate him. He emigrated to the United States soon afterwards and largely disappeared from public view; when he died in 1973 not a single British newspaper published a line to mark his passing.
Born and raised in Berlin, Edward was developing as a teenage sprinter when the first world war began; his father came from the British colony of Dominica and Edward was arrested and interned. After the war he went to London, joined the Polytechnic Harriers and ran for Britain in the Olympics. Harold Abrahams regarded him as one of the greatest sprinters he ever saw. He never beat him.
After emigrating in 1923 Edward devoted his life to fighting for civil rights and to leading international programmes to help refugees and foster children. He wrote an autobiography, When I Passed the Statue of Liberty I Became Black, which failed to find a publisher and sat unread in a box in a New Orleans archive among his medals, photographs, scrapbooks and letters until it was discovered and published in 2024, making the William Hill Sports Book of the Year shortlist.
English Heritage plan to erect a blue plaque on his old London home near Euston station next year. Farah, described in the announcement as Britain’s most successful athlete of all time, is among this year’s other Hall of Fame inductees; Birmingham-born Sonia Lannaman was Britain’s premier sprinter of the 1970s and a favourite for medals at the Montreal Olympics in 1976 before injury scuppered her chances, later winning 100m gold at the 1978 Commonwealth Games and 4x100m relay bronze at the 1980 Olympics. Shirley Strong won silver in the 100m hurdles at the 1984 Olympics after taking Commonwealth gold in 1982.
The remaining inductees are triple Paralympic gold medallist Stephen Miller, who co-founded the SMILE Through Sport organisation to encourage disabled people to participate in sport; the coach Mike Holmes, who guided Katarina Johnson-Thompson’s early career; and the photographer Mark Shearman, a fixture at major athletics events for more than six decades.
Tickets are available for the England Athletics Hall of Fame dinner and awards presentation at the Hilton Metropole Hotel, Birmingham, on Saturday 21 November. Visit eventbrite.co.uk/e/england-athletics-hall-of-fame-and-awards-evening-2026-tickets-1983450136752