William "Bill" Roberts (5 April 1912 – 5 December 2001) was an English athlete, winner of gold medal in 4x400 m relay for Great Britain at the 1936 Summer Olympics. Born in Salford, Lancashire, William Roberts won the British AAA championships in 440 yd (400 m) in 1935 and 1937. At the 1934 British Empire Games, Roberts finished second in 440 yd (400 m) behind Godfrey Rampling, but turned the silver into the gold medal in the next British Empire Games in 1938 in Sydney, Australia. He also won a silver in 4x440 yd relay event and finished sixth in the 220 yards contest. At the Berlin Olympics, Roberts just missed the medal in the individual 400 metre event, finishing fourth in the final, and ran the third leg in the gold medal winning British 4x400 m relay team. After World War II and service in the RAF, Roberts returned to athletics to win the silver medal as a member of British 4x400 m relay team at the 1946 European Championships. At the 1948 Summer Olympics, Roberts was chosen as Great Britain's athletics team captain, but he was eliminated in the heats of the 400 metre event and anchored the British relay team to a fourth place in their heat of the 4×400 metre competition. After his retirement from athletics in 1949, he worked as a columnist for the Manchester Evening News. William Roberts died in Timperley, Manchester, aged 89. [edit] External links | Olympic Champions in Men's 4×400 m Relay | | 1908 United States: (medley) William F. Hamilton, Nathaniel Cartmell, John Taylor, Mel Sheppard · 1912 United States: Mel Sheppard, Edward Lindberg, Ted Meredith, Charles Reidpath · 1920 Great Britain: Cecil Griffiths, Robert Lindsay, John Ainsworth-Davies, Guy Butler · 1924 United States: Commodore Cochran, Alan Helffrich, Oliver MacDonald, William Stevenson · 1928 United States: George Baird, Emerson Spencer, Frederick Alderman, Ray Barbuti · 1932 United States: Ivan Fuqua, Edgar Ablowich, Karl Warner, Bill Carr · 1936 Great Britain: Frederick Wolff, Godfrey Rampling, William Roberts, Godfrey Brown · 1948 United States: Arthur Harnden, Clifford Bourland, Roy Cochran, Mal Whitfield · 1952 Jamaica: Arthur Wint, Leslie Laing, Herb McKenley, George Rhoden · 1956 United States: Charlie Jenkins, Louis Jones, Jesse Mashburn, Tom Courtney · 1960 United States: Jack Yerman, Earl Young, Glenn Davis, Otis Davis · 1964 United States: Ollan Cassell, Michael Larrabee, Ulis Williams, Henry Carr · 1968 United States: Vincent Matthews, Ron Freeman, Larry James, Lee Evans · 1972 Kenya: Charles Asati, Hezahiah Nyamau, Robert Ouko, Julius Sang · 1976 United States: Herman Frazier, Benjamin Brown, Fred Newhouse, Maxie Parks · 1980 Soviet Union: Remigijus Valiulis, Mikhail Linge, Nikolay Chernetsky, Viktor Markin · 1984 United States: Sunder Nix, Ray Armstead, Alonzo Babers, Antonio McKay · 1988 United States: Danny Everett, Steve Lewis, Kevin Robinzine, Butch Reynolds · 1992 United States: Andrew Valmon, Quincy Watts, Michael Johnson, Steve Lewis · 1996 United States: LaMont Smith, Alvin Harrison, Derek Mills, Anthuan Maybank · 2000 Vacant: · 2004 United States: Otis Harris, Derrick Brew, Jeremy Wariner, Darold Williamson · 2008 United States: LaShawn Merritt, Angelo Taylor, David Neville, Jeremy Wariner | | |
