- William Dod
William Dod (
July 18 ,1867 –October 8 ,1954 ) was a British archer. He won thegold medal in the men's double York round at the1908 Summer Olympics on his 41st birthday.William Dod was born in
Bebington ,Cheshire , a descendant ofSir Anthony Dod of Edge, who commanded the English archers at theBattle of Agincourt .Dod was educated at home by private tutors and his family fortune, gathered from the cotton trade, meant that he never had to work for a living. He indulged his passion for the sporting life as both a stratch golfer and a big game hunter. He took up archery at the home of the Legh family, who had an estate close to the Dods in
Cheshire and were one of the greatest names in the sport.Neither Dod nor his sister Lottie took part in competitive
archery until they moved fromCheshire south toBerkshire in 1906, where they joined the newly formed Welford Park archery club. Within two and a half years Dod had became Olympic Champion. William Dod mastered the torrential rain on the first day of the Olympic competition to hold a 10-point advantage. When the rain gave way to swirling wind conditions on the second day, Dod forged ahead and comfortably took gold with a margin of 47 points overReginald Brooks-King .He went to win the Grand National Archery title, effectively the British national title, in 1909 and 1911.Dod retired from competition after the 1911 championship and rekindled his love of golf. In 1912 he reached the 4th round of the
British Amateur Championship .After the outbreak of
The Great War Dod enlisted in theRoyal Fusiliers and served as a private in the trenches for a brief time before successfully applying for a transfer to theRoyal Navy . He spent a year as an administrative officer inFrance with theRoyal Navy Air Service before being invalided back home to England.William and Lottie Dod settled at
Westward Ho inDevon afterWorld War II and settled to a life of golf in retirement. In his eighties he moved back toLondon and died inEarl's Court in 1954.References
*
*External links
* [http://www.databaseolympics.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=DODWIL01 William Dod on databaseOlympics.com ]
Persondata
NAME=Dod, William
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=British archer
DATE OF BIRTH=18 July 1867
PLACE OF BIRTH=
DATE OF DEATH=8 October 1954
PLACE OF DEATH=
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