Lawrence Morgan

Infobox afl player NEW
playername = Lawrence Morgan
fullname = Lawrence Robert Morgan
image capt =


birthdate = 5 February 1915
birthplace =
dead = dead
deathdate = 19 August 1997
deathplace = ?
originalteam =
heightweight = 183 cm / 84 kg
position =
debutinformation = Round 1, 1937, Fitzroy vs
St Kilda at Junction Oval
years = 1937-39
clubs = Fitzroy
games(goals) = 34 (14)
statsend = 1939
careerhighlights =

Lawrence 'Laurie' Morgan (5 February 1915 - 19 August 1997) was an Australian sportsman who is the only person to play VFL/AFL football and win an Olympic Gold Medal. He played his Australian rules football with Fitzroy during the late 1930s and won two golds medal in equestrian at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome.

When Morgan, a country boy, came to Fitzroy in 1937 he got to play in the same side as the great Haydn Bunton. He spent two further seasons at Fitzroy, both under coach Gordon Rattray, before leaving.

Morgan returned to the sporting scene in 1960, at the age of 42, when he competed for the Australian equestrian team at the Rome Olympics. Riding his horse 'Salad Days', Morgan won a Gold Medal ahead of countryman Neale Lavis in the Individual Three-Day Event to become the first Australian to win an equestrian gold medal. The former VFL player then teamed up with Lavis and Bill Roycroft to win Gold in the Team Event, best remembered for Roycroft's heroics in riding despite suffering concussion and severe bruising of his ribs and collarbone from a previous fall.

Although the Australian Olympic team consisted of big names like Herb Elliott, Dawn Fraser and Murray Rose, Morgan was the only dual Gold Medalist.

External links

*AflRleague|ref=L/Lawrie_Morgan.html
* [http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/mo/lawrence-morgan-1.html Sports Reference: Lawrence Morgan]
* [http://corporate.olympics.com.au/news.cfm?ArticleID=6649 Article from the AOC website]