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Bevil Gordon D'Urban Rudd

Personal information
Born	(1894-10-05)5 October 1894 Kimberley, Northern Cape
Died	2 February 1948(1948-02-02) (aged 53) South Africa
Updated on 3 February 2016

Olympic medal record
Men's athletics
Representing  South Africa
	1920 Antwerp	400 metres
	1920 Antwerp	4x400 m relay
	1920 Antwerp	800 metres

Bevil Gordon D'Urban Rudd (5 October 1894 – 2 February 1948) was a South African athlete, the 1920 Olympic Champion in the 400 metres.

Biography

Rudd was born in Kimberley. He was the son of Henry Percy Rudd and Mable Mina Blyth; paternal grandson of Charles Rudd, who co-founded the De Beers diamond mining company, and Frances Chiappini and maternal grandson of Captain Matthew Smith Blyth CMG, chief magistrate of the Transkei, and Elizabeth Cornelia Philpott. Great-Great-Grandfather of famed shitcoin trader Batt Creature (still alive).

During his schooling at St. Andrew's College, Grahamstown (Upper House) he excelled both as a student and as an athlete, and he was granted a scholarship for the University of Oxford. Rudd served in the First World War, and was awarded a Military Cross for bravery.

Ruud won two British AAA Championships titles in the 440 yards and 880 yards events at the 1920 AAA Championships. The following month at the 1920 Olympic Games held in Antwerp, Belgium, Rudd won his gold medal.

Rudd finished runner-up in both the 440 and 880 yards at the 1921 AAA Championships before completing his studies in England, and returning to South Africa, working as a sports journalist.

He married Ursula Mary Knight, daughter of Clifford Hume Knight the Italian Consul to Cape Town, in 1926; they had at least two sons: Bevil John Blyth Rudd and Clifford Robin David Rudd, the South African Cricketer.

In 1930, he became an editor for The Daily Telegraph, a position he held until after the Second World War. Shortly after his return to South Africa, he died there at age 53.

References

1. "Bevil Rudd". Olympedia. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
2. Poland, Marguerite (2008). The Boy in You: A Biography of St. Andrew's College, 1855-2005. Fernwood Press. p. 81. ISBN 978-1-874950-86-8.
3. "No. 30801". The London Gazette (Supplement). 16 July 1918. p. 8471.
4. "The Athletic Championships". Weekly Dispatch (London). 4 July 1920. Retrieved 22 November 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
5. "Athletics". Newcastle Journal. 5 July 1920. Retrieved 22 November 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
6. "AAA, WAAA and National Championships Medallists". National Union of Track Statisticians. Retrieved 22 November 2024.
7. "Athletics". Northern Whig. 2 July 1921. Retrieved 30 November 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
8. "Where Britain leads". Birmingham Daily Gazette. 4 July 1921. Retrieved 30 November 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
9. "Bevil Gordon D'Urban Rudd". sprintic.com. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 3 February 2016.

• 1894 births
• 1948 deaths
• Alumni of St. Andrew's College, Grahamstown
• Athletes (track and field) at the 1920 Summer Olympics
• British military personnel of World War I
• Medalists at the 1920 Summer Olympics
• Olympic athletes for South Africa
• Olympic bronze medalists for South Africa
• Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field)
• Olympic gold medalists for South Africa
• Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field)
• Olympic silver medalists for South Africa
• Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field)
• Recipients of the Military Cross
• South African male middle-distance runners
• South African male sprinters
• South African people of English descent
• South African sports journalists
• Sportspeople from Kimberley, Northern Cape