Michael Lapage
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| Birth name | Michael Clement Lapage | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 15 November 1923 Shaftesbury, England | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 20 July 2018 (aged 94) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 6 ft (183 cm) (1948)[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 13 st (182 lb; 83 kg) (1948)[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Michael Clement Lapage (15 November 1923 – 20 July 2018) was an English missionary and rower who competed for Great Britain in the 1948 Summer Olympics.
Biography
[edit]Lapage was born at Shaftesbury, Dorset, the son of Reginald H. Lapage, vicar of Shaftesbury, and his wife Dora Ehlvers. He was educated at Monkton Combe School where he was a contemporary of fellow Olympic rower Alfred Mellows. He gained a position as a reader of geography at Selwyn College of the University of Cambridge but did not manage to make the university's rowing team as World War II intervened. Lapage saw service as a Fleet Air Arm pilot in the Pacific during the war. Coming close to being shot down had a lasting impact on him.[1]
After the war Lapage was back at the University of Cambridge and was a member of the winning university's boat in the 1948 Boat Race.[1] Most of that crew then won the silver medal rowing at the 1948 Summer Olympics in the men's eight at the 1948 London Olympics.[2] The English athletes were still on rations at the time and Lapage believed that the winning Americans, who had ready access to meat, were at an advantage. At the 1950 British Empire Games he won the bronze medal as part of the English boat in the men's eight competition.[1]
In the late 1950s, Lapage became a Christian missionary due to his upbringing and his near death experience during the war.[1] He was ordained in Kenya in 1961.[3] On 19 May 2012 he carried the Olympic torch in the relay for the 2012 Olympic Games, in St Austell, Cornwall.[4]
Lapage died on 20 July 2018.[5]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f "Wartime pilot won an Olympic rowing medal and became a missionary in Africa". The Press. Telegraph Group. 7 August 2018. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
- ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Michael Lapage". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
- ^ Church Times Issue 7427 – 15 July 2005 Michael Lapage Fleet Air Arm pilot, rowing silver medallist in the 1948 British Olympics, and missionary teacher in Kenya[permanent dead link]
- ^ "BBC News - 1948 Olympian Michael Lapage waves to the crowd as he takes his turn with the torch".
- ^ "Lapage". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 31 July 2018. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
- 1923 births
- 2018 deaths
- English male rowers
- Cambridge University Boat Club rowers
- Olympic rowers for Great Britain
- Rowers at the 1948 Summer Olympics
- Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain
- Olympic medalists in rowing
- Rowers at the 1950 British Empire Games
- Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for England
- People educated at Monkton Combe School
- English Protestant missionaries
- Medalists at the 1948 Summer Olympics
- Commonwealth Games medallists in rowing
- Protestant missionaries in Kenya
- Fleet Air Arm personnel of World War II
- Fleet Air Arm aviators
- People from Shaftesbury
- Sportspeople from Dorset
- Medallists at the 1950 British Empire Games
- Military personnel from Dorset
- 20th-century English sportsmen