Mitchell was the last Australian male to win an individual Olympic medal on the track and holds the only athletics medal won by an Australian athlete in an Eastern Bloc country, when he famously claimed 400m silver at Moscow 1980.

Mitchell began his athletics career at the age of 17, signing up with the Waverley Athletics Club to improve his fitness for the upcoming rugby union season.

Throughout his training, he was lucky enough to cross paths with arguably one of the world’s most successful athletics coaches, Norm Osborne.

Osborne saw promise in young Mitchell and became his coach for the rest of his track and field career.

The pair began training under Osborne’s club, St Stephen’s Harriers and at the 1974 Nationals in Melbourne, 19-year-old Mitchell surprised everyone with a second-place finish in the 400m with a time of 47.7.

Still only a teenager, Mitchell combined his athletics career with work and study, working at Dulux Australia as a research chemist. Although juggling all three, Mitchell still managed to win the 1976 national title in a time of 46.59 and was selected for his first Olympic Games, in Montreal.

Mitchell breezed through the heats and made his way into the 400m Olympic finals where he finished sixth in a time of 45.40, a new personal best.

Upon returning home, Mitchell won Commonwealth gold at Edmonton 1978 and picked up another national title but in 1979, then missed most of the season due to injury, though he made an impressive comeback, winning another national title and running a new PB of 45.35 in 1980.

With this, he was selected to his second Olympic Games, Moscow 1980 which would be his most defining. 

Mitchell qualified easily in his heats with a time of 46.63 before winning the quarterfinal in 45.73 and second in the semifinal in 45.48.

In the final, Mitchell was running well back in the field as they came off the home turn but produced his well-known strong finish to race past his opponents and claim the Olympic silver medal in a time of 44.84, just behind gold medallist Viktor Martin in 44.60.

After Moscow 1980, Mitchell competed in the 1982 Commonwealth Games where he was selected as Australia’s flagbearer. He won silver in both the individual 400m and the relay, he was then selected for his third Olympics, Los Angeles 1984. 

Here, Mitchell sadly missed out on an individual berth, but was selected for the 4x400m relay where the Aussies finished just off the podium in fourth place. The team of Mitchell, Bruce Frayne, Darren Clark and Gary Minihan ran faster than ever in a national record of 2.59.70, but it wasn’t enough to medal against a strong field of competition.

The Australians became the first team in Olympic history to break three minutes in the event and not win a medal.

Mitchell was inducted into the Athletics Australia Hall of Fame in 2011.

Outside of his achievements on the track, Mitchell was also a successful businessman and sports administrator.

After retiring from his athletics career, Mitchell became the inaugural director of the Tasmanian Institute of Sport and CEO of the Western Australian Turf Club, where he played a significant role in increasing spectatorship and participation which was recognised when he received a gold medal at the New York Advertising Awards.

He also held a number of management roles in both Australia and overseas in areas of finance and telecommunications and contributed as a writer to many national newspapers and media programs.