John's Story
1928 - 2012
Just days before London held its historic third Olympic Games, 1948 Olympian John Treloar passed away. In the words of his son: "Dad passed away exactly as he ran. Quickly."
As Australia’s best male sprinter he represented Australia at the 1948 London Olympic Games, aged 20. Treloar competed in the 100m and 200m, placing fourth in the semi-finals of both events.
Two years later at the 1950 Empire Games in Auckland he won three gold medals in the 100 and 200 yards and the 4x100 relay.
In 1952 he was again Australia’s top male sprint representative at the Helsinki Olympic Games, where he was a finalist in the 100m. Treloar was only the second Australian to make the final of the blue-riband event after Stan Rowley in Paris 1900. In the final, Treloar placed sixth in a time of 10.5 seconds, just one-tenth of a second behind the winner. He also competed in the 200m where he won both his heat and quarter-final but broke down in the semi-final and did not finish.
The great achievements, the “have a go” mentality and the camaraderie with a touch of larrikinism that existed among the 1952 Australian Team exemplified the Olympic spirit. These values have lived among the team ever since, evident in the way they all meet at their annual reunion, held as closely as possible to the date of the opening ceremony in July 1952. Treloar was the Chairman of the “Kapyla Club” reunions and attended the 59th annual meeting at Sydney Rowing Club, just days before his passing on 23 July.
Treloar put much back into the sport of athletics, not only as an official at the highest level but as a supporter and mentor to many young athletes. In the lead up to the London 2012 Games, Treloar took the opportunity to quietly seek out a number of athletes on the Australian Team, to wish them well and to remind them that if they did their best then they would have been successful.
In 2000, Treloar was awarded the Australian Sports Medal and in 2001 he became an AM.
