Chris Brasher

Christopher William Brasher CBE (21 August 1928 – 28 February 2003) was a British track and field athlete, sports journalist and co-founder of the London Marathon. Brasher married English tennis champion Shirley Bloomer in 1959

Born in Georgetown, British Guiana, "Chris" Brasher went to Rugby School and then to St John's College, Cambridge, where he studied geology. He was an avid mountaineer and as a student was president of the Cambridge University Mountaineering Club and in 1948 led an expedition to Baffin Island with W A Deer.

At the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Brasher finished first in the 3000 meter steeplechase with a time of 8 minutes 41.2 seconds, but was disqualified for allegedly interfering with another runner, Ernst Larsen of Norway. The following day, after an investigation, he was reinstated as a gold medalist. Brasher had celebrated for several hours before the delayed medal ceremony, and later claimed to have been "the only Olympic champion to be totally and absolutely dejected when he received a medal".

He was one of the pioneers of orienteering in Britain and can claim the sport's first public mention in an article in The Observer in 1957: "I have just taken part, for the first time, in the one of the best sports in the world. Hard to know what to call it. Norwegians call it 'orientation'..."

He has had distinguished careers in print, as a sports editor for The Observer newspaper, and in broadcasting, as a reporter for Tonight.