David Jacobs

To this day, the only Welsh athlete to win an individual Olympic gold medal in the standard track and field events is Lynn Davies, with his 1964 long jump victory in Tokyo.

However, David Jacobs, born in Cardiff on 30th April 1888, became Wales’s first Olympic gold medallist when he ran as part of the British 4 x 100m relay team in Stockholm in 1912 in a world record 42.4 secs.

He captained the British team in Stockholm and also took part in the individual sprints winning both of his heats in the 100 and 200m in a Welsh record 10.8 secs and 23.2 secs respectively, but was eliminated in the next round of both events. His 10.8 also equalled the Olympic record, but several athletes subsequently beat this time later in the Games. In the relay, he ran on the third leg and handed over to anchor man Vic D’Arcy five yards in the lead.

Jacobs was also part of the same team (Applegarth, Macintosh, and D’Arcy) which set a new world record for 4 x 110 yds in London in 1913.

He was a prolific winner at the Welsh championships, taking 12 titles in all between 1910 and 1914, and uniquely taking the 100/220/440 yds treble in 1911 at Barry and 1913 at Newport.

Jacobs placed second in the AAA (UK) championships on two occasions, firstly in 1912, when he was runner-up to the legendary Willie Applegarth in the 220 yds who won in 22.0 secs, and the following year when George Nicol beat him over 440 yds winning in 49.4. Unfortunately, there is no record of the times he recorded in both races, but in 1913, he almost certainly bettered his own Welsh record, which at the time stood at 50.4 secs when he was beaten by 6 yards. His best 220 yds time of 22.0 secs set in the heats of the 1912 AAA championships stood as the fastest Welsh 220 yds/200m time until equalled by Kenneth Jenkins in the 1938 Paris European Championships with a 21.9 secs timing for 200m (add 0.1 secs to 200m times to compare with 220 yds times).

He was a loyal member of London club Herne Hill Harriers, and was a prolific winner of individual races and medals for their various relay teams.

During the second world war, his parent’s house in Denmark Hill, London was severely damaged by German bombs, and he lost virtually all of his medals and trophies, including that Stockholm Gold. After leaving Cardiff at the age of 11, Jacobs returned to Wales in later life and died in Llandudno in 1976, aged 88.

He was posthumously added to our Hall of Fame in 2024

Clive Williams – with thanks to Kevin Kelly