Tributes as town's first Olympian dies

ROTHERHAM Harriers have paid tribute to Peter Cullen, the town’s first Olympian, who has died aged 77.

A former pupil at Rotherham Grammar School, the javelin thrower made history when he flew the flag for Rotherham and Great Britain in the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne.

Introduced to field events by his PE teacher at the school, he first achieved recognition in the long jump, winning the English Schools title in 1949.

Peter, who lived in East Dene, was invited to join the national training squad and a year later went on to win the English Schools high jump crown and came joint first in the NCAA Junior Javelin Championships in 1950.

Javelin emerged as his best discipline and he broke the British Empire record twice in 1951 before adding the Inter-Counties title in both 1955 and 1956 and the AAA title in that year with a distance converted to 65.28m. He was also second in the World Student Games final in 1955.

Peter’s appearance at the Olympics in Melbourne was the high mark of his career.

Peter died in Loughborough and leaves a wife, Eleanor, and three children.