William Cowhig

Like his father before him, William Cowhig was a South Wales miner, working on the coal face at the age of 14. He had the strength to become a gymnast, and as a teenager was a prominent member of the Powell’s Tillery Gymnastics Club in Abertillery. He was the club’s vice-captain when they beat the holders, St. Saviour’s of Cardiff, to win the Welsh team title in 1906, just two years after the club’s formation

Cowhig was regarded as the best gymnast in Wales in the years leading up to World War I and, in addition to winning many team titles with Tillery, he was the Welsh individual all-round champion six times between 1910-21. He came close to winning the British Championship in 1913 when he was runner-up to Bradford’s Leonard Hanson.

Cowhig made the first of three Olympic appearances at London in 1908, when he was also one of the stewards. He won his only Olympic medal at Stockholm in 1912 when he won team bronze. His third Olympics was at Antwerpen in 1920.

By the 1930s, working down the mine was a thing of the past for Cowhig. He was appointed organiser of the Treharris Boys’ Club and was also sports master, and gymnasium and swimming instructor, at the St. Athan Holiday Camp in the Vale of Glamorgan. Cowhig, who was also an excellent cross-country runner, later became a gymnastics judge and, through his passion for table tennis, was treasurer of the Treharris & District Table Tennis League.