Mike Finnis

South African-born Mike Finnis joined the Merchant Navy as a 14-year-old before switching to the British Army when he was 17. He went on to see 21 years service as he rose to the rank of sergeant with the Royal Middlesex Regiment, and was later attached to the RMAS (Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst). During his time in the Army, Finnis excelled as a modern pentathlete, specialising in pistol shooting and fencing. He won the pistol event at the 1958 Army championships, and two years later finished third overall and was a member of the Great Britain modern pentathlon B team who were “possibles” for Roma Olympic selection, but Finnis never got the call up.

Finnis won his first Army championship in 1961 and finished 30th in that year´s world championships. He won both the British and Combined Services championships in 1962, both of which he won again in 1964 after being sidelined following a leg injury in 1963. Finnis was selected for the Tokyo Olympics as captain of the British modern pentathlon team when he was the highest placed of the three Britons. Finnis won his fourth Army title in five years in 1965, and that year returned to civilian life where he worked as a labourer and ended his competitive modern pentathlon career.