Syd Harrington

Weightlifter Syd Harrington was the son of Tom Harrington, a well-known wrestler and weightlifter in the 1920s and was the Midland counties heavyweight weightlifting champion, and runner-up in 1923 in the national championship. Syd also became the Midland champion at middle (light)-heavyweight for the first time in 1949 and in 1952 he captured won the first of two British titles, at the same eight.

A former British clean and jerk light-heavyweight record holder, Harrington finished fourth at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Vancouver and after winning his second British title in 1956, went to the Melbourne Olympics, finishing equal ninth.

Great Britain was originally sending a four-man weightlifting team to Melbourne and made Harrington a reserve who would only travel if more funds were available, which they were. The year after the Olympics, Harrington and his wife Joyce, also a weightlifter, both represented Britain in the World Youth Festival of Sport in Moscow.

By occupation, Harrington and his father had their own Wolverhampton signwriting business, J. T. Harrington and Sons, founded in 1872.