John Fairgrieve

At the time of the 1948 Olympics John Fairgrieve was a medical student at Caius College, Cambridge and Middlesex Hospital. At Cambridge he won the Inter-Varsity Sports 100 yards in 1945-47 and the 220 yards in 1947. He was second in the AAA Championships in the 220 yards in 1947-48, helping Achilles AAA win the 4x110 yard relay in 1948. At the 1947 World Student Games Fairgrieve finished 2nd in the 100 and 4th in the 200 metres. In addition to athletics he also played rugby, earning a Cambridge Blue as a wing-three quarter, and had trials for both England and Scotland.

Fairgrieve later did military service as a major with the Royal Medical Corps from 1952-54. He specialized in vascular surgery, later working as a senior consultant at Middlesex Hospital and at hospitals in Gloucestershire, Cheltenham, and Stroud. He pioneered vascular surgery in the southwest of England and helped set up exchange programs with surgeons in the United States and Australia. As a hobby, Fairgrieve was also a talented artist.

Personal Best: 200 – 21.6 (1947).