Len Pidduck

Biographical information

RolesCompeted in Olympic Games
SexMale
Full nameLeonard Bertie James "Len"•Pidduck
Used nameLen•Pidduck
BornJanuary 1926 in Dover, England (GBR)
Died10 February 2014
NOC Great Britain

Biography

A policeman based at Dartford in Kent, Len Pidduck started wrestling at the Ashdown Club in Islington at the age of 16. He was selected for the Greco-Roman heavyweight competition at the 1948 London Olympics, and the following year went on to win the British light-heavyweight freestyle title. He captured the heavyweight crown in 1951. Pidduck was also a British police champion at both freestyle and Westmorland and Cumberland styles. His last appearance in Britain was in December 1955, when he won the London Heavyweight Championship. Shortly afterwards he quit the police force to take up a position working for a copper mining company in Northern Rhodesia, after being offered the job while touring the country with an Anglo-Swedish wrestling team two months earlier. In 1962 Pidduck represented his new country at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games. He returned to England later in the 1960s.

Results

Games Discipline (Sport) / Event NOC / Team Pos Medal As
1948 Summer Olympics Wrestling GBR Len Pidduck
Heavyweight, Greco-Roman, Men (Olympic) AC