GREAT CAREER ENDS

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 465, 21 September 1928, Page 10

GREAT CAREER ENDS

D. G. A. LOWE RETIRES FAMOUS OLYMPIC CHAMPION At the height of his brilliant career, with British, German and Olympic championship honours to his credit, D. G. A. Lowe, a London barrister, has hung up his shoes for the last time. A great athletic career was brought to a spectacular close in Berlin last month when the brilliant Englishman turned the tables on his old and formidable rival, the uncomparable Otto Peltzer, holder of the world’s record for a half mile run. TWICE OLYMPIC CHAMPION Only 26 years of age, Lowe has won all the honours that the age-old sport of amateur athletics can bestow. Twice Olympic champion, he set the seal on a memorable career at this year’s Olympiad by winning in record time against the strongest field that has ever stepped out for an Olympic contest. m

On the track, Lowe was the beau ideal of an athlete. His style was faultless, he was a master of track tactics, and. he had the bull-dog grit that carries a man home in a desperate finish when tactics have played their part, and sheer grit and determination alone can win. TRAVELLED LIGHT

A neat sft lOin in height, Lowe at his best raced at a poundage approximating 10i stone, or a little over. His heart-breaking defeat at the hands (or rather, feet) of the flying Peltzer in the British A.A.A. championships of 1926 would have settled the championship aspirations of most men, for Peltzer loomed up at that time as the successor of the famous Nurmi, the greatest running machine of the age. But Lowe went on from triumph to triumph and at last realised his great ambition—the winning of the Olympic 800 metres for the second time in succession, followed by the defeat of his mighty opponent in the latter’s own country.

Mr. H. Amos, manager of the New Zealand Olympic team, was hopeful of persuading Lowe to visit New Zealand, but the Englishman’s work as a barrister would not permit of such a lengthy absence, and after journeying over to Berlin for a final flutter, Lowe announced his retirement. He will long be remembered among old England’s greatest athletes.