Bill Tancred

William Raymond Tancred (born 6 August 1942 ) is a sports administrator, academic, coach and former international athlete, who was also at one time a British Army PTI. He competed at the 1968 and 1972 Summer Olympics in the discus and won bronze, and silver medals in successive Commonwealth Games from 1970 to 1974. He was the British national discus champion on nine occasions, Athleticsweekly.com has ranked Tancred as the greatest British discus thrower of all time by virtue of his long reign as British record-holder and profusion of AAA Championships titles. and grew up in Felixstowe. believed that this was not a barrier to athletics in another discipline and Bill took up the discus in which his father coached him. After the family moved to Ipswich from Felixstowe he would find roads with adjoining fields to throw into and would often lose the discus in the long grass. In addition, chalk was used to draw a discus and shot circle on the road. His father would get him to read books on the subject as well, to hone the technique, a discipline not used widely in the 1950s. Bill's father would also improvise with equipment if none were available. He joined Ipswich Harriers and trained at the Ipswich Town training ground. This gave him opportunities for competition within the county and also in the Eastern Counties framework.

Sport Having represented his county, he competed in the Eastern Counties and rose quickly to domestic prominence. His first international vest for Great Britain was in 1964 against the Benelux Countries in Ghent. Although proud of his British and European and Commonwealth achievements, Tancred has made it clear that the pinnacle of being an athlete is to compete at the Olympic games, and in interviews recalls getting a letter signed by the Duke of Edinburgh, telling him that he had been selected to represent Great Britain in the 1968 Olympics. He took his father, mother, friends and siblings for a meal to celebrate. As a young athlete, he recalls being awestruck at the Olympics. He saw Bob Beamon set the long jump record, recalled talking to athletes about a new high jump method called the Fosbury flop, witnessed the Black power salute of the American sprinters and found himself competing against his idol, Al Oerter, already the three time Olympic discus champion who won his fourth gold medal in Mexico, which he reportedly said was one for each of his daughters. Of his own performance, Tancred has said that he felt he ought to have thrown better but a combination of over training and lack of experience in such a big arena as the Olympics were his downfall. The discipline of waiting long periods between throws was something he had not appreciated and found hard to reconcile to a more explosive approach that he employed.

One of the nineteen occasions that he broke the British record was at the 1972 AAA Championships in Crystal Palace, where he won a windproof jacket as an event prize with the sponsors name on it (Nationwide Building Society). However, he was not permitted to wear the jacket at AAA events due to the strict rules about sponsorship.

In total, Tancred represented Great Britain 55 times. He competed at the 1968 and 1972 Summer Olympics in the discus, and was also selected for the shot put event in 1972 but a shoulder injury prevented him in competing.

Life outside sport Tancred also served in the Army, first with the 1st East Anglian Regiment in Aden 1964 and then with the Army Physical Training Corps as a staff instructor at The Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. After his military service, he attended Loughborough College for teacher training, and then went on to Loughborough University, renowned for its sporting reputation, for a master's degree in human biology. He then obtained another master's degree by research, in physical education. Continuing his education he received a NATO Fellowship to study for a doctorate in sports management in the United States (West Virginia University).

At Sheffield University he developed the UK's first postgraduate degree courses in both Sports Management and Sports Coaching. The latter, unlike any other sports course, combined physical education with scientific and clinical expertise from a medical school in 1991. He has been active in pushing forward proposals to encourage greater sport and physical activity participation in schools.

In 2007, Bill collaborated with Professor Linda Carson from West Virginia University in the US. Professor Carson of the hugely successful Choosey Kids programme (standing for Choose Healthy Options and Start Young). After watching and studying this fun learning experience for young children to develop good motor skills and exercise with laughter and happiness, he decided to launch a similar programme in England when he returned to help promote healthy lifestyles and curb childhood obesity. He created a name, a cartoon character and delivered many talks around Suffolk to engage children in the programme. With several primary Schools taking up the programme, Bill wrote to the Department for Children Schools and Families in November 2007, who eventually launched a pilot scheme with the same aims, that incorporated cartoon characters to engage pre-school children.