Dick Telford

Richard David Telford AM (born 2 April 1945) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for Collingwood and Fitzroy in the Victorian Football League (VFL) during the 1960s, although he mainly played reserves. He went on to become as a leading Australian sport scientist and distance running coach. He was the first sport scientist employed by the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS).

Personal He was born 2 April 1945 in Melbourne, Victoria. He is married to Sue and they have two children.

Sporting career Telford never played a game of competitive football or cricket through primary school as the school was too small to field a team. This all changed when he went to Northcote High School where his football and cricket blossomed. He played his junior football with North Reservoir. the club Best Player Award, and Preston won the Premiership. Telford spent the 1975 and 1976 seasons as non-playing coach of Preston after returning from Western Australia.

Telford was a world class veterans runner. He competed in the Melbourne Marathon in 1978 and recorded a time 3 hours 12 minutes, and following 5 other marathons recorded a personal best time of 2-hour 27 minutes.

Sport scientist career Whilst studying for his PhD, Telford was invited to look after the Victorian Sheffield Shield Cricket team as Manager and Coaching Coordinator. During his time with the team, it won back to back Sheffield Shield's in 1978/9 and 1979/80 as well as the One-day competition. At the 2012 London Olympics two of his athletes Lisa Weightman and Michael Shelley were selected. Both athletes won medals at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. He coached Shelley to win the 2014 Commonwealth Games Men's Marathon gold medal.

He was distance running coach on the Australian teams at the 1992 Barcelona and 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

Recognition 1988 – Foundation Fellow of Sports Medicine Australia 1990 – Fellow of American College of Sports Medicine 1992 – Member of the Order of Australia for service to sport and sport science. 2014 – Athletics Australia Australian Sports Commission Coach of the Year 2017 – ACT Senior Australian of the Year 2018 – ACT Sport Hall of Fame Associate Member 2018 – AIS Sport Performance Awards - Service to Sport Award