George Larner

George Edward Larner (7 February 1875 – 4 March 1949) was an English athlete who competed mainly in the 10-mile walk. He was a multi-time Amateur Athletic Association of England champion and won two gold medals at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London.

Career Larner was a Brighton policeman, and took up athletics at the age of 28 in 1903. At the 1904 AAA Championships, he won the Amateur Athletic Association of England (AAA) titles for the two and seven-mile track walk. He went on to retain these titles in the following year. He wanted to retire as he found training conflicted with his job, but was instead granted an extended leave period by the Police Force. In 1906, he took a two-year break from athletics to train for the upcoming 1908 Summer Olympics in London. After returning, he was disqualified in his first race in April 1908 at the AAA event in walking over seven miles, but the following July, he won the two-mile title. He was one of ten competitors to win more than a single gold medal at the 1908 Games.

In 1909, he wrote a book on walking entitled Larner's Text Book on Walking: Exercise, Pleasure, Sport.

Legacy Larner broke the world record in walking in all distances between two miles and ten miles, and the longest distance in one hour, which he set at . The record he set for the 2-mile on 14 July 1904 stood for the following 39 years.

The 1908 Summer Games was the only time that either the men's 10-mile walk or the 3500 metre walk took place. This technically means that Larner remains the reigning Olympic champion in both events, and the Olympic record holder. He is one of only a handful of British athletes to have won more than a single gold medal at any one Olympic Games, with only Charlotte Cooper having achieved it at an earlier Olympics, and Henry Taylor winning three medals at the 1908 Games.

Larner's name has been carried on the front of a Scania Omnidekka bus in the fleet of Brighton & Hove since October 2007.