Ian Browne

Ian Sterry Browne (22 June 1931 – 24 June 2023) also known as Joey Browne was an Australian track cyclist who along with Tony Marchant won the 2000 m tandem event at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne.

Unusually tall and strongly built for a cyclist, Browne had little formal training and won his first Australian title in 1953 in the 10 mile event. Browne did not team up with Marchant until early in 1956 and they promptly won the tandem event at the national championships to earn national selection. The pair were eliminated after losing their first two races but were given a reprieve when the Soviet Union pair were hospitalised in a crash and forced to withdraw. Thereafter Marchant and Browne were unbeaten and progressed to an unlikely Olympic gold. Browne's combination with Marchant was broken after the Olympics when the latter retired. In 1958, Browne won the 10 mile event at the national titles and went on to win the event at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games. Browne went on to compete in the 1960 and 1964 Olympics in the tandem event, both times with new partners, but both times he was eliminated in the repechage round. In 1964, he became the oldest ever track cyclist to represent Australia at the Olympics at the age of 33. He won the last of his national titles at the age of 37 in 1968 in the tandem event but was overlooked for Olympic selection by Australian officials. He retired and later was involved in cycling administration.

Early years Browne was born in Melbourne to Linda and Alex Browne, the second of three brothers. His father was a printer and Browne took his elementary education at Chatham Public School, before moving on to Box Hill High School and later took his university education at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT). While he was at university, he also worked in Sunshine as a laboratory assistant at Spaldings. At the age of 20, he graduated from RMIT and took a job at the State Electricity Commission, where he worked for over 35 years continuously since then, always riding his bicycle to work, a daily journey of around 15 km. Marchant had risen to prominence by winning the 500 m time trial at the 1955 Australian Championships for juniors, prompting Browne to select him as his partner based on his raw speed. For a final test run before formally committing to racing together, the pair simply had a few tandem sprints around the track, with Browne sitting in the front seat. The Australians made their move too early and led at the ringing of the bell at the start of the last lap, but they were overhauled well before the line as they faded in the final straight.

Later career Following the Olympics, Marchant retired,

At the age of 39, he married Rhonda, a primary school teacher. They had three children, a girl and two boys.

Browne died on 24 June 2023, at the age of 92.