Personal information | ||||||||||||
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Nationality | British (English) | |||||||||||
Born | (1901-10-12)12 October 1901 Hoxton, London, England | |||||||||||
Died | 3 July 1945(1945-07-03) (aged 43) Balikpapan, Indonesia | |||||||||||
Sport | ||||||||||||
Sport | boxing | |||||||||||
Medal record
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John Elliott (12 October 1901 – 3 July 1945) was a British middleweight boxer who competed in the 1920s.[1]
Elliott won a silver medal in boxing at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, losing against the successful British boxer Harry Mallin in the final bout. He won the Amateur Boxing Association 1924[2] and 1925[3] middleweight title, when boxing out of the Polytechnic Boxing Club.[4]
At some point following his Olympic appearance, Elliott emigrated to Australia. On 8 April 1941, a year-and-a-half after the outbreak of the Second World War, he enlisted in the Australian Army in Paddington, New South Wales, giving his residence as Sydney.[5] He was discharged as a staff sergeant in 1943 and became a war correspondent.[5] On 3 July 1945, while covering the invasion of Balikpapan with fellow journalist William Smith, Elliott went ahead of the advancing Australian troops; a Bren gunner, believing them to be Japanese troops, shot and killed them both.[6][7]