Australia’s two fastest men have been told to find somewhere else to train.
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It’s in a rebuilding post-World War II atmosphere, as eventual gold medallist John Treloar and the “Wollongong Flash” David Johnson were preparing for the 1950 Empire Games in Auckland.
The spikes they’re wearing are digging up the dog track and the ground staff at Wollongong Showground – now WIN Stadium, home to NRL leaders St George Illawarra – weren’t having a bar of it.
Off they go, back to the footy field, the grass longer than they’d like.
Johnson had to raise 100 pounds to compete – forget the comparatively pampered professionalism today – and the Mercury printed a daily tally to help rally the community.
Having only just turned 18, Johnson could barely hear for two days after landing, because of the noise made by the DC-4 plane which carried them across the ditch.
Nerves got the better of him in the 100 yards and he failed to qualify for the final, a race dominated by Treloar.
But Johnson recovered to win silver in the 220 yards finals behind his training partner.
Johnson then won gold as part of the 4x110-yard relay team, as the crowd celebrated a new era of peace, as much as an Empire Games sporting spectacle.
It needs to be remembered, at the time, athletics and swimming captivated the nation more than ever, as the fabled premiership dominance of St George and South Sydney were only just starting.
“I was a naturally shy person, I still am,” Johnson said. “The support was enormous, it was quite overwhelming, they had my blazer and medals on display in Crown Street.
“We’d had a campaign run by the Mercury and the Lord Mayor supporting the fundraising so I could get there, the community got behind us. “It was a very different time, back then the only team uniform we had, aside from the official blazer, were white singlets with a map of Australia on it and white shorts with green and gold ribbons on it.”
After his success in New Zealand, the world stage beckoned.
The youngest member on the Games athletics team, Johnson was viewed as a future star and potential medal prospect for the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.
He had beaten Hector Hogan in competition, who went on to claim bronze in the 1956 Melbourne Olympic 100-yard final.
Johnson had also recorded a personal best of 9.6 seconds, though wind assisted, while competing at the Sydney Cricket Ground, equalling Treloar’s mark on the same day.
But fate would intervene, diagnosed with polio after the Empire Games and in at times excruciating pain in his joints, ending his career.
“Who knows what might have been, I was only young,” Johnson said, who now lives on the Gold Coast, the venue for the Commonwealth Games starting next week. I tried to run again later, but I didn’t have the pace. It just wasn’t meant to be.”
Now 88, Wollongong’s George Gedge was also part of a golden post-war athletics era. Gedge was a long jumper, though as a tall man, his passion was always basketball.
He only took up hurdling as “a bit of fun”, but quickly realised an immense potential when he broke the national under-19 record by nine-tenths of a second.
Soon after, Gedge was on the plane to NZ as well – and came back with a 4x440-yard relay medal.
Gedge also took out a 220-yard hurdles event, but it was an invitational race, rather than officially sanctioned Empire Games race.
The lanky then teenager also missed out on a chance for an individual medal when he came crashing down on the second last hurdle in the 440-yard final.
Turning in the straight, Gedge is shoulder to shoulder with eventual gold medallist Duncan White from Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), who recorded a Games record in 52.5 seconds, beating home New Zealand’s John Holland by two-tenths.
There’s a Youtube clip, showing the painful moment in black-and-white.
“Only my pride,” Gedge says with a laugh, when asked if he was hurt. “By the time I looked up, all I could see was them crossing the line.
“I recently saw it on the internet, my son showed me, so I was in contention.”
Gedge continued to compete at national titles for another six years, but admits he was never totally dedicated to the sport.
“It was a costly exercise in those days and when I had a young family, I decided to stop,” he said.
“But basketball was always my true passion.
“I was playing in Sydney and was part of the state team for five years. Of course, back then, there was no national league as there is today. Competing for your state was the highest honour.”
Gedge went on to coach, including a stint with the Illawarra Kittyhawks, and can still be found on the golf course at Wollongong.
And while both their athletics careers left unanswered questions, they leave a golden legacy for Wollongong and Australia.
Johnson will have the opportunity to see the baton handed over to the newest generation in his own backyard on the Gold Coast.
A band of talented athletes from the South Coast will be competing in the Commonwealth Games, including swimmers David and Emma McKeon, hockey talent Blake Govers, Flynn Ogilvie and Gerringong’s Grace Stewart.
Wollongong’s Emma Tonegato is part of the Rugby Sevens charge, while the region has a number of adopted favourites, including in triathlon and basketball.
The two-time 1500m Olympic runner Ryan Gregson, from Bulli, has always been known as the “Little King”, but maybe Johnson will let him borrow the title of “Wollongong Flash”, just for a few hours.
