Plaque for coach who sent 50 athletes to Olympics

A blue plaque has been unveiled in Cambridge for one of Britain's greatest athletics coaches.

Alec Nelson sent 50 competitors to the Olympic Games, including sprinter Harold Abrahams, whose 1924 Paris gold medal win was depicted in the film Chariots of Fire.

The plaque, part of a scheme run by civic charity Cambridge Past, Present & Future, was unveiled on Wednesday, and will be installed on All Saints Passage in the city, where Nelson was based for most of his career.

Nelson, a successful runner himself, was the chief coach to Cambridge University Athletics Club from 1908 to 1940, regularly defeating Oxford in Varsity meetings.

He also coached the British Olympic team and the British Army team, as well as taking the Canada team to the Amsterdam Olympics in 1928 and Ireland to the Los Angeles Olympics in 1932.

Collectively, his athletes won 17 medals, including eight gold.

Julia Eisen, a volunteer for the charity, said: "As we look around our city, we can understand our past from historic buildings but the people who made our history are no longer visible and, like Alec Nelson, are often forgotten to time."

The Cambridge Blue Plaque Scheme recognises people and events that have made a significant impact on the area.

The charity said Professor Stone, an alumnus of St Edmund's College at Cambridge, brought forward the nomination for the plaque after he conducted a study on Nelson and British Athletics prior to World War Two.

Stone said: "He became the country's leading coach in the inter-war period, guiding Cambridge to crushing victories against its rival."

Eisen said the plaque would "bring public attention to Alec Nelson at the place where he was based for much of his career".

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