When the 1948 Games came around, Britain was still under food rationing – which didn’t help his preparations for the race
The oldest surviving British athlete of the 1948 London Games was robbed of a gold medal by the Second World War – but he refuses to be bitter.
Gutsy Bill Lucas, 95, who ended up getting a medal for his flying heroics, told the Mirror: “I had a good war instead.”
The 5,000m runner was on course to steal gold in 1940… then the Olympics were axed that year and again in 1944 because of the global conflict.
By the time they were held again in 1948, Bill was 31 and past his prime.
But he says: “I was gratified that I was picked to take part.
“I had been looking forward to going to Helsinki in 1940 but Mr Hitler deprived me of that and of the Games in 1944 but I had a good war instead.
"By the end of it I’d been flying missions for Bomber Command and drinking gallons of beer.”
Bill, from Cowfold, West Sussex, flew 81 death-defying missions over Germany, including the 1,000 bomber raid on Cologne in 1942.
His bravery earned him a Distinguished Flying Cross medal and he was Mentioned in Dispatches.
He volunteered in 1940 and flew for 9 Squadron (Wellingtons), 15 Squadron then 162 Squadron, rising to the rank of Squadron Leader.
However, he can’t help musing: “But for the war I could have won a gold medal or set a world record.”
When the 1948 Games came around, Britain was still under food rationing – which didn’t help Bill’s preparations for his race.
He says: “The athletes were on rations just like everyone else.
“I was pushing 32 and had only had 12 months of reasonably good training, whereas today’s athletes take eight years.
“At the opening ceremony it was 34C. We had four hours of marching about, standing up, sitting down then standing up again.
"We raced two days later so I wasn’t at my best, and didn’t run my best race. None of the British boys did.”
Bill was beaten in the heats by Emil Zatopek, who was dubbed the “Czech Locomotive” and went on to win four Olympic golds.
“Emil and I didn’t say much,” Bill remembers. “We just sort of passed each other on the starting line.
“Was I disappointed with the result? Not really. The war had hardened me up.”
The post-war Games – the last time Britain hosted them until now – were a far cry from London 2012.
Bill, who worked as an insurance broker, says the athletes were housed not in a glitzy Olympic village but in cramped conditions at RAF Uxbridge, Middlesex.
“I’d been stationed there when I joined up so I preferred to stay at home,” he adds.
There were no Games road lanes or other special treatment for competitors, either.
Bill simply took the bus from his home in Surrey to Croydon, the train to London and then the Tube to Wembley.
“I walked to the stadium with the fans,” he says. “Everybody was just the same.
“When my race finished I went home and went back to work – but I did go back for the closing ceremony.
"They gave us a blazer, tracksuit, vest and a beret and that was about it.”
Bill, who lives with his wife Sheena, still wears his blazer with pride, and has the 1948 Games programme of his 5,000m battle with Zatopek, which cost a shilling.
He remains heavily involved with athletics, despite not being able to walk very well, and has been a member of London’s Belgrave Harriers for 77 years.
For a long time he was the announcer at London’s now defunct White City stadium, where he was known as “the golden voice of athletics”.
And currently he is campaigning against the planned closure of the Broadbridge Heath Leisure Centre in Horsham, West Sussex, which has a 400m running track.
“It’s a marvellous centre,” he says. “They’ll probably knock it down and build houses.”
Bill is involved in the RAF Association and the Royal British Legion, too, and helped raise £10,000 towards the £7.5million Bomber Command memorial unveiled by the Queen last month.
“I’m also in a group called PROBUS – Poor Retired Old B****** Unfit for Sex,” he adds with a glint in his eye.
At the moment Bill is looking forward to London 2012, and has been contacted by the British Olympics Association after a public outcry persuaded them to involve our 1948 athletes.
He’s had lunch with Princess Anne and toured Team GB’s headquarters with the other surviving competitors.
They include Dorothy Tyler, 92, who won the high-jump silver, John Parlett, 82, an 800m finalist, and his wife Dorothy Manley, 85, the 100m silver medallist.
Bill has also been given tickets to the final of this year’s 5,000m race.
He says: “I’m pleased to get the tickets and I did enjoy the lunch.
“There had been talk some time ago of me carrying the torch in the relay before the Games but it never amounted to anything.
“I can’t walk more than about 200 yards these days but it would have been nice if a few of the Belgrave Harriers could have pushed me in a wheelchair while I held the torch.”
He plans to watch as much of London 2012 as he can on a new television he has bought especially for the Games. “We will certainly have a good view,” he says.
“At lunchtimes I will have a gin and tonic, and in the evenings Sheena and I will pour ourselves a Scotch as we usually do at 5.40pm. On the dot.”
