George Whiteside HILLYARD

Great Britain
Great Britain
Olympic Medals
1G
Games Participations1
First Olympic GamesLondon 1908
Year of Birth1864

Biography

To reach the final of the 1908 Olympic men’s doubles George Hillyard and his partner, Reggie Doherty, had to serve seven match points in the fourth set of the semi-final before finally defeating Clement Cazalet and Charles Dixon. In the final, Hillyard and Doherty faced Josiah Ritchie, the new Olympic singles champion, and James Parke, who had won 20 caps for Ireland at rugby. After their scare in the semi-finals, Hillyard and Doherty were relieved to take the gold medals in straight sets. At the time of his Olympic victory, Hillyard was 44 years old and had been married to Blanche Bingley, six-times winner of the Wimbledon singles, for 21 years. He was in the second year of his 17-year tenure as the Secretary of the All-England Club and his best playing years were already behind him. He had won the English covered courts doubles in 1890 and 1891 with Harry Scrivener and again in 1904 and 1905 with Laurie Doherty as his partner. Hillyard’s outstanding achievement outdoors was to win the German Championship in 1897 and 1898 when this was still one of the major international tournaments.

Olympic Results

Athlete Olympic Results Content

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