George B. VAN DAMEN

George de Relwyskow of Hammersmith won the British lightweight and middleweight titles in 1907 and 1908 and contested both events at the 1908 Olympics. After losing to Stanley Bacon in the middleweight final, de Relwyskow had no difficulty in winning the gold medal in the lightweight division where he defeated the novice William Wood, who had only taken up the sport six months previously. De Relwyskow had celebrated his 21st birthday the previous months and held the record of being the youngest winner of an Olympic gold medal for wrestling until 1976 when the 20-year-old Russian Suren Nalbandyan won the Greco-Roman lightweight title. De Relwyskow, who was coach to the 1924 British Olympic team, eventually settled in Yorkshire and was a builder and decorator in Leeds, where he was also a part-time masseur to various sporting clubs.