President of the Australian Olympic Committee, John Coates, today paid tribute to one of “Australia’s finest Olympians”, the late Lionel Cox.

Lionel passed away in a Sydney hospital last night after a battle with pneumonia.  He was 80.

“Lionel was a well loved member of the Olympic family. He will be sadly missed. He was a tough competitor who made a great contribution to his sport as an athlete and later as a coach,” Coates said today.

“Lionel was a great supporter of the Olympic Movement. In particular he enjoyed visiting schools in the lead up to the Sydney 2000 Games recalling his Olympic experience with schoolchildren and in later years presenting Pierre de Coubertin Awards to students who excelled in sport and demonstrated the values of Olympism.  

“He was always a keen participant of New South Wales fundraising activities,” said Coates.

Lionel Cox competed at the 1952 Helsinki Olympic Games in Cycling. He won a gold medal in the 2000m tandem event with Russell Mockridge and silver in the 1000m sprint.

His Olympic gold medal ride is considered one of the most remarkable in Australian sporting history.

AOC Historian Harry Gordon describes the race with Russell Mockridge as “mission impossible”.  

Their bike had been discarded by the British team, and brought from London to Helsinki by Mockridge. Both Cox and Mockridge unpacked and put together the dismantled parts of the bike in a storeroom under the Olympic Village apartments.

More remarkable was that Cox had never ridden a tandem bike nor had he ridden with Russell Mockridge until a week before they won gold at the Olympic Games.

“Blokes who’ve trained on tandems for years wouldn’t have done what we did,” Cox recalled years later.

“But we gave it a go. We had one kick and a ride, and we jelled.”

He is survived by his son Bradley and grandchildren Kelly-Anne, Kirsty, Brett and Lionel Junior.

AOC