To so many he is the foundation stone on which the Australian Olympic movement is built and athletes and officials gathered in Geelong this week to celebrate Julius (Judy) Patching’s 90th birthday.

To the Australian public he is best remembered as the bloke waving the chief starter’s gun at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.

He is proud of his record in “56”, not one false start, except when he handed the gun to a junior to send the marathon field on its way. He figured no-one could bugger-up the start of the marathon.

But it is Patching’s record as an Olympic official that has earned him enormous respect and admiration not just in Australia but throughout the entire Olympic movement.

He was Secretary-Treasurer and later Secretary-General of the Australian Olympic Federation (Committee) between 1974 and 1985.

He was Athletics Section Manager on the 1960 Olympic Team in Rome, Assistant Chef de Mission at the 1964 Tokyo Games, and Chef de Mission in Mexico 1968 and Munich 1972.

He officially retired in 1985 but at age 90 he still attends the annual general meeting of the Australian Olympic Committee and provides advice to today’s sporting administrators.

Recalling his magnificent career , AOC President John Coates said, “I know of no Olympic or other sporting official who is more loved to this day by the athletes in his teams than Judy Patching. That’s why our greatest ever female track athlete and his dear friend, Betty Cuthbert has travelled to be with him today”.

Also attending the birthday tribute were the AOC Secretary-General Craig Philips, former Chef de Missions Geoff Henke and Bill Hoffmann, and former AOC Executive member, Sir Donald Trescowthick.

The IOC President Jacques Rogge sent this message. “Dear Judy, My heartfelt congratulations with your birthday. I really cherish our friendship and am very grateful for the excellent advice you gave me during your long career. Australian sport can be very proud to have such an experienced sports leader and great personality”.

In his book Australia and the Olympic Games, Harry Gordon, provided this insight into Patching’s management style:

When Dawn Fraser didn’t want to use the official team costume in her 100m final in Tokyo and after others had simply closed the door on her protests, Judy “did some hard talking, appealing to her as an Australian, convincing her that the official swimsuit was after all the team uniform.

‘I finally talked her into swimming’ in the team Speedos. When the late Peter Norman joined Tommie Smith and John Carlos on the dais for their medals after the 200m in Mexico wearing a civil rights badge there were many clamouring for him to be sent home like the Americans.

Not Judy. He told him – “I’ve been ordered to severely reprimand you. Consider that done. And by the way, I have some tickets for you for the hockey tonight”.

And Judy was our Chef de Mission during the most difficult episode to confront the Olympic Games when the Palestinian terrorists invaded the Olympic Village in Munich.

He supported Avery Brundage’s decision that the “Games must go on”. He saw Brundage’s simple announcement, and the episode it represented, as fortifying the Olympic movement.

AOC