Jimmy's Story
The teenaged Jimmy Carlton, who had been a schoolboy sporting prodigy whilst at Sydney’s St Joseph’s College, competed in the first and second rounds of the 100 metres and 200 metres at Amsterdam 1928. In the fastest-run second round heat of the 200 metres, that included two of the eventual medallists, he just missed qualifying for the semi-finals.
Over the succeeding three and a half years, Carlton was in sparkling form, running many world-class times. He was one of the first selected to attend the Empire Games in Hamilton, Canada in 1930, but withdrew from the team. Nevertheless, his times on the track were such that he was considered to be one of the leading contenders for the sprints at the 1932 Olympic Games to be held in Los Angeles, but in January of that year he suddenly retired from athletics and entered the priesthood.
