Wilfrid's Story
1895 – 1970
Wilfrid Kent Hughes, the 1915 Rhodes Scholar for Victoria, competed in the preliminary rounds of the 110 metres and 400 metres hurdles events at Antwerp 1920. A veteran of both world wars, he became the Chairman of the Organising Committee for the Olympics Games in Melbourne in 1956, for which he was knighted in 1957.
In World War 1 he was awarded the Military Cross and was mentioned in despatches four times. It was to Kent Hughes that the 17-year-old John Ian Wing sent a letter suggesting a new format for the athletes to participate in the closing ceremony at Melbourne. That format was for the competitors to enter the stadium in one intermingled group and to walk, rather than march, around the arena. Kent Hughes arranged for the approval of the International Olympic Committee for this departure from the previous practice of a limited number of competitors marching in national groups.That part of the closing ceremony became the norm for all future closing ceremonies and in 1995 the noted Olympic Historian, Bud Greenspan, named Wing’s suggestion as one of the 100 greatest moments in Olympic history.
