THE widow of an Olympic hero and schoolteacher has paid tribute to “a proud Yorkshireman” after his tragic death at the age of 80.
John Sherwood lived in Hillsborough and shot to fame in 1968 when he won the bronze medal in the 400m hurdles at the Mexico Olympics.
AlamyBoth Sheila Sherwood and her husband John Sherwood won Olympic medals at the same games[/caption]
GettyJohn managed to scoop a bronze medal in the 400m hurdles[/caption]
He sadly passed away after a long illness at the palliative care unit in the Northern General Hospital in Sheffield on August 19.
His heartbroken wife, Sheila, who also won an Olympic medal in Mexico, has paid tribute to her husband who she said always gave his best whatever he did.
Sheila, who took home a silver medal for the long jump, said: “There were never any half measures.
“He would do things properly and that was why he had such a great sporting career and was such a good teacher.
“We were unique in 1968, a married couple who both won medals. We’d married six months before the games.
“We were amateurs and both worked full time as teachers. John was at Intake School in Doncaster at that time, I was at Myers Grove.
“After we won our Olympic medals we just carried on as normal.”
John’s wife Shiela has received dozens of messages of condolence from his former pupils at Forth Park Comprehensive, where he worked for 37 years.
John, who is survived by his two grown up children, retired from teaching in 2005.
He and his wife trained for the Olympics together and jetted off to Mexico to compete shortly after getting married.
Sheila fondly remembered training with John at the only facilities they had available to them.
The Hillsborough Park cinder track would get doughy in the wet forcing the couple to run on roads and train in their home.
John would set up circuits in their house for Sheila and their friends to do.
Sheila said: “John made cards and put them in parts of the house, and people would do the exercise on the card.
“Then he’d shout for people to stop and move on to the next one.”
She was a teacher at Myers Grove School and the pair returned to their careers following their Olympic success.
Sheila added: “He loved teaching, and didn’t want to go into an office as a head of year. He wanted to stay as a PE teacher.”
The couple had met on a blind date, after another famous South Yorkshire athlete, Dorothy Hyman asked Sheila to come along.
Dorothy also brought John Sherwood along and he and Sheila remained as a couple ever since.
GettyJohn and Sheila trained for the games together[/caption]
John Sherwood shot to fame in 1968 when he won the bronze medal in the hurdles at the Mexico OlympicsJohn Sherwood Creator – [#item_custom_dc:creator]
