James Achurch | UniSC | University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia

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James Achurch

Javelin (January 1991)

From the Sunshine Coast, Jim was the first Queenslander ever to win Empire Games (Commonwealth Games) gold medal. Jim represented Australia in javelin at the 1954 Vancouver Commonwealth Games, winning gold with a throw of 224ft (68.27m) and breaking the old record by more than 17ft.

Jim was the first Australian to throw a javelin more than 200ft (over 60m). He was also a top ranked tennis player in Queensland and represented his country eight times in total, three in athletics, five in veterans' tennis.