Lloyd Valberg

Lloyd Valberg
	Valberg at the 1948 Summer Olympics
Personal information
Full name	Lloyd Oscar Valberg
Nationality	Singaporean
Born	14 April 1922; Singapore
Died	26 March 1997 (aged 74); Perth, Australia
Sport
Country	Singapore
Sport	Athletics
Event(s)	High jump, Hurdles, triple jump

Lloyd Oscar Valberg (14 April 1922 – 26 March 1997) was a Singaporean track and field athlete and the first from Singapore to compete at the Olympic Games when he joined the 1948 edition that was held in London, United Kingdom.^[2]

Early years

Born in Singapore, he took up the high jump when he was 17, and in 1947 he broke the Singapore record with a jump of 1.87m.

Career

Valberg served in the Singapore Fire Brigade from 1937 to the end of World War II and then at Port Authority where he became the Chief Fire Officer until 1972.

Athletics career

Valberg qualified for the high jump final at the 1948 Summer Olympics where he finished 14th.^[3]

Valberg finished seventh in the 1950 British Empire Games 120 yards hurdles and eleventh in the high jump. He finished third in the 110 metres hurdles at the 1951 Asian Games, while representing Singapore, and was also the country's flag bearer.

Personal life

Valberg was a grand-uncle to Singapore's first Olympic gold medalist, Joseph Schooling, in the 100m Butterfly in the 2016 Summer Olympics. It was Lloyd who inspired Schooling to compete in the Olympics.^[4]

Valberg died in Perth in 1997.

References

^ ^a ^b Robert, Godfrey (29 March 1997). "Farewell Valberg, a man of many talents". The Straits Times. p. 36.
^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Lloyd Valberg". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 30 October 2014.
^ "Lloyd Valberg". singapore olympics.com. Archived from the original on 13 November 2013. Retrieved 30 October 2014.
^ Chua, Siang Yee (30 September 2014). "Chat Made Games Dream Fly". AsiaOne.