David Jacobs
Track
Wales' first Olympic gold medallist. Won gold in the 4x100m relay at Stockholm 1912 as part of a world-record-setting British team. Dominated Welsh championships with 12 titles between 1910 and 1914.
Biography
David Jacobs (1888-1976) was born in Cardiff and became Wales’ first Olympic gold medallist. At the 1912 Stockholm Olympics he was part of Britain’s 4 x 100m relay team that set a world record of 42.4 seconds, running the third leg and handing over with a five-yard lead as the team took gold.
He also set Welsh records of 10.8 seconds in the 100m and 23.2 seconds in the 200m at Stockholm. Domestically he dominated the Welsh championships, winning 12 titles between 1910 and 1914, and uniquely achieved the 100/220/440-yard treble twice.
Jacobs served as captain of the British Olympic team. He lost most of his Olympic medals when his parents’ London home was bombed during the Second World War. He died in Llandudno in 1976, aged 88, and was posthumously inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2024.