MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — More than 80 years after Launceston Elliot was buried in an unmarked grave in a Melbourne cemetery, Britain’s first Olympic champion will have a headstone placed on his final resting place.
Elliot, who died of cancer in 1930 seven years after moving to Australia, was a single-handed weightlifting gold medalist at the 1896 Athens Games.
Elliot’s grave was discovered in 2004 at Fawkner Cemetery in Melbourne. But it was not until two-time British Olympic gold medalist and London Games chief executive Sebastian Coe visited the grave last year that progress was made toward getting a headstone.
The ceremony will be held Sunday and will be attended by British Olympic Association chairman Colin Moynihan.
