Ming Campbell on the first Tokyo Olympics: 'I was bored out of my skull'
As Tokyo 2021 faces its own challenges with a spike in Covid-19 cases leaving the city a spectator-free zone, there were different hurdles to cross in 1964.
After arriving in the city, Lord Campbell and fellow members of the GB team had to spend a full four weeks in the athlete’s village on a treadmill routine of sleeping, eating, and training. The regime followed issues at the previous games in Rome, where some British competitors never fully acclimatized and consequently underperformed.
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Hide Ad“At the end of it, I was bored out of my skull,” said the Liberal Democrat peer, who represented Great Britain in the sprints.
Glasgow-born Lord Campbell, former leader of the Liberal Democrats and chancellor of St Andrews University, was once hailed as the “fastest white man in the world”. Now 80, he is now one the few competitors from Tokyo ‘64 who is still active in public life.