Charles Ruffell

{{short description|British runner}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2015}} {{Use British English|date=May 2015}} {{Infobox sportsperson |name= Charles Ruffell |image= |caption= |birth_date= 16 September 1888 |birth_place= London, England | death_date = 9 November 1923 (aged 35) | death_place = Regent's Park, London, England |sport=Athletics |event= middle-distance |club= Highgate Harriers }} '''Charles Henry Ruffell''' (16 September 1888 – 9 November 1923) was a British track and field athlete who competed in the 1912 Summer Olympics.<ref name="SportsRef">{{cite Sports-Reference |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ru/charles-ruffell-1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200418042940/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ru/charles-ruffell-1.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=18 April 2020 |title=Charles Ruffell Olympic Results |accessdate=12 November 2017}}</ref>

== Career == Ruffell finished third behind Sydney Frost in the 2 miles steeplechase event at the 1912 AAA Championships.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000687/19120624/214/0014 |title=Athletic Championship |work=Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer |date=24 June 1912 |via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |access-date=16 November 2024 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003329/19120624/106/0004 |title=Amateur Athletic Championship |work=Leicester Evening Mail |date=24 June 1912 |via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |access-date=16 November 2024 }}</ref>

Shortly after the AAA Championships, he competed in the 1912 Olympic Games, in Stockholm, Sweden, where he was eliminated in the first round of the 1500 metres competition, as well as in the first rounds of the 5000 metres competition and 10000 metres competition.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/69453 |title=Charles Ruffell |work=Olympedia |access-date=18 April 2021}}</ref>

In 1913, he became the National steeplechase champion, and in 1914, he won the English National Cross Country Championships, which was held at Chesham.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://nuts.org.uk/Champs/AAA/index.htm |title=AAA, WAAA and National Championships Medallists |website=National Union of Track Statisticians |access-date=16 November 2024 }}</ref>

During World War I, he served in Palestine as a sapper with the Royal Engineers. He died at the age of 35 from acute pneumonia following a bout of influenza.

== References == {{reflist}}

==External links== *[http://www.olympics.org.uk/athleterecord.aspx?at=4974 profile] *{{sports links}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruffell, Charles}} Category:1888 births Category:1923 deaths Category:British men middle-distance runners Category:British men long-distance runners Category:British men steeplechase runners Category:Olympic athletes for Great Britain Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1912 Summer Olympics Category:Royal Engineers soldiers Category:British Army personnel of World War I Category:Athletes from London Category:British men cross country runners Category:English men cross country runners Category:English men middle-distance runners