Australia Olympic Historian Harry Gordon, 89

(ATR) Harry Gordon knew the Olympics better than anyone in Australia.

When I moved to Sydney in 1998 I discovered that quickly. He was the go-to person to share the lore of Australian exploits at the Games for me and other journalists.As the historian for the Australian Olympic Committee, Gordon was revered.

He had an absolutely friendly manner, a true desire to help us get the story right. And when we could not get him on the telephone or talk to him in person, he was always at our fingertips via his already legendary book, "Australia and the Olympic Games". At more than 500 pages, it is an unrivaled reference which I still consult from time to time.

Gordon died January 21 in Queensland after several weeks of illness.

"I’ve never had a more loyal friend," said Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates.

"I often turned to him for guidance and he was always there offering his support," Coates noting that he counted on Gordon to help him write most of his major speeches as AOC president.

His career spanned 70 years, beginning when he was 16 years old and hired as a copy boy for the Sydney Daily Telegraph. He became a war correspondent by the time he was 24, reporting from Korea and Algeria.

In 1952 he went to Helsinki to report on his first Olympic Games, beginning his deep association with the event.

"Journalism provides a most wonderful life of contrasts," he once said.

"Twice I went from battlefields in Korea and Algeria, where people were killing each other, to Olympic Games in Helsinki and Rome, where the mood was peace and good will."

Gordon moved on from reporting to lead newspapers and the Australian Associated Press in various capacities as an editor. As a newspaper editor in the 1960s he helped raise awareness for the use of seatbelts in automobiles which led to saving thousands of lives as laws were enacted to make seatbelt use mandatory.

In 1956 Gordonwrote a column that inspired organizers of the Melbourne Olympic Games to rename the streets in the Olympic Village. Originally named after famous battles, Gordon believed they should be named after Olympians.

For the 2000 Olympics he was a member of the public agency responsible for the Sydney Olympic Park and made sure the streets in the precinct bore the names of famous Australian Olympians.

Stepping down as an editor in the 1980s, Gordon went back to covering the Olympics, catching all of them from 1988 to 2012. He was making plans for Rio in 2016.

He was named the AOC Historian in 1992 and followed in 1994 with the publishing of the Australian Olympic history. The latest edition, titled From Athens with Pride, was published last year.

A member of the International Society of Olympic Historians, he was given the group’s highest honor in 2006.

ISOH President David Wallechinsky tells Around the Rings how much he enjoyed Gordon’s contribution to the profession.

"He was just a good person, and I think he had a real appreciation for true Olympic sport: people coming together, from all over the world. In his work, what I always liked was that he combined fastidious research of a historian with the readable writing style of a journalist. It’s something I particularly appreciated," says Wallechinsky.

Athletes whose careers Gordon chronicled in his writing say they have the highest regard for him.

"He was a beautiful man, a wonderful writer and journalist and a good friend," says Herb Elliott, 1960 Olympic champion in the 1500m.

"A shining beaming light has left us," says Peter Montgomery, a four-time Olympian in rowing and AOC Vice President.

"Labour of love is a bit of a cliché," writes Gordon in the introduction to Australia and the Olympic Games.

"But that, I reckon, is what it has truly been".

A lot of us are grateful for that love.

Written by Ed Hula.