Stan Lay

Stan Lay

MBE

Lay (right) at the 1938 British Empire Games
Personal information
Born	Stanley Arthur Lay (1906-07-27)27 July 1906 New Plymouth, New Zealand
Died	12 May 2003(2003-05-12) (aged 96) New Plymouth, New Zealand
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Sport
Sport	Athletics
Event	Javelin throw
Club	Wanganui Taranaki
Achievements and titles
Personal best	67.89 m (1928)
Medal record Representing New Zealand Commonwealth Games 1930 Hamilton Javelin throw 1938 Sydney Javelin throw

Stanley Arthur Lay MBE (27 July 1906 – 12 May 2003) was a New Zealand javelin thrower who competed at the 1928 Summer Olympics, 1930 British Empire Games, 1938 British Empire Games, and 1950 British Empire Games.

Biography

Lay won the British AAA Championships title in the javelin throw event at the 1928 AAA Championships. Shortly afterwards he represented Great Britain at the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam, Netherlands, where he finished seventh in the javelin.

Lay's best throw of 67.89 m was achieved in London on 7 July 1928 prior to the 1928 Olympics. Officials thought he had broken the world record, but they had overlooked Eino Penttilä's record throw of 69.88 the previous year. Lay's throw remained the Commonwealth record for 26 years.

He represented New Zealand at the 1930 British Empire Games, where he won a gold medal. He later won a silver in 1938, and placed sixth in 1950.

Lay was a signwriter at Stratford, and could not afford the time off to go to the 1934 British Empire Games in London. At the 1950 Empire Games Lay took the oath on behalf of all competitors.

In the 1988 New Year Honours, Lay was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire, for services to sport. Two years later he was inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame.

Further reading

• Error creating thumbnail: File missing Media related to at Wikimedia Commons
• Photo of Stan Lay, 1930s
• Stan Lay Flies Higher, portrait by Virginia Winder, website of Puke Ariki, 13 August 2004