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John Cann (athlete)

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John Cann
Personal information
NationalityAustralian
Born (1938-01-15) 15 January 1938 (age 86)
Sydney, Australia
Height185 cm (6 ft 1 in)
Weight82 kg (181 lb)
Sport
SportAthletics, rugby league
EventDecathlon

John Cann (born 15 January 1938) is an Australian athlete. He held an Australian record in hurdles as well as New South Wales state records in hurdles, discus and javelin.[1] He was described in The Canberra Times in 1957 as one of Australia’s best all-round athletes.[1] He represented Australia in the 1956 Summer Olympic Games in Melbourne finishing 10th in the decathlon.[2]

He also played rugby league for New South Wales Country Firsts (1959) and for the New South Wales state team (1960).[3]

He devoted his post-athletic career to exhibiting and studying snakes and writing several books and lecturing about them.[4] He became known as the Snake Man of La Perouse (a suburb of Sydney).[5] In a YouTube video titled The Snakeman of La Perouse he reflects on his near-lifetime involvement with snakes, other reptiles and turtles.[6] In 2018 he published an as-told-to autobiography titled John Cann - The Last Snake Man.[7]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Olympic Stars for Athletics". Canberra Times. 22 March 1957.
  2. ^ "John Cann". Olympedia. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
  3. ^ "John Cann - Career Stats & Summary - Rugby League Project". rugbyleagueproject.org.
  4. ^ "John Cann's 80th birthday at the La Perouse Museum". 16 January 2018.
  5. ^ "Honour for snake man with a passion for turtles". Sydney Morning Herald. 7 November 2012. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
  6. ^ "The Snakeman of La Perouse" – via youtube.com.
  7. ^ "The Last Snake Man - John Cann with Jimmy Thomson - 9781760630515 - Allen & Unwin - Australia". allenandunwin.com.
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