| Peter Whiteside | |
| Birth Date: | 23 June 1952 |
| Birth Place: | Marton, Middlesbrough, England |
| Death Place: | Peterborough, England |
| Sport: | Modern pentathlon |
| Show-Medals: | yes |
Peter Whiteside (23 June 1952 - 14 April 2020) was a British modern pentathlete.[1] He competed at the 1980 Summer Olympics,[2] and he was the British Modern Pentathlon champion in 1985.[3] He died from complications due to COVID-19.[4]
Whiteside was born in Marton, Middlesbrough, England in 1952.[1] He excelled in swimming when he was young, winning multiple races in the north east of England.[1] In 1969, he joined the Royal Air Force as a mechanic, taking up pentathlon four years later.[1] In 1977, he moved over to the British Army working for the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers.[5] Here he worked with Jim Fox, who had won the gold medal as part of the Great Britain team at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal.[6] Later in 1977, Whiteside finished in second place in the British Modern Pentathlon Championship, just behind Olympian Danny Nightingale.[1] Whiteside again finished in second place in 1983,[1] before winning the British title in 1985.[7]
Whiteside competed in the modern pentathlete at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.[1] In the individual event, he finished in 21st place,[8] and finished in eighth place in the team event.[9]
In 1983, Whiteside was involved in a fencing accident that resulted in the death of his opponent, John Warburn.[10] The pair were training in a practice session when part of Whiteside's blade entered Warburn's neck.[10] The coroner recorded the death with the verdict of misadventure, with the death being the first in the history of British fencing.[10]
Following his career in the army, Whiteside went on to become a coach at the Reading Fencing Club.[1] [7] He later became the Director of Fencing at several international pentathlon tournaments.[5] In 2007, Whiteside moved to Cyprus,[5] [3] running a business in the sports nutrition sector.[1] However, the following year, he was diagnosed with a brain tumour.[1] Despite having a successful operation, another tumour appeared in 2016.[1] This left him with brain damage and requiring the use of a wheelchair.[1] He returned to England in 2018 for further care, but died of COVID-19 in April 2020.[5] He was remembered in the In Memoriam section of the 2020 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award ceremony.[11]