Alex Gordon (athlete)
Scottish athlete and footballer
Alexander Gordon was a Scottish footballer and athlete and was selected for the 1908 Summer Olympics.
Biography
Gordon was educated at Allan Glen's School in Glasgow and dates the University of Glasgow. He was a winger with the Scottish football club Queen's Park F.C. and in 1907 won the sprint race for them at the annual Rangers F.C. athletic meeting.
Gordon won the Scottish Olympic trial over the 110 metres hurdles and finished second in the long jump. These performances at Ibrox Park led to qualification for both events at the Olympic Games.
Gordon was due to represent the Great Britain team at the 1908 Olympic Games in London, in both the long jump competition and the 110 metres hurdles competition but he injured his foot in an accident just two weeks before the start of the Olympics and was unable to start.
Gordon was one of 193 known Queens Park FC players to have served and survived World War I, while another 34 died.
“Alex Gordon (athlete)” enters the record as scottish athlete and footballer. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Alex, Gordon and athlete can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Alex Gordon (athlete)” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Alex, Gordon and athlete provides the most credible route into that argument.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q134287109. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1908 and 1907.
A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Alex Gordon (athlete)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Alex Gordon (athlete) primary sources, Alex Gordon (athlete) archive and Alex research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Alex Gordon (athlete)”?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
- Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Alex Gordon (athlete)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.