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Former athletics writer Nigel Whitefield has died

Nigel Whitefield, the former sports writer with the Coventry Evening Telegraph, Today and Scotland on Sunday, died in the early hours of this morning. He was 52.

Whitefield had been in a medically induced coma in a Newcastle hospital for more than a week, following complications after a kidney transplant operation.

“Nigel was an ebullient character who relished his work covering the athletics circuit and boxing during the 1980s,” Steven Downes, the SJA Secretary, said today. “He was always so full of life, and that’s the shocking and saddening thing about this news. My thoughts are with his family.”

Whitefield had long struggled with kidney illness, and had had a first transplant more than 20 years ago. His condition had required him to have a dialysis machine at his home in Durham.

He had worked as a senior communications adviser at Newcastle City Council since 2007, after a career in which he had covered a range of sports for Today, until the paper’s closure, but particularly as its athletics correspondent, covering the 1988 and 1992 Olympic Games.

He later went to work in a senior position at Teletext, as well as undertaking consultancy work for the sports promotions company, Alan Pascoe Associates.

It was at APA that Whitefield met Sandra, who was to become his wife. They have two young children under the age of 12.

The SJA, its officers, committee and members, send our sincere condolences to Sandra and their family and friends. We will post details of funeral arrangements once they are known.

One thought on “Former athletics writer Nigel Whitefield has died

  1. Terrible news.

    My heart goes out to his family. Nigel will be remembered for so many things and top among them was the intro I best remember from the Seoul Olympics – “Ben Johnson came out of his blocks like a greyhound from a Korean kitchen.”

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