Chilla Porter

Charles Michael "Chilla" Porter (11 January 193615 August 2020) was an Australian athlete and political figure. He won a silver medal in the high jump at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne. He later served as general secretary of the Liberal Party of Australia (Western Australian Division) from 1978 to 1987. Early life Porter was born in Brisbane, the son of Charles Robert Porter who was a Queensland state Liberal MP between 1966 and 1980 and served in the ministry of Joh Bjelke-Petersen. He was educated at the Anglican Church Grammar School. Athletics Porter was a high jumper who utilized the straddle technique, the dominant high jump technique before the Fosbury Flop emerged in the 1960s. At the age of 19, Porter competed for Australia in the high jump at the 1956 Summer Olympics held in Melbourne, Australia, finishing second and taking the silver medal with a leap height of 2.10m, more than 5 cm higher than his previous personal best. American Charles Dumas won the gold medal, setting an Olympic record of 2.12m, higher than the previous Olympic best by 7 cm. The event was known for lasting more than five hours and continuing well into dusk in front of 60,000 fans at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, and was the longest field event in Olympic history. The Australian media heavily covered the event, including the television station GTV9, which had just recently begun transmitting. He also won silver medals in the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games held in Cardiff, UK, with a height 2.03m, and in the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Perth, Western Australia with a height of 2.08m.