53 Facts About Hubert Opperman

Sir Hubert Ferdinand Opperman, OBE, referred to as Oppy by Australian and French crowds, was an Australian cyclist and politician, whose endurance cycling feats in the 1920s and 1930s earned him international acclaim.

Hubert Opperman was born on 29 May 1904 in Rochester, Victoria.

Hubert Opperman was the eldest of five children born to Bertha and Adolphus Samuel Ferdinand Oppermann.

Hubert Opperman's parents were both born in Victoria, with his father of German descent.

Hubert Opperman's father had worked as a butcher, miner, timber-cutter and coach driver.

Hubert Opperman attended several schools and delivered Post Office telegrams by bicycle.

Hubert Opperman's sister Winifred was born in Western Australia in 1907; after that the family moved back to Victoria where Hubert Opperman's twin siblings Bertha Ellen and Otto Alexander were born in 1910, followed by younger brother Bruce some years later.

Hubert Opperman's father enlisted in the Australian Army in World War I and he was sent to live with his paternal grandmother in Melbourne, where he completed his education in Glen Iris.

Hubert Opperman came third in a cycling race at 17 in 1921.

Hubert Opperman is the only rider to have won the Australian national road race title four times, in 1924,1926,1927 and 1929.

Hubert Opperman was critical of the handicap races then prevalent in Australian cycling Hubert Opperman's plea for scratch racing was partially met in 1934 in the Centenary 1000, a one-week road bicycle race over seven stages covering 1,102 miles.

Hubert Opperman had injured his knee in a fall in stage 4 near Wangaratta, but despite this he was still well placed at 3rd in the championship.

Hubert Opperman injured his knee again in a fall whilst descending from Mount Hotham.

Hubert Opperman cut his hand requiring stitches, which he refused until after the stage.

Hubert Opperman battled on to Sale, losing 27 minutes on the stage to Lamb.

Hubert Opperman attempted to finish the race, but was forced to abandon at Traralgon, said to be the first time Oppy had retired from a race.

Hubert Opperman went to Europe in April 1928 with Harry Watson of New Zealand and Ernie Bainbridge and Percy Osborn of Australia.

Hubert Opperman went to the six-day race at the Velodrome d'Hiver in Paris, where he met an Australian participant, Reggie McNamara.

Hubert Opperman joined a training camp run by Paul Ruinart, trainer of the Velo Club Levallois, on the outskirts of Paris.

Hubert Opperman then came third to Georges Ronsse of Belgium and to Frantz in Paris-Brussels.

Hubert Opperman was often swept up by the French Alcyon team.

Hubert Opperman said of the long stages and the hours of darkness that riders endured:.

In 1928 Hubert Opperman won the Bol d'Or 24-hour classic, paced by tandems on a 500m velodrome in Paris.

Hubert Opperman's manager had to find a replacement, his interpreter's bicycle which had heavy mudguards and wheels and upturned handlebars.

Hubert Opperman was 17 laps of the track behind the leader but after 10 hours rose to second place to Achille Souchard, who had twice been national road champion.

Hubert Opperman won by 30 minutes to the cheers of 50,000 yelling "Allez Oppy".

Hubert Opperman cycled 1h 19m more alone to beat the record.

Hubert Opperman finished 12th, suffering from several accidents and dysentery after having occupied sixth place, while Lamb finished in 35th place and was the last finisher.

Hubert Opperman was patron of Audax Australia and Audax UK, organisations encouraging long-distance riding, until his death in 1996.

Hubert Opperman broke Land's End-John o' Groats in 1934 in 2d 9h 1m and then the 1,000-mile record in 3d 1h 52m.

Hubert Opperman took London-York in 9h 23m 0s and the 12-hour record after 243 miles.

Hubert Opperman broke London-Portsmouth-London in 1937 with 6h 33m 30s.

In 1940 Hubert Opperman set 100 distance records in a 24-hour race at Sydney.

In 1937 Hubert Opperman set a record fastest time of 13 days, 10 hours and 11 minutes for the 2,875 miles transcontinental crossing from Fremantle to Sydney, over long stretches of rutted tracks and through soft sand where he had to carry his bicycle in searing heat.

Towards the end of his cycling career, Hubert Opperman was adamant cyclists who took drugs were disadvantaging themselves, and that many clean champion riders were unfairly accused of taking drugs by their less successful opponents.

In 1990 Hubert Opperman continued to be outspoken against doping and illegal drug taking in sport when addressing the Sport Australia Hall Of Fame awards lunch, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Oakman said Hubert Opperman was viewed admirably for his 'athletic virtue' and that his 'performance enhancement' beverage of choice was simply coffee and a herbal brew as potent as a cup of tea or piece of chocolate.

Hubert Opperman's career ended with World War II when he joined the Royal Australian Air Force.

Hubert Opperman served from 1940 to 1945 and rose to flight lieutenant.

Hubert Opperman raced briefly after the war but retired in 1947.

Hubert Opperman joined the Liberal Party of Australia after the war and in 1949 was elected to the Parliament of Australia for the Victorian electorate of Corio centred on Geelong.

Hubert Opperman beat a senior Labor minister, JJ Dedman and held the seat for 17 years before appointment to High Commissioner for Malta.

Hubert Opperman was appointed Minister for Shipping and Transport, a Cabinet position, in 1960.

Hubert Opperman oversaw a relaxation of conditions for entry into Australia of people of mixed descent and a widening of eligibility for well-qualified people.

Hubert Opperman became Australia's first High Commissioner to Malta in 1967, a job he held for five years.

Hubert Opperman married Mavys Craig in 1928 and they had a son and a daughter.

Hubert Opperman was a Freemason, initiated into Stonnington Lodge No 368 of the United Grand Lodge Victoria on 23 December 1925.

Hubert Opperman was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1953, and made a Knight Bachelor in 1968 for his services as High Commissioner to Malta.

Hubert Opperman lived in a retirement village which, as the British journalist Alan Gayfer pointed out in 1993, had "No Cycling" signs.

Hubert Opperman was voted Europe's most popular sportsman of 1928 by 500,000 readers of the French sporting journal L'Auto, ahead of national tennis champion Henri Cochet.

Hubert Opperman entered the Golden Book of Cycling on 13 October 1935.

Hubert Opperman was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1985.

The City of Knox, where Hubert Opperman spent his last years, dedicated and named several trails and cycle ways around the municipality after races which Hubert Opperman won.