Description
Cycling – Sir Hubert Opperman Signed and Framed Tour de France Print
Born: 29th May 1904 Knighted for services to sport: 1968 Died: 18th April, 1996, Aged 91.
He raced, and won, in a different world… In a world far from todays minute scientific analysis, and corporate sponsorships. His was the gloriously old-fashioned world of the true ‘amateur’. When the word amateur was not a byword for ‘unprofessional’, but simply meant the noble pursuit of a dream, often an enormous sacrifice.
He was Hubert Oppermann — known as ‘Oppy’ to an adoring Australian and European public. During the Depression, and after the war, ‘Oppy’, (along with ‘The Don’), gave the Australian people something to feel good about, when so much around them was so bleak.
‘The Sir Hubert Oppermann OBE Commemorative Release’ showcases his greatest victory, the 1931 Paris-Brest-Paris marathon, a race so gruelling, it was only held once every ten years.
In the main photograph, French villagers line a country land to witness ‘L’Oppy’ breaking away from the pack 50 kilometres from the finish on the outskirts of Paris during his most famous race. His manager, (and founder of another Australian icon, ‘Malvern Star’), Sir Bruce Small, following in a Model T Ford.
The smaller portrait shows Sir Hubert Oppermann in a formal studio shot taken for a French postcard of 1928. This is the photograph that has been hand-signed by Sir Hubert Oppermann.
The third photograph features Hubert Oppermann immediately after winning the Paris — Brest — Paris race being congratulated by well-wishers including his manager, Bruce Small, and his European Manager, Gaston Degy, in the Paris Velodrome, 1931. The written tribute tells the story of his rise from humble beginnings to the pinnacle of sporting success.
Each Sir Hubert Opperman Print is;
- Personally hand signed by Sir Hubert Opperman
- Limited edition of 1500 units worldwide
- Accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity
- Approx. print dimensions of 600mm x 500mm
