Mike Winch is certainly the top Sussex athlete who did not get a trip to the Olympic Games although he did compete in three Commonwealth Games where he gained two shot put silver medals.
Michael Archer Winch was born on the 20th July in Olympic year, 1948, and was educated at Varndean Grammar School where he was originally coached by his school teacher, Graham Milford mainly as a discus thrower and Southampton University.
By normal size standards Mike was at, 5’ 11¾ (1.82m) very much on the short side for heavy throwing events and he relied on his excellent technique and speed in both the shot putt and discus throws.
He was so fast that during his school years he would frequently anchor the School and Brighton club sprint relay teams. This speed he strived to imbue to his charges when he became a coach after retiring from international competition.
He quickly established himself as a technically excellent discus thrower and shot putting was a suitable adjunct as is the case with many top throwers but his lack of height and weight meant that he became a much more successful shot putter than discus thrower.
Ho
wever, during his younger and developing years, he had considerable success with the discus and was usually the double winner at Sussex championships setting county records as he proceeded through the age groups and for several years as a senior.
His first Gold medals came in 1962 at the Brighton, Hove and Portslade Schools championship when he won both Shot and Discus junior titles for Varndean Grammar School and he joined the Brighton Athletic Club in the same year.
From 1963 he started his reign as Sussex Schools champion and attending the English schools Championships. He concentrated mainly on the Shot at Sussex Schools championships and in 1966 he won the English Schools senior boys title with a then championship record of 17.49m before winning the International Schools event and in the same year, he finished second in the A.A.A junior championships.
Over the next few years, he progressed making the first-ever GB Junior Team in discus in 1967 winning in matches against France and Sweden. 
In 1969 he made the first of many victories in Division one for Brighton A.C in the inaugural National League.
While at Southampton University he won two gold medals, four silver and two bronzes between 1966 and 1972 at the then British Universities Federation championships.
Finally, he made it into the GB Senior Team in 1973 and placed ninth in the shot put at the European Indoor Championships.
After gaining a Commonwealth silver medal in Christchurch in 1974 he placed 7th in the European Indoor Championships and was 12th in the European Outdoor Championships. This was the year that he reached his lifetime best of 20.43m in the shot and was also the year that he started coaching, taking on Croydon’s Judy Oakes, now OBE, the British record holder, and still the athlete with more international vests to 
her name than any other British athlete. She deprived Sue Allday from Sussex of that title some thirty years ago.
Four years later in 1978 he again made the Commonwealth Games at Edmonton in Canada placing fifth in the shot put and seventh in the discus and there was a final appearance at the Commonwealth Games in 1982 when he was second in the shot put and ninth in the discus and he joins with Crawley hammer thrower Mick Jones and fellow Brighton & Hove athlete Suzanne Allday, who won six medals, as the only Sussex athletes to win more than one medal at the Empire/Commonwealth Games.
Geoff Capes a six-foot seven policeman from Holbeach prevented Mike ever winning the A.A.A title and five times he was second in the A.A.As, three times third between 1975 and 1986 but when Capes retired in 1980 Mike came the number one British thrower and headed the rankings lists from 1981 to 84 after years of being number two to Capes. He was second in 85 and 86 before retiring himself.
He was to win no less than 12 National indoor and outdoor titles and amassed an amazing 51 International vests between 1973 and 1986 which is certainly more than any other Sussex male athlete and only bettered by Suzanne Allday in the 1950s/60.
In 1976 he achieved the Olympic standard for the shot putt but was injured and ruled out of the team.
A move to London and the Blackheath Harriers in 1977 meant he was more involved in the administration and he was the Athletes representative in the British Amateur Athletics Board between 1983 and 1988
He concentrated on coaching and coached some thirty Olympic throwers and he was the UK Throws coach at the European Championships in 1991 and again, for the English team at the Commonwealth Games at Kuala Lumpur in 1998. He was the Overall Chief Coach, again for England, at the Manchester Commonwealth Games in 2002. It was here that one of his charges, Brighton & Hove’s Claire Smithson finished se
venth in the discus throw with a then Sussex record of 55.03m.
During his competitive years, Mike was always interested in the administration of the sport and was a positive opponent to drugs. He used to be the Dairy Farmers best friend as he consumed several pints of milk a day when he was bulking up in the early days as an international thrower.
He has also been involved in the politics of athletics for over thirty years and amongst other roles was Elected Vice-President of UK Athletics in 2004 but resigned in 2008 over the soft treatment given to Dwain Chambers who had been banned for drug abuse.
As a Founder of the British Athletics Charitable Trust, he steered that organisation to a position of stability in its activities of supporting Young Athletes and Coaches towards greater success. As the Chairman he led the involvement of Met-Track with BACT, allowing the successful Lottery application to move forward.
Mike is also still the Chair of the South of England Athletics Association.
It is not only as an athlete, coach and administrator that Mike has a claim to fame, he is also an author. Mike has written several technical books but also three novels, “Running from Gold”, “Run to death” and “The Convocation of colours” as well as being a columnist for the now defunct Athletics World and Athletics today magazines. His latest “Strength and conditioning training for Sport” was published earlier this year (2020).
Mike’s best shot put was 20.43m in 1974, still the Sussex record holder, and is the oldest Sussex men’s record holder. Mike is still the only Sussex thrower to top the twenty-metre mark and it is also a sobering thought to realise that he, nearly half-a-century on, is still the sixth-best British shot putter of All-time. His best discus throw is 58.08s in 1975 and this stood for a decade as the Sussex record and is still the fourth-best on the Sussex All-time list.
Considering all the work he has ploughed back into athletics since retiring from competition, there can be few Sussex athletes with a greater claim to be Sussex’s greatest athlete.