Walter Tewksbury

Walter Tewksbury
Tewksbury in the Penn University jersey
Full name	John Walter Beardsley Tewksbury
nation	United States
birthday	March 21, 1876
place of birth	Ashley
date of death	April 25, 1968
Place of death	Tunkhannock
Career
discipline	Sprint , hurdles
society	Penn Quakers
Medal table
Olympic games 2 × 2 × 1 ×
Olympic games gold Paris 1900 200 m gold Paris 1900 400 m hurdles silver Paris 1900 60 m silver Paris 1900 100 m bronze Paris 1900 200 m hurdles

Walter Tewksbury ( John Walter Beardsley Tewksbury ; born March 21, 1876 in Ashley ( Pennsylvania ), USA , † April 25, 1968 in Tunkhannock (Pennsylvania), USA) was an American athlete and multiple Olympic champion .

Career

The son of Mary Harper Tewksbury and Anderson Tewksbury studied dentistry at the University of Pennsylvania , where he graduated in 1899 with the title of Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) . During his student days he was a runner for the university's sports team. In 1898 and 1899 he won over 110 and 220 yards in the competitions of the IC4A ( Intercollegiale Association of Amateur Athlets of America ), which corresponded to the title of national student champion. Despite these successes, he was considered more of a specialist in hurdles with his height of 1.86 m .

Tewksbury, who returned to his family in the small town of Tunkhannock after graduation, seemed forgotten for the world of sport. It was thanks to the legendary US coach Mike Murphy , under whom Tewksbury trained during his student days, that he took part in the 1900 Olympic Games in Paris . Murphy had found him in the small town by chance when he came across the Tewksbury family again in search of glasswork for his collection.

At the Olympic Games in Paris, Tewksbury achieved a place in the top three in all five disciplines in which he participated. He was Olympic champion in the 200-meter run and the 400-meter hurdles . The hurdles run was something special for the US athletes, because they had no experience with this route, as this route was not run in the USA at the time. The run was made even more difficult by the fact that the hurdles were not the usual wooden frames, but rather 8 m long telephone poles that were placed across the route at a height of approx. 1 m. Tewksbury's talent in the hurdles was particularly evident in these conditions.

In the 60 and 100 meters , Tewksbury took second place behind his former fellow student Alvin Kraenzlein (60 meters) and behind Frank Jarvis (100 meters). The 100 meter final was particularly explosive because Jarvis had set the unofficial world record with 10.8 seconds in the run-up and Tewksbury in the intermediate run . Jarvis' victory with a lead of about half a meter was very close.

Tewksbury won his fifth medal with third place in the 200-meter hurdles behind Kraenzlein and the Indian Norman Pritchard . Tewksbury achieved an achievement that has never been achieved to this day. No runner has achieved more medals in individual running disciplines in athletics at the same Olympic Games.

Placements at the Olympic Games:

• II. Olympic Games 1900, Paris
  • 200 m - gold with 22.2 s (silver to Norman Pritchard from India with 22.8 s; bronze to Stan Rowley from Australia with 22.9 s)
  • 400 m hurdles - gold with 57.6 s (silver to Henri Tauzin from France with 58.3 s; bronze to George Orton from Canada with 58.8 s)
  • 60 m - silver with 7.0 s (gold to Alvin Kraenzlein from the USA with 7.0 s; bronze to Stan Rowley from Australia with 7.1 s)
  • 100 m - silver with 11.1 s (gold to Frank Jarvis from the USA with 11.0 s; bronze to Stan Rowley from Australia with 11.2 s)
  • 200 m hurdles - bronze with 26.9 s (gold to Alvin Kraenzlein from the USA with 25.4 s; silver to Norman Pritchard from India with 26.6 s)

Note: With the exception of the time of the winner, the running times are estimated as there was no time measurement for those placed. With them, the gap to the winner or the first place was determined with a length specification.

Tewksbury was not interested in a sports career. Immediately after the games in Paris, he returned to Tunkhannock and settled there as a dentist. He practiced there for 34 years and became a respected man in his hometown. He received numerous honors and honorary memberships of regional importance. In 1965 the University of Pennsylvania awarded him a Medal of Honor. He died shortly after his 92nd birthday.

Web links

• Walter Tewksbury in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )

Footnotes

1. ↑ ^{a b} There was no award of the first three places in their current form with gold, silver and bronze medals in 1900. In some sports and competitions, silver or bronze plaques were awarded.