Charles Dvorak

athletics
gold	1904	Pole vault

Charles Edward Dvorak (born November 27, 1878 in Chicago ( Illinois ), USA , † December 18, 1969 in Seattle , Washington ) was an American athlete and Olympic champion .

Dvorak was a student at the University of Michigan and a member of the local athletics team. His specialty was the pole vault . In 1900 his university won the student championship of the Western Conference in athletics with him and saw itself confirmed by sending some of their athletes to the 1900 Olympic Games in Paris . Charles Dvorak was one of the four selected athletes.

He wanted to compete in the pole vault with four compatriots on Saturday, July 14th, but the organizers postponed the event to Sunday, July 15th. Dvorak was a devout person whose religion forbade any sport on a Sunday. Together with Bascom Johnson and Daniel Horton he decided not to participate and was thus deprived of a promising medal chance. In one of two rematch competitions held in the following days, Dvorak took second place with a height of 3.35 m behind Daniel Horton (3.45 m). Both jumped higher than the Olympic champion Irving Baxter (3.30 m). Bascom Johnson also jumped higher with 3.38 m in his revenge match. However, these competitions did not find official recognition.

1901 and 1903 Dvorak won the championship of the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) , which corresponded to the US championships. In 1904 he got a second chance at the 1904 Olympic Games in St. Louis . He took an undisputed victory in the pole vault with 3.50 m, which meant a new Olympic record . He had a 15 cm lead over his competitors, who fought a jump-off behind him for places 2 to 5.

The placements at the Olympic Games for Charles Edward Dvorak

• II. Olympic Games 1900, Paris
  • Pole vault - reported but not started
• III. 1904 Olympic Games, St. Louis
  • Pole vault - gold with 3.50 m (silver to LeRoy Samse , USA with 3.35 m; bronze to Louis Wilkins , USA with 3.35 m)

Charles Dvorak was the first world class pole vaulter to use a bamboo stick.

literature

• Bill Mallon / Ian Buchanan: Quest for Gold , New York 1984 ISBN 0-88011-217-4
• Ekkehard zur Megede: The Modern Olympic Century 1896-1996 Track and Fields Athletics , Berlin 1999, published by the German Society for Athletics Documentation eV

Web links

• Charles Dvorak in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )