David Hall (athlete)

athletics
bronze	1900	800 m

David Connolly Hall ( May 1, 1875 in Sherbrooke , † May 27, 1972 in Seattle ) was an American athlete and medalist at the Olympic Games .

Hall was a student at Brown University and was considered a universal athlete, but his strengths lay in middle-distance running . In 1896 he learned from athletes at Boston University about their efforts to participate in the Olympic Games in Athens in 1896 . Hall received an invitation, but could not raise the funds for the trip, which had to be paid for out of pocket or from donations.

Hall participation in national championships or student championships is not documented. Hall earned his first title in 1898 as the New England Masters over 880 yards.

The year 1900 was the high point of his sporting career. He won again at the New England Championships over 880 yards and also over 2 miles. With these successes he recommended himself for the US team, which traveled to Paris for the 1900 Olympic Games .

In Paris, Hall took part in the 800 and 1500 meter races . The first competition for Hall was his 800 meter run, which he easily won against the later Olympic champion , the British Alfred Tysoe . He set an Olympic record with 1: 59.0 minutes , which should not be undercut in the course of the games. Two days later, thanks to his lead time, Hall went into the final run as the favorite. There was an incident in the race when John Cregan , who would later become runner-up, kicked Hall in the heels and the latter lost his shoe. Hall did not protest and was satisfied with third place.

The heats over 1500 meters should be held on July 15th, a Sunday. With Hall, three other US athletes wanted to take part. Two of them, John Cregan and Alex Grant , refused to start any sport on a Sunday for religious reasons. The organizers basically had no sympathy with the wishes of many US athletes who did not want to compete on a Sunday. They decided without further ado to forego the prelims over 1500 meters because of the lower number of participants and to organize the final run immediately. However, Hall could not use the unexpected chance and took fourth place almost 2 m behind John Bray .

Olympic Games Rankings for David Connolly Hall:

• II. Olympic Games 1900, Paris
  • 800 m - BRONZE with 2: 05.0 min (gold to Alfred Tysoe , GBR with 2: 01.2 min; silver to John Cregan , USA with 2: 03.0 min)
  • 1500 m - fourth with unknown time (gold to Charles Bennett , GBR with 4: 06.2 min)

In 1901 Hall graduated from Brown University and devoted himself less to active sports, but gained reputation as a trainer and professor of hygiene and physical education . In 1908 he found a new home in Seattle , where he became the head of the Faculty of Physical Education and Physical Education at the University of Washington . He also coached the basketball team for two years (1909 and 1910) and coached the athletes for five years (1909 to 1910 and 1912 to 1914).

During World War I he organized the United States Medical Corps . In 1918 he returned to Seattle and organized a health system at the University of Washington, which eventually resulted in the permanent establishment of a health center in 1936 and named Hall Student Health Center in his honor in 1947 .

In 1948 Hall retired into private life. Brown University inducted him into the University Sports Hall of Fame . He died at the age of 97.

Web links

• David Hall in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )