Max Houben

Max Houben
nation	Belgium
birthday	May 5, 1898
place of birth	Verviers ,  Belgium
date of death	February 10, 1949
Place of death	Lake Placid ,  United States
Career
discipline	Two and four-man bobsleigh
Medal table
Olympic medals 0 × 1 × 0 × World Cup medals 0 × 1 × 1 ×
winter Olympics silver 1948 St. Moritz four  Bobsleigh and Skeleton World Championships silver 1947 St. Moritz four bronze 1947 St. Moritz two

Max Houben (born May 5, 1898 in Verviers , †  February 10, 1949 in Lake Placid , New York / USA ) was a Belgian athlete and bobsleigh athlete .

athletics

Houben took part in the Olympic Games in Antwerp in 1920 in the 200-meter run and with the 4-by-100-meter relay.

Bobsleigh

In the 1920s, Houben switched from sprinting to bobsleigh. He took part in the Winter Olympics four times between 1928 and 1948 . At the first World Championships after World War II in St. Moritz in 1947 , he won the silver medal in the four-man bobsleigh and bronze in the two-man bobsleigh. The following year he won the silver medal in the four-man bobsleigh at the 1948 Olympic Games at the same location and was the oldest medalist at the Winter Olympics at 49 years and 278 days until the Canadian gold medalist in curling Russ Howard at the 2006 Winter Games in Turin at the age of Exceeded 50 years and seven days. Houben had a fatal accident at the 1949 World Bobsleigh Championships in Lake Placid when his bob was thrown out of a curve.

Other sports

In addition to his main sports, Houben was an active football player and took part in the 24-hour race of Spa-Francorchamps as an automobile athlete .

successes

World championships

• St. Moritz 1947: bronze in the two-man bobsleigh, silver in the four-man bobsleigh

Olympic games

• St. Moritz 1948: Silver medal in the four-man bobsleigh

Web links

• Max Houben in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Portrait (dutch)