Mel Sheppard

Mel Sheppard
Mel Sheppard, Stockholm 1912
Full name	Melvin Winfield Sheppard
nation	United States
birthday	September 5, 1883
place of birth	Almonesson Lake
size	177 cm
Weight	67 kg
date of death	January 4, 1942
Place of death	New York City
Career
discipline	Middle distance run
society	Irish-American Athletic Club
Medal table
Olympic games 4 × 1 × 0 ×
Olympic games gold London 1908 800 m gold London 1908 1500 m gold London 1908 Olympus. Season gold Stockholm 1912 4 × 400 m silver Stockholm 1912 800 m

Mel Sheppard (actually Melvin Winfield Sheppard ; born September 5, 1883 in Almonesson Lake , New Jersey , † January 4, 1942 in Queens , New York City ) was an American athlete and Olympic champion who had his greatest successes in middle distance running .

Career

Sheppard's application to the New York Police Department was turned down because his heart was too weak. This did not prevent him from winning the AAU championships over 880 yards three times between 1906 and 1908 . He was considered a favorite for the upcoming Olympic Games.

At the Olympic Games in London in 1908 , he led over 800 meters from the start and ran the first 400 meters in a time of 53 seconds. He won the race with a world record time of 1: 52.8 minutes ahead of the Italian Emilio Lunghi and the German Hanns Braun . In the 1500 Meters he also won the gold medal, ahead of the two British Harold Wilson and Norman Hallows . Third, he won the team gold medal in the Olympic relay .

At the Olympic Games in Stockholm in 1912 Sheppard won the silver medal over 800 meters between the other two Americans Ted Meredith and Ira Davenport . Over 1500 meters he did not reach the finish in the final. In the 4 x 400 meter relay , he won together with his teammates Edward Lindberg , Ted Meredith and Charles Reidpath before the relay from France and Great Britain .

Sheppards trained daily, but besides running in and out, he usually only did one (very intensive and different daily) speed run over distances of 400 to 1000 meters. Compared to the training of his time, he was one of those athletes over 1500 m who trained extremely little, while at 400 and 800 meters his training corresponded to the usual.

Sheppard served in the New Jersey National Guard and the 69th Infantry Regiment (New York) during World War 1 . He was mainly used as the person in charge of basic military education and training on the home front. After the war he worked as a trainer for various clubs and as a manager for company sports at John Wanamaker . He died of sudden heart failure.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Edward S. Sears: Running Through the Ages. https://books.google.nl/books?id=vxxOw3FvOgwC&hl=de
2. ↑ Arnd Krüger : Many roads lead to Olympia. The changes in training systems for medium and long distance runners (1850–1997) . In: N. Gissel (Hrsg.): Sporting performance in change . Czwalina, Hamburg 1998, pp. 41-56.
3. ↑ Melvin Sheppard, 57, Olympic Star. He Was Rejected as a Police Candidate Shortly Before Setting Olympic Mark . In: New York Times , January 4, 1942. Retrieved May 25, 2016. 

Web links

• Mel Sheppard in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )