Norman Taber

Norman Taber
Norman Taber (1912)
Full name	Norman Stephen Taber
nation	United States
birthday	September 3, 1891
place of birth	Providence ,  USA
size	174 cm
Weight	52 kg
date of death	July 15, 1952
Place of death	Orange , USA
Career
discipline	Middle distance run
Best performance	1500 m: 3: 55.0 min; 1 mile: 4: 12.6 min
society	Brown Bears Providence
Medal table
Olympic games 1 × 0 × 1 ×
Olympic games gold Stockholm 1912 3000 m team run gold Stockholm 1912 1500 m

Norman Stephen "Norm" Taber (born September 3, 1891 in Providence ( Rhode Island ), USA , † July 15, 1952 in Orange ( New Jersey ), USA) was an American athlete and Olympic champion and medalist at the Olympic Games . He was also the holder of the world record in the mile run from 1915 to 1923.

Norman Taber had two older sisters and one older brother. He showed his sporting ambitions at the age of 17 at Hope High School in Providence. In 1910, like his brother two years earlier, he began studying at Brown University , where he distinguished himself as a specialist in middle-distance running, particularly as a mile runner . In the same year he first took part in the championships of the IC4A (Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America), which corresponded to the student championships in the USA. In the course of 1 mile , he made people sit up and take notice with a 3rd place. In 1911 he concentrated on cross-country running and was appointed captain of the cross-country team at his university.

1912 Taber participated again in the IC4A championships. In the cross-country run, however, he only finished 6th. However, his participation in the mile run was much more successful. His competitor was John Paul Jones , who had run the fastest time of an amateur over the mile the year before . The two runners fought a duel that ended at the finish as the first dead race of the championships and in which both runners were declared the winners with a time of 4: 20.6 minutes.

In June 1912, Norman Taber took part in one of three 1,500-meter runs , which served as the elimination competitions, now known as the US Trials , for participation in the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm . Abel Kiviat won the historic run with 3: 55.8 minutes, the first world record recognized by the IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) on this run. Just under a second behind, Taber took 2nd place, which meant that he easily qualified for the games.

Finish 1500 meters,
Norman Taber with No. 746 (right)

The winning team in the 3000 meter run (from left to right)
Abel Kiviat , Norman Taber, Louis Scott , Tell Berna and George Bonhag

The 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm saw the American middle-distance runners clearly as favorites. Seven runners from the USA qualified for the final of the 1500 meter run in seven preliminary runs. Taber also won his prelim with ease. In the final, everything initially looked like a victory for a US runner, as Abel Kiviat, Norman Taber and John Paul Jones were in the lead at the beginning of the last lap. On the home straight, however , the Briton Arnold Jackson started a furious final sprint, overtook all three Americans and became Olympic champion. Kiviat and Taber followed, with the two crossing the finish line so close that a finish photo was used for placement. At the same time as Kiviat, Norman Taber was then placed in 3rd place.

Two days later, Taber took part in the heats in the 3,000-meter team run. The winning team qualified for the final in three preliminary runs. A team consisted of 5 runners who all started together. The ranking of the best 3 runners on a team was based on the rankings (1st place = 1 point; 2nd place = 2 points etc.). The team with the lowest number of places (points) was the winner. Taber and his team met the strong runners from Finland, of whom Hannes Kolehmainen won the preliminary run with 8: 36.8 minutes, the first world record recognized by the IAAF on this running course. Nevertheless, the runners from the USA won, leaving all other Finnish runners behind. Taber took 4th place. At the final on the following day, Taber made a decisive contribution to the Olympic victory of the team from the USA with his 3rd place.

In 1913, Norman Taber met again at the IC4A championships on John Paul Jones in the run over a mile. Both runners fought another thrilling duel, which Jones finally won in 4: 14.4 minutes, the first world record recognized by the IAAF on this running track. For the third time, Taber saw that another runner had defeated him with a world record run. Taber was more successful at the championships of the New England states , where he could win over 880 yards and a mile. Later that year he also won over a mile in the championships of the AAU (Amateur Athletic Union), which corresponded to the national championships of the United States.

In 1913 , Norman Taber graduated from Brown University with a degree in economics . He then received a Rhodes Scholarship , awarded annually to 32 American students, allowing him to study at Oxford University for a year . During his time in England , he was named to the university's milestone , but made no lasting impression.

Back in the USA, Taber prepared intensively for a world record attempt over 1 mile. In 1915 he won two preparatory runs, defeating Abel Kiviat, his rival from the Olympic Games. On July 16, 1915, a mile run was organized especially for Norman Taber on the career path of Harvard University in Cambridge , in which he had three pacemakers at his side. An unofficial time of 3:55 minutes was set at 1500 meters, which put Taber under Abel Kiviat's world record time. At the finish at 1 mile, the five timekeepers recorded 4: 12.6 minutes. The IAAF recognized this as a new world record, despite the pacemakers. During his time, Norman Taber not only improved the IAAF record, but also undercut the fastest time ever run by professional runner Walter George 29 years earlier in 1886 of 4: 12.75 min. It was not until 1923 that Paavo Nurmi should set Taber's world record can undercut.

Norman Taber ended his sports career and worked until 1919 as an employee at the Rhode Island Hospital Trust Company . He then started a municipal finance consultancy in New York City . His most successful assignment was the reorganization of the financing structure of the US state of Tennessee in 1936. From 1948 to 1949 Taber was budget director of the Economic Cooperation Administration in Washington, DC , the administrative authority of the Marshall Plan . From 1949 until his death, he was the executive director of the US Council of the International Chamber of Commerce . Norman Taber died of a brain tumor at the age of 60.

For his services, Norman Taber was appointed to various halls of fame , including the Track and Field Hall of Fame of Brown University in 1971 , the International Scholar Athlete Hall of Fame of Rhode Island in 2001 and the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame in 2004 .

The placements at the Olympic Games for Norman Taber:

• V. Olympic Games 1912, Stockholm
  • 1500 m - BRONZE in 3: 56.9 min (gold to Arnold Jackson , GBR with 3: 56.8 min; silver to Abel Kiviat , USA with 3: 56.9 min)
  • 3000 m team - GOLD to USA (silver to SWE , bronze to GBR )

Web links

• Norman Taber in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )