Percy Beard
Percy Beard ( Percy Morris Beard ; born January 26, 1908 in Hardinsburg , Kentucky , † March 27, 1990 in Gainesville , Florida ) was an American hurdler .
Beard was the dominant US athlete in the 110-meter hurdles leading up to the 1932 Olympics . He had not only equalized the world record on the metric course of 14.4, but also lowered the hurdle on the 120 yard course to 14.2.
The US trials for the games took place in Stanford. Here Jack Keller set the metric world record and won the trials ahead of George Saling and Beard. In the semi-finals of the games, Saling set the world record. In the final, these three American world record holders faced two Britons and the German Willi Welscher . Beard took the lead but struggled on the sixth hurdle, so Saling won in 14.6 ahead of Beard in 14.7. Behind them three runners came in with 14.8: Brit Don Finlay in 3rd place, Keller in 4th place and Langhürdler Lord Burghley in 5th place. Welscher was disqualified.
While Keller's career quickly ended and Saling had a fatal accident, Beard first improved the world record in Stockholm to 14.3 and 11 days later in Oslo to 14.2.
From 1937 to 1964 Beard was a trainer at the University of Florida . In addition, the trained engineer dealt with the further development of all-weather surfaces for athletics.
Web links
- Percy Beard in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Beard, Percy |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Beard, Percy Morris (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American hurdler |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 26, 1908 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Hardinsburg |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 27, 1990 |
| Place of death | Gainesville (Florida) |