Walter_Tewksbury

Walter Tewksbury

Walter Tewksbury

American track and field athlete

Walter Beardsley Tewksbury (March 21, 1876 – April 24, 1968)[1] was an American track and field athlete. At the 1900 Summer Olympics, he won five medals, including two golds.[2][3]

Quick Facts Personal information, National team ...

Biography

Born in Ashley, Pennsylvania,[1] Tewksbury studied for a dental degree at the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in 1899. Running for the university team, he won the IC4A titles in the 110 and 220 y in 1898 and 1899.

After graduating in 1899, he headed for Paris to compete in the Olympic Games. Tewksbury entered in 5 events, but had strong competition, among others from fellow Penn student Alvin Kraenzlein. In the 100 m, Tewksbury equalled the world record in the semi-finals, but placed second in the final to Frank Jarvis. The following day, he took another second place, behind Kraenzlein, in the 60 m, before entering the 400 m hurdles.

At the time, this event had probably never been contested in the United States, but Tewksbury easily beat the local favourite for the 400 m hurdles title. The event was quite different from present day, as the hurdles were actually telephone poles laid over the track, and the final hurdles was a water barrier (like in the steeplechase). In the final of the 200 m hurdles, he placed third (with Kraenzlein the winner). The final of the 200 m was held a week later; in that race Tewksbury won his second individual Olympic gold, finishing immediately ahead of Norman Pritchard of India.

Tewksbury retired from sports to open a dental practice in Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania, in 1913. He died there on April 24, 1968.[1]

References

  1. [1]
    "Walter Tewksbury biography and Olympic results". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on April 17, 2020. Retrieved January 7, 2010.
  2. [2]
    "Walter Tewksbury". Olympedia. Retrieved December 22, 2020.
  3. [3]
    "John Walter Tewksbury". britannica.com. Retrieved October 4, 2023.
Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Walter_Tewksbury, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.