August Desch

August Desch ( August George " Gus" Desch; born December 12, 1898 in Newark, New Jersey, † November 14, 1964 in Evanston, Illinois) was an American hurdler who specialized discipline was the 400-meter distance.

In 1920 he qualified as third in the national championships, which acted as knockouts at the same time, for the Olympic Games in Antwerp. There he was victorious with 57.6 and 55.4 s in the forward and in the semi-final run in the 400m hurdles. In the final he was charged with a further increase to 54.7 s third and won bronze behind his compatriots Frank Loomis ( gold in a world record time of 54.0 s ) and John Norton ( silver in 54.6 s ). But was stopped only the winner; all other times were only estimated. Desch had about five meters behind Loomis.

In 1921, he won two championships:

• National championship than 440 y in 53.4 seconds - this time would be shorter been 400m hurdles distance American record and world record over the 2 m, but was not recognized as Desch had knocked over a hurdle. This was not allowed under the former rules.
• University Championships ( NCAA) 220 y hurdles in 24.8 seconds.

August Desch was 1.70 m tall, weighed 61 kg and was launched for the University of Notre Dame. After his athletics career, he worked as a football coach.