Bob Mathias

Robert Bruce "Bob" Mathias ( born November 19, 1930 in Tulare, California, † September 2, 2006 in Fresno, California ) was an American athlete and politician. He was an international success in the years 1948 to 1952 in the decathlon. Mathias won two consecutive Olympic gold medal in the decathlon, was 17 years old by then to recent athletics Olympic champion and remained so until the success Ulrike Meyfarths at the Olympic Games in Munich in 1972.

Mathias began with the decathlon in 1948 on the advice of the coach of the high school in Tulare and qualified right away for the XI. Olympic Summer Games 1948 in London. Although his utter inexperience and especially his ignorance of the rules it would be almost proved fatal, he won with 165 points ahead of runner-up. In the same year he was awarded the James E. Sullivan Award.

In order to have better training facilities, he joined then for a year at the Kiski School in Saltsburg. From 1949 he attended the University of Stanford, where he participated as team captain of the football team to the Rose Bowl Games 1952 in Pasadena. In the same year he became the first Olympic decathlon winner in history a repeat of its success: In the XII. Summer Olympic Games in Helsinki in 1952, he won by a margin of more than 900 points. He then retired from athletics, but was still honored in the same year with the Sportsman of the Year Award from the Associated Press.

In later years he appeared as an actor on a film adaptation of his youth. The film was titled "The Bob Mathias Story". Several other films followed. From 1967 to 1975 he represented as a Republican to the 18th Congress Election District of California, U.S. House of Representatives. 1974 failed attempt on his re-election Democrat John Hans Krebs.

Services

  • Olympic games Olympic Games 1948 in London: Gold with 7139 points ahead of Frenchman Ignace Heinrich with 6974 points and his teammate Floyd Simmons with 6950 pts
  • Olympic Games 1952 in Helsinki: Gold with 7887 points ahead of his two compatriots Milt Campbell with 6975 points and Floyd Simmons with 6788 pts
  • AAU Championships
  • World Records 8042 points, achieved in Tulare on June 30, 1950. So Bob Mathias was the first decathlete, which surpassed the 8000 - point mark.
  • 7887 pts ( new ranking), achieved on July 26 at the XII. Summer Olympic Games in Helsinki in 1952. This performance was only three years later surpassed by Rafer Johnson.

Filmography (selection)

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