DeHart Hubbard

DeHart Hubbard ( William DeHart Hubbard, born November 25, 1903 in Cincinnati, Ohio, † June 23, 1976 in Cleveland, Ohio) was an American athlete who was successful in the 1920s as a long and triple jumper. He was Olympic champion, jumped a world record and won ten national championships. His Olympic gold medal in the long jump was the first gold for a black man in a single discipline ( the Frenchman Constantin Henriquez de Zubiera had won in 1900 in Rugby, John Taylor won in 1908 as the first African American in the relay ).

Career

In the long jump he was 1922-1927 six consecutive time national champion. There were two titles in the triple jump:

In 1928 he was third in the long jump.

At the Olympic Games in Paris in 1924 he won with 7.44 m the gold medal ahead of compatriot Edward Gourdin ( silver with 7.27 meters ) and the Norwegian Sverre Hansen ( bronze with 7,26 m). Also in the triple jump, he went to the start, but failed already in the preliminaries. At the Olympic Games in Amsterdam in 1928, he took part also, without reaching the final battle.

Another successful year for him was 1925, when he not only the national championship, but also two high school championships - won - he started for the University of Michigan: More than 100 y he won by 9.8 seconds, the long jump with 7.90 m. This performance has not been recognized as a world record because the take-off board was one inch higher than the landing pit. On June 13 of that year in Chicago he succeeded, however, a second almost as further leap: With 7.89 meters, he improved the world record of his compatriot Robert LeGendre 13 centimeters. The record had three years inventory.