George Orton

George Washington Orton ( born January 10, 1873 in Strathroy, Ontario, † June 26, 1958 in Meredith, New Hampshire ) was a middle distance runner and the first Canadian Olympic champion.

Orton studied at the University of Toronto before then in 1893 moved to the University of Pennsylvania. Even then he was one of the best middle distance runners in North America. He won Canadian, American and British championship titles over 1 mile, 2 miles and in the obstacle course. His Canadian national record over a mile ( 4:21,8 minutes) remained unbeaten for 30 years. In all, he won 121 races. In 1896 he received his Ph.D. degree ( Doctor of Philosophy ), but remained active in sports.

The highlight of his career was the Olympic Summer Games 1900 in Paris. Because he belonged to the crew of a U.S. university (at that time there was no national teams ), it was found only after a few years that he is actually Canadian. Orton competed in three competitions, the obstacle runs over 2500 and 4000 meters and in the 400 - meter hurdles. About 4000 meters, it was only the fifth place, but was Olympic champion in the 2500 meters. In the hurdle race he finished third (then the third place went from empty ).

Later he was a coach at the University of Pennsylvania and wrote a book about the history of this University Athletics. He died at the age of 85 years.