John Heaton (athlete)

John Rutherford Heaton ( born September 9, 1908 in New Haven, Connecticut; † September 10, 1976 in Paris) was an American skeleton and bobsled.

John Heaton spent in the 1920s his winter vacation in St. Moritz, Switzerland. There he was like his brother Jennison Heaton with the Skeleton in conjunction. Both competed at the first Olympic host the sport in 1928. His brother surprisingly won the gold medal, John Heaton behind his brother Silver. Four years later, Skeleton was not in the Olympic program of Lake Placid. Heaton now stood as bob pilot. With his partner, Robert Minton, he won the bronze medal in the two-man bob. After skeleton again was on the program of the Games of St. Moritz in 1948, Heaton participated and won again as already 20 years before the silver medal behind the surprise winner Nino Bibbia and prior to Favorites John Crammond. The games of 1948 Heaton was the flag carrier of the U.S. team.