Lewis Tewanima

Lewis Tewanima (also: Louis Tewanima; * 1888 in Second Mesa (Arizona ), USA; ibid † January 18, 1969 ) was an American long-distance runner, who belonged to the Amerindian ethnic group of the Hopi.

It was a matter of course that Tewanima was already used as a teenager in sheep farming and agriculture of the Hopi Indians. When hunting prairie hare runs for the first time showed his talent. As a boy Tewanima put back the good 60 mile stretch of Second Mesa to Winslow on the run in order to observe the legendary trains of the Santa Fe Railway from San Francisco to Chicago. In retrospect, he said later: "It was summer, and the days were long. "

1906 Tewanima was taken from a cavalry regiment of the U.S. Army in custody, as this was going on in several Indian reserves against those residents who disregarded a statutory regulation, according to the Indians their children would be sent to state schools. 1907 Tewanima was then sent to the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. This institution had the task of providing the Indian population the social and legal foundations of the white American people.

The at the same time in Carlisle employed trainer for Athletics and Football, Glenn Warner, immediately discovered the talent of Tewanima step runs and took him to various competitions, which were held at the various high schools and colleges. There was hardly a contest, did not win the Tewanima.

For the Summer Olympic Games in London in 1908 were in the United States for the first time knockouts carried out, the U.S. Trials. For the marathon two events were counted, where Tewanima but did not participate. Thanks to the intercession of Warner Lewis Tewanima was nevertheless appointed to the team and prepared for the marathon.

In London, the only 20 years old Tewanima for running a teammate was set aside, which should set the right pace. Joseph Forshaw accompanied Tewanima on the first 30 km, until he finally realized that Tewanima seemed to struggle with problems and could not keep the pace. Forshaw was alone with increased pace and eventually became third. He later was firmly convinced that he had won the victory, if he had been released from Tewanima already a few kilometers earlier. Tewanima struggled despite its problems to the finish and finished ninth.

Back in Carlisle made ​​Tewanima along with his school friend Jim Thorpe an almost unbeatable track team, so that the Carlisle Indian School in competitions against other schools, which often competed with 30 athletes and more, almost always carried the day.

1909 was Tewanima one of 46 world-class runners who took part in a running race at Madison Square Garden in New York City over ten miles. Tewanima won with 54:27,8 minutes, a time which until then had not a runner had ever run on this route in the hall.

1911 directed The Evening Mail, a New York-based newspaper, one of the first runs through the streets of New York, which is regarded as a predecessor of today's popular city marathons and runs City. The relay went about 12 miles ( 19.2 kilometers ) from the Bronx to City Hall and had 1014 participants. According to newspaper reports from that time around 1,000,000 spectators were present, the acclaimed Lewis Tewanima during his victory run. Its running time was 1:09:16 hours.

For the Olympic Summer Games 1912 in Stockholm knockouts were, as early as 1908, organized. Again, Tewanima not involved in this. Convinced of the generic class runs Tewanimas therefore decided to unceremoniously to evaluate the 1911 staged in New York run as a qualifying competition, so that Tewanima could be called as the winner of this competition to the squad of the U.S. Olympic Team. So Tewanima came to his second participation in the Olympic Games.

In Stockholm, the 10,000 - meter race was held for the first time at the Olympics, the longest race track in a stadium was until then 5 mile run ( 8,047 m). In addition to Lewis Tewanima to 29 more runners, of which the first five each, a total of 15 runners who qualified in three heats for the finals involved. As second in the second heat, plus the second-best time of all runners, Tewanima had no problem to run to the final, which was held just one day later. Only eleven of the 15 qualified runners were. Hannes Kolehmainen was from the beginning in the lead and ran to a comfortable victory. The runners who tried to go along his pace fell back later or gave up. Tewanima other hand, relied on his own pace and lay half of the race in second position, which he could also defend to the finish safely.

In numerous publications one finds the assertion that spilled from Tewanima time of 32:06,6 minutes would have been an American record on this track, which would have taken 52 years. This is incorrect. Although it has been done at that time for this in the U.S. rarely covered distance no official record list, but there is evidence that William Kramer one months ran a time of 31:43,6 minutes before the Olympic final run at the U.S. knockouts. Also, Kramer was the 10,000 meter run at the start in Stockholm, was the first to advance, however.

Tewanima participated in Stockholm as early as 1908, even in the marathon. At very high temperatures, many runners had trouble even Tewanima one of them. Initially, he was still holding back, but from the half of the 40.2 km long stretch, he forged ahead and lay five kilometers from the finish in seventh place with just under eight minutes behind the leaders. Then he had his pace and tightening the strenuous runs the 10,000 meters, however, pay tribute and dropped back to 16th place.

The rankings at the Olympic Games for Lewis Tewanima:

• IV Summer Olympic Games 1908 London Marathon - Ninth with 3:09:15,0 hrs (Gold to John Hayes of the United States with 2:55:18,4 hours)

Soon after returning to the U.S. was Lewis Tewanima the sport and the wide world behind him, retired to Second Mesa and spent the rest of his life in his homeland as a priest of the Antelope clan, as sheep farmers and as a fruit farmer. Only twice he left his home for a short time. In 1954, he boarded a plane for the first time in his life to fly to New York, where he received the award for an appeal to the representatives appointed by the Helms Athletic Foundation All-Time Olympic U.S. Olympic Track and Field team. In 1957 he traveled to Phoenix for inclusion in the Arizona Sports Hall of Fame.

Lewis Tewanima died 80 years ago when he came off because of its reduced visual acuity when returning from a religious ceremony of the way and an approximately 20 -meter-high cliff plunged down.

In 1972, one Tewanima posthumously inducted into the American Indian Athletic Hall of Fame. Since 1974, the Louis Tewanima FootRace the Hopi Reservation in Second Mesa held annually in memory of her famous brother. It is a cross-country running, which leads 5 and 10 km across the Indian reservation.