Thomas Burke (athlete)

Thomas Burke ( Edmund Thomas "Tom" Burke, born January 15, 1875 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, † February 14, 1929 ibid ) was a student at the Boston University participants of the first Olympic Games in Athens in 1896.

Life

Burke came to the U.S. and took both the 100m run with a time of 12.0 seconds and the 400 meter race with a time of 54.2 seconds of the first place and received for this two silver medals (1896 was the winner no gold medal yet). He was one of the first runners, who practiced the crouch start. The third elimination round of the 100 meters competition on the first day of competition at the 25th Märzjul. / 6 April 1896greg. he finished before the German Fritz Hofmann in 11.8 seconds the first place. In the second elimination race over 400 meters at the first day of competition the 25 Märzjul. / 6 April 1896greg. He took first place in 58.4 seconds before the British Charles Gmelin.

Even before the Summer Olympics in Athens Burke was a famous runner over 400 meters and over 440 yards. In 1895, he won the AAU title over 440 yards. After the Olympics, he specialized in the longer distances and won over 440 y and 880 y ICAAAA title. In 1897 he was a co-founder of the discharged annually Boston Marathon.

From 1899 he studied at the Harvard Law School and became a lawyer. Besides, he wrote sports articles for the newspapers and the Boston Journal Boston Post.