Thursday, 21 November 2024

Bob Mathias

Contest: The US Athletic Hall of Fame - Athletes 2024
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Sport(s): Track & Field
Statistics: Two Decathlon Olympic Gold Medals (1948 & 1952)
1 AP Athlete of the Year (1952)
1 James E. Sullivan Award (1948)
Member of the IAAF Hall of Fame
Member of the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame
Bob Mathias was an athletic prodigy, qualifying for the 1948 Olympics at just 17 years old. While he was a novice and not completely aware of all of the rules, he shocked the world in London, winning the Gold Medal in the decathlon, and becoming the youngest man at the time to win a Gold in Track and Field.

Mathias would later set a record in 1950 while competing at Stanford, and he made a successful Olympic Gold Medal defense at the 1952 Games in Helsinki, becoming the first decathlete to do so.

Mathias would later be a four-term Congressman in California.

We are proud to nominate Bob Mathias for the United States Athletic Hall of Fame.