Alvin Kraenzlein
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Alvin Christian Kraenzlein (December 12, 1876 – January 6, 1928) was an American athlete. He was the first sportsman to win four Olympic titles in a single Olympics. As of 2004, he is still the only track and field athlete to have done so in individual events only.
Kraenzlein was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and attended the University of Wisconsin and later the University of Pennsylvania, studying to become a dentist. He won his first athletics title in 1897, when he won the 220 yards hurdles race at the Amateur Athletic Union championships. The next few years he gained many more titles, winning 5 AAU titles in both hurdling and long jump events, and 8 Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America titles in sprinting, hurdling and the long jump. Kraenzlein was especially noted for his hurdling technique, as he was the first to practice the now common method of taking a hurdle with a straight front leg.
In 1900, Kraenzlein prepared for the Olympics in England, winning the British title in the 120 yards hurdles and the long jump before entering the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris. There, he won four titles: the 60 metres, the 110 metres hurdles, the 200 metres hurdles and the long jump. In the 60 metres, he ran both the preliminary and final in 7.0 seconds, defeating John Tewksbury by bare inches in the final.
His victory in the long jump was remarkable, as he beat silver medallist Meyer Prinstein only by a single centimeter. Prinstein's mark had been set in the qualification, and he did not attend the final, because it was held on a Sunday. The two had had an informal agreement not to compete on Sunday, and when Prinstein learned that Kraenzlein had competed he became violent, punching Kraenzlein according to some accounts (others claim that Prinstein was restrained before he could land the punch).
Kraenzlein retired from athletics the following year, as the owner of 6 world records, and graduated from university. After being a dentist for some years, he became a track coach. He was coach of the University of Pennsylvania team when he died of a heart disease in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
| Olympic medalists in athletics (men) | Olympic Champions in Men's 60 m |
|---|
| Alvin Kraenzlein | Archie Hahn |
| Olympic medalists in athletics (men) | Olympic Champions in Men's 110 m hurdles |
| Thomas Curtis | Alvin Kraenzlein | Frederick Schule | Robert Leavitt | Forrest Smithson | Frederick Kelly | Earl Thomson | Daniel Kinsey | Sydney Atkinson | George Saling | Forrest Towns | William Porter | Harrison Dillard | Lee Calhoun (twice) | Hayes Jones | Willie Davenport | Rod Milburn | Guy Drut | Thomas Munkelt | Roger Kingdom (twice) | Mark McKoy | Allen Johnson | Anier García | Liu Xiang |
| Olympic medalists in athletics (men) | Olympic Champions in men's 200 m hurdles |
| Alvin Kraenzlein | Harry Hillman |
| Olympic medalists in athletics (men) | Olympic Champions in men's long jump |
| Ellery Clark | Alvin Kraenzlein | Meyer Prinstein (twice) | Frank Irons | Albert Gutterson | William Pettersson | William DeHart Hubbard | Ed Hamm | Ed Gordon | Jesse Owens | Willie Steele | Jerome Biffle | Greg Bell | Ralph Boston | Lynn Davies | Bob Beamon | Randy Williams | Arnie Robinson | Lutz Dombrowski | Carl Lewis (four times) | Iván Pedroso | Dwight Phillips |
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