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01-20-2008 05:28 PM |
T218 Mecca Abel Kiviat Jewish athlete card
Posted By: <b>boxingcardman</b><p>ABEL KIVIAT<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />Sport: Track and Field<br />Inducted: 1984<br />Country: United States<br />Born: June 23, 1892 in New York, New York<br />Died: August 24, 1992<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /> <br /> <br />Abel Kiviat won a silver medal at the 1912 Stockholm Olympic Games in the 1,500-Meter Run (3:59.9). A one-time roommate of Jim Thorpe, the 1912 Games’ pentathlon and decathlon gold<br />medalist, Kiviat was the oldest living American Olympian at the time of his death.<br /><br />One of the great middle-distance runners in the world prior to World<br />War I, Kiviat at one point simultaneously held World Indoor records in the 600-Yard, 1,000-Yard, and One-Mile events—the only person in history to accomplish that feat.<br /><br />Kiviat established his first World record while still a high school student. In 1909, he registered 2:47.2 in the Two-Thirds Mile Run. The previous mark had stood for 21 years. On June 2, 1912, Kiviat broke the World record in the 1,500-meters, clocking 3.56.8. Six days later, he lowered that record to 3:55.8 at the U.S. Olympic trials. That mark stood as a World record for six years and as a U.S. record until 1928.<br /><br />Kiviat won nine U.S. National Championships between 1911 and<br />1914, at distances from 600 Yards to Cross Country. Also, during that time, he won the Baxter Mile at the New York Athletic Club Games, the most important mile event in America.<br /><br />He established himself as one of the great indoor distance runners of all-time in 1911, when the 5'5", 110-pound trackster won both the U.S. Amateur Athletic Union 600-Yard and 1,000-Yard Indoor Championships. It was the first time “the double” had ever been achieved. In 1913, he repeated the unique feat, this time capturing<br />both victories on the same night! That same year, he demonstrated his versatility by winning the American Six-Mile Cross Country title and establishing the U.S. Indoor One-Mile record of 4:18.2.<br /><br />In 1985, Kiviat was inducted into the U.S. Track and Field Hall of Fame.<br /><br /> <br /><br><br>Sic Gorgiamus Allos Subjectatos Nunc
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