Jim Lightbody biography

 Jim Lightbody biography

Jim Lightbody, byname of James Davies Lightbody, (born March 15, 1882, Pittsburgh, Pa., U.S.—died March 2, 1953, Charleston, S.C.), American athlete, a preeminent middle-distance runner of the early twentieth century. At the 1904 Olympic Games in St. Louis he received 4 medals, together with three gold medals, and he added two extra medals within the 1906 Intercalated Games in Athens.

Lightbody attended the University of Chicago and competed for the Chicago Athletic Association. At the 1904 Olympics he placed on a burst of velocity within the homestretches of every of his particular person races to go his opponents and win. The steeplechase race in that Olympics was 2,590 m lengthy and included hurdles and a protracted water bounce on every lap; Lightbody, who had by no means competed in a steeplechase occasion earlier than, beat the favoured runner to attain his first Olympic victory. Three days later, once more an underdog, Lightbody received the 800-metre run. Also on the 1904 Games he set a world file (4 min 5.4 sec) whereas profitable the 1,500-metre race and ran on the Chicago Athletic Association staff that received a silver medal for the United States within the four-mile cross-country staff race.

Lightbody received nationwide Amateur Athletic Union victories within the half-mile and mile races in 1905. At the Intercalated Games in Athens in 1906, he received a gold medal within the 1,500-metre race. In the identical video games, his American teammate Paul Pilgrim defeated him in a detailed race within the 800-metre run, leaving Lightbody with a silver medal.