Who was the first African American athlete to win an Olympic gold medal?
Question #148599. Asked by pehinhota.
Last updated Aug 02 2021.
Originally posted Aug 02 2021 8:26 AM.
wellenbrecher
Answer has 8 votes
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wellenbrecher 20 year member
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Answer has 8 votes.
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John Baxter Taylor Jr.
Taylor won a gold medal during the 1908 Olympic Games held in London. He was a member of the U.S. men's medley relay team. In this relay, the athletes had different distances to run: the first two runners ran 200 metres each, the third runner ran 400 and the fourth ran 800. Taylor was the third running the 400 metres part.
This particular competition premiered in 1908 and has never been repeated after that. In 1912 it was substituted by the 4 × 400 metres relay. So Taylor was not only the first African American athlete to win an Olympic gold medal. Together with his team mates he is technically the current title holder of the Olympic medley relay.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Taylor_(athlete)