Amazing Moments in Olympic History: Bob Mathias

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Decathlete Bob Mathias wasn't even legally an adult when he won his first Olympic gold medal. Four years later, he repeated his performance, setting an Olympic world record and receiving a slew of accolades. Even though he retired from the decathlon after the 1952 Games, he still had a lifetime of achievement ahead of him.

Before 1948, the Tulare, Calif., native didn't even know what a decathlon was. The sport, which takes place over two consecutive days, consists of 10 track and field events: 100-meter run, long jump, shot put, high jump, 400-meter run, 110-meter hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and 1,500-meter run.

The 17-year-old hadn't even attempted some of those track and field events before becoming known as the world's greatest athlete after his first-place finish in the sport at the London 1948 Olympic Games. That same year Mathias was honored as the best amateur athlete in the country with the Sullivan Award.

A year later Mathias registered for Stanford University, where he played on the football team for two seasons as a fullback. In 1952 he played in the Rose Bowl and months later took part in the Helsinki Games in Finland. He set two records that year: He was the first and only athlete to partake in both a Rose Bowl and Olympic Games in the same year, and he collected a successive Olympic gold in the decathlon.

At 6-feet-3-inches and 204 pounds, the decathlete had come a long way from being a sickly child. A proper diet, iron pills and naps helped a young Mathias live with anemia.

The Stanford student graduated from the university in 1953 with a degree in education. Mathias was 22 years old. After graduating, he served as a captain in the U.S. Marine Corps for two and a half years beginning in 1954. He was honorably discharged in 1956.

Mathias wanted to compete in the Melbourne Games in 1956, but he was not permitted. He played himself in a 1954 movie, "The Bob Mathias Story," and earned endorsement money. At that time, Olympic athletes had to be amateurs and were not allowed to capitalize on themselves if they still wanted to participate in the Games.

After acting, Mathias ran to be a California state representative. In 1966 he was elected to the House of Representatives, where he spent eight years. He also went on to be the director of the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., when it opened in 1977.

As of today, Mathias was inducted into four halls of fame: the National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1974, the San Francisco Bay Area Hall of Fame in 1980, the U.S. Olympic Committee's Hall of Fame in 1983 (in its first class), and the National High School Sports Hall of Fame in 1989.

In 1995 the National Collegiate Athletic Association awarded Mathias with the Theodore Roosevelt Award, which is the NCAA's highest honor bestowed upon a collegiate athlete. On Sept. 2, 2006, he passed away from cancer at age 75, but he still is remembered as one of the world's greatest athletes.

"Amazing Moments in Olympic History" will be published every Wednesday on teamusa.org.  Check back weekly to see more landmark achievements and incredible feats in the history of Team USA and the Olympic Movement.

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