Cyrus Young

Cyrus C. Young (born 23 July 1928) was an American athlete who competed mainly in the javelin throw.

Young competed in the javelin throw for the U.S. at the 1952 Summer Olympic Games in Helsinki, Finland where he won the gold medal; no other American male athlete had ever won the Olympic javelin event - nor since.

Cyrus Young set an Olympic record in 1952, breaking the long dominance by Finland in that event. Young, who was the 1956 USA Open javelin champion, was also favored to win the 1956 Olympics, but twisted an ankle the day before competition. Incredibly, Young only toyed with the javelin for two years in junior college and only took it seriously after entering UCLA in 1948. In 1950, he placed second in the NCAA Championships, and in 1952 Young set a new U.S. record of 78.12 meters in the javelin.

In 1998, Cyrus Young was inducted within the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame. He was also a member of the Olympic Club in San Francisco, and was inducted into the Olympic Club Hall of fame in 2008.

source: wikipedia