Don Bowden
Don Bowden (born August 8, 1936) is an American athlete who was the first American to break the four-minute mile. He represented the USA at the 1956 Olympic Games.
Bowden attended Abraham Lincoln High School (San Jose, California) in San Jose, California where he was a star 880 runner, then entered the University of California, Berkeley where he again specialized in the 880.
Despite having previously run only a few full mile races, on June 1, 1957 in Stockton, California Bowden clocked a 3:58.7 in the mile, setting a new American record.[1] He also ran on a world-record-setting 4 x 880 team for University of California.[1]
Bowden represented the U.S. in the 1956 Olympic Games, running the 1500m.[1] He failed to reach the final, coming 11th in his qualifying heat.[2]
After college he helped develop the Tartan track, the first artificial running surface. He was inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 2008.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Don Bowden, USA Track and Field - Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2013-10-28.
- ↑ Men 1500m Athletics Olympic Games Melbourne 1956 - Saturday 03.12, Sport Statistics - International Competitions Archive. Retrieved 2013-10-28.
<templatestyles src="Asbox/styles.css"></templatestyles>
 |
This biographical article about an American middle distance runner is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
