- William Applegarth
William "Willie" Reuben Applegarth (
May 11 ,1890 –December 5 ,1958 ) was a British athlete, winner of gold medal in 4x100 m relay at the1912 Summer Olympics .Born in
Guisborough , in theNorth Riding of Yorkshire , William Applegarth was one of the best European sprinters during theWorld War I .At the
Stockholm Olympics, Applegarth was eliminated in the semifinals of 100 m competition and won a bronze medal in 200 m. As the anchoring leg in the British 4x100 m relay team, he won a gold medal, in spite of finishing second afterUnited States in the semifinal. United States was later disqualified for a fault in passing the baton, the same mistake was made in the final byworld record holder and main favourite German team.Applegarth was a British AAA champion in convert|100|yd|abbr=on in 1913 and 1914 and in convert|220|yd|abbr=on from 1912 to 1914. Shortly after the Olympics Applegarth repeated the
Don Lippincott 's world record in 100 m of 10.6 and set a new world record of 21.2 in 200 m in the 1914 AAA meeting.In 1915 Applegarth turned professional and emigrated to America, where became track and soccer coach at
Mercersburg Academy inPennsylvania . He also played for Brooklyn in the American Soccer League. William Applegarth died at age 68 in the same year that his British convert|100|yd|abbr=on record of 9.8 was finally broken.External links
* [http://www.databaseolympics.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=APPLEWIL01 profile]
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