Harold Osborn
Harold Marion Osborn D.O. was an American track athlete. He won a gold medal in Olympic decathlon and high jump in 1924 and was the first athlete to win a gold medal in both the decathlon and an individual event.
Biography
After high school, Osborn attended the University of Illinois from 1919 through 1922, majoring in agriculture, where he was a founding member of the Eta chapter of Kappa Delta Rho fraternity. Both of Osborns parents were of entirely English ancestry. All of Osborn's ancestors came to North America from England and all of them emigrated to the Province of Massachusetts Bay before the year 1700. Osborn was descended from Richard Sears, John Underhill, Myles Standish, George Soule and John Woodbridge.Osborn won gold medals and set Olympic records in both the high jump and the decathlon at the 1924 Olympics. His 6'6" high jump remained the Olympic record for 12 years, while his decathlon score of 7,710.775 points also set a new world record, and resulted in worldwide press coverage calling him the "world's greatest athlete."
On May 27, 1924, Osborn's 6' 8-¼" high jump set a world record at an AAU meet held at the University of Illinois campus in Urbana. The following year Osborn won the British AAA Championships title in the high jump event at the 1925 AAA Championships. At the same Championships he finished second behind Elemér Somfay in the triple jump event.
Osborn competed in the Olympics again in 1928. In the high jump, four competitors tied for second place. The initial tying jumps for second place were 6' 3- ½", just an inch behind gold medalist, Bob King, who jumped 6' 4½".