Horatio Fitch

American athlete

Olympic medal record
Men's athletics
Representing the  United States
Silver medal – second place 1924 Paris 400 metres
Horatio Fitch 1924

Horatio May Fitch (December 16, 1900 Chicago, Illinois – May 4, 1985 Estes Park, Colorado) was an American athlete who competed mainly in the 400 metres.[1]

He competed for the United States in the 1924 Summer Olympics held in Paris in the 400 metres where he won the silver medal, an event memorialized by the 1982 hit movie Chariots of Fire. The race winner was Eric Liddell, who had passed up the 100-metre dash, his specialty, because it was being held on Sunday.

After graduating with a degree in engineering, Fitch went to work for a company building Chicago's new Union Station. He found time, however, to compete for the Chicago Athletic Association. After winning the 1923 AAU 440-yard national championship with a time of 50.0 seconds, he was invited to participate in the Olympic tryouts at Harvard the month before the Paris Games. He finished behind Taylor, a Princeton graduate, who set a new world record of 48.1 in the semifinals and was one of nine quartermilers the U.S. took to Paris.

References

  1. ^ "Horatio Fitch". Olympedia. Retrieved September 16, 2021.

External links

  • Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Horatio Fitch". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on October 1, 2015.
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US National Championship winners in men's 400-meter dash
1876-1979
Amateur Athletic Union
1980-1992
The Athletics Congress
1992 onwards
USA Track & Field
Notes
  • Note 1: In 1888 both the NAAAA and the AAU held championships
  • OT: The 1920, 1928, 1932, and since 1992, championships incorporated the Olympic Trials, otherwise held as a discrete event.
  • 2020 OT: The 2020 Olympic Trials were delayed and held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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US National Championship winners in men's indoor 600-yard dash
1906–1979
Amateur Athletic Union
1981–1992
The Athletics Congress
1993–present
USA Track & Field
Notes
*Distances have varied as follows: 600 yards (1906–1986), 500 meters (1987–1993) except 600 meters (odd numbered years since 2015)
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Track/road/cross country athletes
Field/combined event athletes
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