Kraenzlein, Alvin C.
Track and Field
b. Dec. 12, 1876, Milwaukee, WI
d. Jan. 6, 1928
Until Kraenzlein, hurdlers simply jumped over the hurdles as well as they could. He developed the modern technique of going over the hurdle with a straight front leg and the trailing leg tucked under. A very versatile athlete, he once won seven events in a high school meet and he's the only athlete ever to win four individual track and field gold medals at a single Olympics.
Kraenzlein entered the University of Wisconsin in 1895. His first major championship came in the AAU national 220-yard hurdles in 1897. In September of that year, he transferred to the University of Pennsylvania to study dentistry.
He won the 120- and 220-yard hurdles at the AAU national championships in 1898 and 1899 and was also the 1898 long jump champion. Running for Penn, Kraenzlein captured IC4A championships in both hurdles events for three straight years, 1898 through 1900. He won the IC4A long jump in 1898 and he scored a record 18 points in the 1899 meet, when he also won the 100-yard dash and finished second in the long jump to lead Penn to the team championship.
In 1900, Kraenzlein missed the AAU meet because he was in England, preparing for the Paris Olympics. He won British championships in the 120-yard hurdles and the broad jump while he was there. Then he went on to the Olympics, where he won gold medals in the 60-meter dash, the 110-meter hurdles, the 220-meter hurdles, and the long jump.
Kraenzlein retired from active competition with world records in the 60-meter dash, the 110-meter and 120-yard high hurdles, the 200-meter and 220-yard low hurdles, and the long jump. His record of 23.6 seconds in the 220-yard hurdles stood for twenty-six years.
He practiced dentistry for five years after graduating from Penn in 1901, then devoted most of the rest of his life to coaching. He was the track coach at the University of Michigan from 1910 until 1913, when he was hired to prepare the German team for the 1916 Olympics. The games were postponed because of World War I, and he returned to the United States. After serving in the Army, he was assistant coach at Penn until 1922. He died of heart disease.