Bruce Kennedy (athlete) - Misplaced Pages

American javelin thrower

Bruce Kennedy (born March 25, 1951) is a Rhodesian, then American track and field athlete known for the javelin throw. He has been dubbed "one of the unluckiest athletes in Olympic history" not because of his failures at the Olympics but due to the political nature of his inability to appear at the Olympics. Born in Southern Rhodesia, he first came to the United States to study at the University of California, Berkeley. He qualified for the Rhodesian team for the 1972 Olympics, but when he arrived in Munich, he was not allowed to take the field. The government of Rhodesia, created when Kennedy was 14 years old, had never been recognized as a legitimate government and its athletes, including Kennedy, were excluded from the Olympics. He made the Rhodesian Olympic team again in 1976, but was not welcome at the Olympics. After eight years in the United States, he was able to obtain American citizenship in 1977 and compete for his new country. He finished second at the 1980 Olympic Trials but by that point in time, President Jimmy Carter had already declared the 1980 Summer Olympics boycott. He was one of 461 athletes to receive a Congressional Gold Medal instead. He was able to attend the 1984 Olympics near his home in Santa Barbara, California, working as an usher.

Kennedy won the American national championships twice, once before he had changed citizenship.

References

"Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-06-20. Retrieved 2018-12-04.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
Caroccioli, Tom; Caroccioli, Jerry (2008). Boycott: Stolen Dreams of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games. Highland Park, IL: New Chapter Press. pp. 243–253. ISBN 978-0942257403.
Tony Kornheiser (1984-08-10). "An Olympian, 3 Times Removed". The Washington Post. Washington, D.C. ISSN 0190-8286. OCLC 1330888409.
"USA Track & Field - USA Outdoor Track & Field Champions". Archived from the original on 2018-12-04. Retrieved 2018-12-04.

v t e US National Championship winners in men's javelin throw
1909–1979 Amateur Athletic Union	1909: Ralph Rose 1910: Bruno Brodd 1911: Ollie Snedigar 1912: Harry Lott 1913: Bruno Brodd 1914–19: George Bronder 1920–21: Milton Angier 1922: Flint Hanner 1923: Harry Hoffman 1924: John Leyden 1925: Zeke Bonura 1926: John Kuck 1927: Charles Harlow 1928: Creth Hines 1929: Jess Mortensen 1930–31: James DeMers 1932: Malcolm Metcalf 1933: Lee Bartlett 1934: Ralston LeGore 1935: Horace Odell 1936: John Mottram 1937: William Reitz 1938: Nick Vukmanic 1939–42: Boyd Brown 1943–44: Martin Biles 1945: Earl Marshall 1946: Garland Adair 1947–48: Steve Seymour 1949: Bud Held 1950: Steve Seymour 1951: Bud Held 1952: Bill Miller 1953–55: Bud Held 1956: Cy Young 1957: Bob Voiles 1958: Bud Held 1959–60: Al Cantello 1961: John Fromm 1962: Dan Studney 1963: Larry Stuart 1964: Frank Covelli 1965: Bill Floerke 1966: John Tushaus 1967: Delmon McNabb 1968: Frank Covelli 1969: Mark Murro 1970–71: Bill Skinner 1972: Fred Luke 1973: Cary Feldmann 1974: Sam Colson 1975: Richard George 1976: Fred Luke 1977: Bruce Kennedy 1978: Bill Schmidt 1979: Duncan Atwood
1980–1992 The Athletics Congress	1980: Duncan Atwood 1981: Bruce Kennedy 1982: Bob Roggy 1983: Rod Ewaliko 1984: Curt Ransford 1985–86: Tom Petranoff 1987: Duncan Atwood 1988: Dave Stephens 1989: Mike Barnett 1990: Vince Labosky 1991: Mike Barnett 1992: Tom Pukstys
1993–onwards USA Track & Field	1993: Tom Pukstys 1994: Todd Riech 1995: Tom Pukstys 1996: Todd Riech 1997–99: Tom Pukstys 2000–07: Breaux Greer 2008: Bobby Smith 2009: Chris Hill 2010: Sean Furey 2011: Mike Hazle 2012: Sam Humphreys 2013: Riley Dolezal 2014–15: Sean Furey 2016: Cyrus Hostetler 2017: Riley Dolezal 2018: Curtis Thompson 2019: Michael Shuey 2021: Curtis Thompson
Olympic Trials	The 1920, 1928, 1932, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016 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.
Notes	Kenneth Churchill had the longest throw in the 1932 competition (which doubled as the Olympic Trials), ahead of Malcolm Metcalf. However, Churchill qualified for the final only due to a late rule change by the U.S. Olympic Committee, allowing eight rather than five finalists. As this rule change applied only to the Olympic Trials, Churchill is considered to have won at the Trials and Metcalf at the national championships, even though they were the same meet.

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