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The first African American athlete won a medal in the Olympic Games
[ 2007-04-20 14:22 ]
在1904年的第3屆圣路易斯奧運會上，一名勇敢的黑人選手站上了奧運會的賽場，并一舉奪得兩枚銅牌，他就是喬治·波格。
這名來自美國威斯康星大學的運動員在賽前便已經是美國大學生400米紀錄的保持者。盡管他在圣路易斯奧運會的該項比賽中只獲得了第6名，但他是現代奧林匹克運動史上參賽的第一名黑人運動員。400米并不是波格的強項，他最擅長的是跨欄。隨后他參加了200米欄和400米欄，結果他在各有4人參賽的兩個項目中分別戰勝了一名選手，獲得了兩塊銅牌，這也是現代奧運會中黑人選手贏得的最初獎牌。這讓他不僅成為所有非裔美國人心目中的英雄，而且也贏得了美國白人的尊敬。
 George Coleman Poage (November 6, 1880-April 11,1962) was the first African American athlete to win a medal in the Olympic Games, winning two bronze medals at the 1904 games in St. Louis.
Born in Hannibal, Missouri, his family moved to LaCrosse, Wisconsin when he was still a youngster. At LaCrosse High School Poage excelled as both a student and an athlete. He was easily the school's best athlete. As the second-best student in his class and its first African-American graduate, at commencement in 1899 he addressed the assembly as the salutatorian of his class.
The following fall he became a freshman at the University of Wisconsin. After competing with the freshman track squad in 1900, he joined the varsity track and field team during his sophomore year. Poage was the first black athlete to run for the UW, specializing in the short sprints and hurdles. A consistent point winner for his team, he quickly became well respected.
When the track coach was called out of town in 1902, the student newspaper The Daily Cardinal reported "while [Coach] Kilpatrick is absent, Mr. Poage will take charge of the track work."
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| The photo of George Poage (Captain of varsity track team) first row left of center. |
Poage graduated in 1903 with a degree in History. His senior thesis was titled "An Investigation into the Economic Condition of the Negro in the State of Georgia During the Period of 1860-1900." He returned to the University for the 1903-04 school year to take graduate classes in History. To help support his extra year on campus, the athletic department hired him to be a trainer for the football team. In June 1904, he became the first African-American individual Big Ten track champion in conference history, placing first in both the 440-yard dash and the 220-yard hurdles.
The Milwaukee athletic club sponsored Poage to compete in the third Olympic games that were being held during the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis. Many prominent African-American leaders had called for a boycott of the games to protest racial segregation of the events in St. Louis. An integrated audience was not allowed at either the Olympics or the World's Fair as the organizers had built segregated facilities for the spectators. Poage chose to compete and became the first African-American to medal in the Games by winning the bronze in both the 220-yard and 440-yard hurdles.
（實習生徐忠 英語點津boeybb編輯）
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