Abel Kiviat

{{Infobox sportsperson

| name =

| image = Abel Kiviat 1912.jpg

| caption = Kiviat in 1912

| birth_name =

| fullname = Abel Richard Kiviat

| nationality =

| residence =

| birth_date = June 23, 1892

| birth_place = Manhattan, New York City, U.S.

| death_date = August 24, 1991 (aged 99)

| death_place = Lakehurst, New Jersey, U.S.

| height = 5 ft 5 in

| weight = 110 lb

| country =

| sport = Middle distance track

| event = 800 m, 1500 m, 5000 m

| pb = 800 m – 1:54.1 (1910)
1500 m – 3:55.8 (1912)
5000 m – 15:06.4 (1912)[http://trackfield.brinkster.net/Profile.asp?ID=3428&Gender=M Abel Kiviat]. trackfield.brinkster.net

| club = I-AAC, Queens

| spouse = Isabelle

| retired =

| olympics =

| highestranking =

| show-medals = yes

| medaltemplates =

{{MedalCountry | the {{USA}} }}

}}

Abel Richard Kiviat (June 23, 1892 – August 24, 1991) was an American track coach, press agent, and highly accomplished middle-distance runner. He won a gold medal in the 3000m team race and a silver medal in the 1500m at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics.{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/78659 |title=Abel Kiviat |website=Olympedia |access-date=18 April 2021}} He was the oldest living American Olympic medalist at the time of his death. He competed for and coached the Irish American Athletic Club, and was later a member of the New York Athletic Club.[https://web.archive.org/web/20200417171503/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ki/abel-kiviat-1.html Abel Kiviat]. Sports-reference

Early life

Kiviat was the oldest of seven children of Polish immigrants Zelda and Morris Kiviat in New York's Lower East Side."Former Olympic Silver Medalist Abel Kiviat Dies", The Courier-News, Bridgewater, New Jersey, pg. 18, August 26, 1991 When he was six years old, the family moved to Staten Island and he attended Curtis High School.{{cite web|url=http://www.wingedfist.org/Abel_Kiviat.html|title="Hebrew Runner" of the I-AAC"|publisher=Wingedfist.com |date=August 24, 1991 |access-date=February 13, 2023}}

Running career

File:Lawson Robertson (1927) (cropped).png

A track star by his Senior year in High School, he was recruited to join the accomplished Irish American Athletic Club in Queens, New York, by their coach Lawson Robertson, who would be both an American Olympic medalist and Olympic Track coach. Joining the club at age 17, he was made a team captain by 1910.

In 1908, at Travers Island, he won the Junior Championship for one mile for the Metropolitan District, making the fast time of 4:24. In the same year, he won the Baxter Cup in the Columbia University races at Madison Square Garden, making the fast time of 4:23 2–5. He broke the world's record in the 2,400 yard relay race, his time for his 600 yards being 1:16 and 5:4 for the entire distance. He also won the Canadian mile championship in 1909 and again in 1910.{{cite web|url=http://www.wingedfist.com/kiviat.html |title=1910 Mecca Cigarettes Champion Athlete Series trading card |publisher=Wingedfist.com |date=August 24, 1991 |access-date=February 13, 2011}}

He set a 1500 meter world record of 3:55.8 minutes in Cambridge, Massachusetts in June 1912. In the same year, he set the world record for 1500 meters three times in 15 days; during the third effort, Harvard stadium was sold out with 15,000 in attendance – referenced in "The Milers" by Cordner Nelson.Nelson, Cordner (1985) The Milers. Tafnews Pr. {{ISBN|0911521151}}

=Olympic silver medal=

He competed for the U.S. Olympic Team as a member of the Irish American Athletic Club. He won a silver medal in the 1500 m at the Olympic Games in Stockholm 1912. For the first time, the Olympics used a photo finish to determine who won the medal.Baum, Jonathan (June 24, 2012) [https://sports.yahoo.com/news/olympics--allyson-felix-jeneba-tarmoh-tie-in-100-meters-to-be-broken-by-run-off-or-coin-flip.html Allyson Felix-Jeneba Tarmoh tie in 100 meters to be broken by run-off or coin flip]. sports.yahoo.comBorden, Sam (June 24, 2012) [https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/25/sports/olympics/2012-olympics-allyson-felix-and-jeneba-tarmoh-100-meter.html?_r=0 A Photo Finish Too Close to Call, Even by Camera]. New York Times With Kiviat leading until the final lap of the 1500, English gold medal winner Arnold Jackson outkicked him in the final stretch at a last turn in the track. Kiviat called the loss "the greatest disappointment of my life."

In Stockholm, he also raced on the gold-medal US team in the 3000 m relay and competed for the US team in the exhibition baseball tournament. During the trip to Sweden in 1912, he was cabin mates with Jim Thorpe, a much renowned Native American athlete.{{cite book | last = Katchen | first = Alan | year = 2009 | title = Abel Kiviat, National Champion: Twentieth-Century Track & Field and the Melting Pot | publisher = Syracuse University Press | location = Syracuse, New York|isbn=978-0-8156-0939-1}}

After serving on the front lines with the US Army in France in WWI, he continued his athletic career until 1925. After retirement from competition, he acted as an official at track meets for 60 years and served as chief press steward at the Penn Relays and many Madison Square Garden meets. He later participated in the Olympic Torch Relay before the 1984 Olympics.

In 1984, Kiviat, who was Jewish,{{cite book|author=Katchen, Alan S. |title=Abel Kiviat, National Champion: Twentieth-century Track & Field and the Melting Pot|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=blFZ_zjQNuUC|year=2009|publisher=Syracuse University Press|isbn=978-0-8156-0939-1}} was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame,{{cite book|author=Siegman, Joseph M. |title=The International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qpiphgls99IC&pg=PA172|year=1992|publisher=SP Books|isbn=978-1-56171-028-7|pages=172–}} in 1985, he was inducted into the USA Track & Field Hall of Fame, and in 2023 he was inducted into the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.{{cite web | url=https://brooklyneagle.com/articles/2023/04/17/brooklyns-dave-shorty-newmark-is-an-exemplar-of-jewish-athletic-excellence/ | title=Brooklyn's Dave 'Shorty' Newmark is an exemplar of Jewish athletic excellence | date=April 17, 2023 }}[http://oldserver.usatf.org/HallOfFame/TF/showBio.asp?HOFIDs=89 Abel Kiviat]. usatf.org

He died of prostate cancer on August 24, 1991, at his home in Lakehurst, New Jersey. Aged 99, he was the oldest living Olympian.{{cite news |author=Frank Litsky |author-link=Frank Litsky |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/08/26/sports/abel-kiviat-runner-dies-at-99-held-world-1500-meter-record.html|title=Abel Kiviat, Runner, Dies at 99; Held World 1,500-Meter Record |quote=Abel Kiviat, a former world-record holder in the 1,500-meter run who won a silver medal in the 1912 Olympics, died Saturday afternoon at his home in Lakehurst, N.J. He was 99 years old. |newspaper=The New York Times |date=August 26, 1991 |access-date=2015-01-02 }} He was survived by a son Arthur, two brothers and a grandchild. He was predeceased by his wife Isabelle."Abel Kiviat, 99, Olympic Medalist", The Record, Hackensack, New Jersey, pg. 14, August 26, 1991

Legacy

File:Abel Kiviat 1988.jpg

The Abel R. Kiviat Memorial race is held annually at his alma mater, Curtis High School, in Staten Island, New York.

Notes

References

{{cite book | last = Greenberg | first = Stan | year = 1987 | title = Olympic Games: The Records | publisher = Guinness Books | location = London | isbn = 0-85112-896-3 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/olympicgamesreco00gree }}
{{cite book | last = Katchen | first = Alan | year = 2009 | title = Abel Kiviat, National Champion: Twentieth-Century Track & Field and the Melting Pot | publisher = Syracuse University Press | location = Syracuse, New York|isbn=978-0-8156-0939-1}}
{{cite book | last = Kieran | first = John | year = 1977 | title = The Story of the Olympic Games; 776 B.C. to 1976 | publisher = J.B. Lippincott Company | location = Philadelphia and New York | isbn = 0-397-01168-7 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/storyofolympicga0000kier_j1r1 }}

External links

[http://www.wingedfist.org Winged Fist Organization]
[http://www.wingedfist.org/Abel_Kiviat.html Abel Kiviat – "Hebrew Runner" of the I-AAC]
{{sports links}}

{{succession box|before=—|title=Men's 1500 m World Record Holder|years=June 1, 1912 – August 5, 1917|after=John Zander}}

Category:1892 births

Category:1991 deaths

Category:American male middle-distance runners

Category:Baseball players from Manhattan

Category:Deaths from prostate cancer in New Jersey

Category:Olympic baseball players for the United States

Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1912 Summer Olympics

Category:Baseball players at the 1912 Summer Olympics

Category:Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field

Category:Olympic silver medalists for the United States in track and field

Category:Sportspeople from Staten Island