Ray Ewry

Raymond Clarence Ewry was born in Lafayette, Indiana. Contracting polio as a young boy, doctors feared he would be permanently paralyzed or confined to a wheelchair for life. Determined to walk, Ewry began doing repetitive, isometric leg exercises and jumps every day, gradually rehabilitating his legs and developing freakish explosive muscular spring.

Graduating with a degree in mechanical engineering from Purdue University in 1894, Ewry moved to New York City to work for the city's water department while competing for the New York Athletic Club. At a time when standing jumps (executed from a complete standstill without a run-up) were standard Olympic events, Ewry was untouchable.

At the 1900 Paris Olympics, Ewry won all three standing jump gold medals (standing long jump, standing high jump, standing triple jump) in a single day on the grass of the Bois de Boulogne. He repeated the triple gold sweep at St. Louis 1904, won two more golds at the 1906 Athens Games, and retained his standing long jump and standing high jump titles at London 1908. His eight individual Olympic golds remained an unbroken American record for a century until Michael Phelps surpassed it in 2008.