Stephen Andrew SEYMOUR

Steve Seymour's silver medal in 1948 was the best performance by a U.S. athlete in the Olympic javelin up to that time. He had a long career as a top-class performer. In 1941, as a senior at Franklin & Marshall College, when known as Seymour Cohen, he won the AAU junior title and placed fourth in the senior championships. In 1945 he set his first U.S. record with a throw of 235-3 (71.70) in Istanbul when he was serving with the Army in the Middle East. This remained a U.S. record until Seymour himself improved the national best to 248-10 (75.84) in 1947 when he won the first of his three AAU titles. Poor weather conditions hampered the throwers at the 1948 Olympics, where Seymour took second place with a modest performance. In the 1951 Pan American Games he won a silver medal again. He took sixth place at the 1952 Final Trials and did not qualify for the 1956 Trials, but his best performance was yet to come. In 1958, 10 years after his Olympic success, he came up with a throw of 251-1 (76.53) to register the longest throw of his career. Dr. Stephen Seymour completed his medical studies at the Los Angeles College of Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons and practiced as an osteopath in addition to operating a clinic for alcoholics.

Personal Best: JT – 76.53 (1958).