Étienne Desmarteau
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| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Birth name | Joseph-Étienne Birtz | ||||||||||||||
| Full name | Joseph-Étienne Desmarteau[1] | ||||||||||||||
| Born | 4 February 1873[1] Boucherville, Quebec, Canada | ||||||||||||||
| Died | 29 October 1905 (aged 32) Montreal, Quebec, Canada | ||||||||||||||
| Height | 185 cm (6 ft 1 in) | ||||||||||||||
| Weight | 94 kg (207 lb) | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Joseph-Étienne Desmarteau (4 February 1873 – 29 October 1905)[2] was a Canadian athlete, winner of the weight throwing event at the 1904 Summer Olympics.[3]
Biography
[edit]Born in Boucherville, Quebec, Desmarteau was member of the Montréal Athletic Club[2][4] was one of the top competitors in the 56 lb (25.4 kg) weight throwing event, which is no longer an Olympic event. In 1902 he had won the American AAU championships, beating John Flanagan. Flanagan broke the world record in the event prior to the 1904 Olympics, making him one of the favourites for the event along with Desmarteau.[citation needed]
To compete in the Olympics, Desmarteau, a fire officer in Montréal, had to ask for a leave of absence to go to St. Louis, but he was denied by his employer. He decided to go anyway, which cost him his job.[2][4] In St. Louis, his first throw was 34 ft 4 in (10.46 m), enough for victory over Flanagan, who did not manage better than a 33 ft 4 in (10.16 m) throw.[2] At the 1904 Olympics, Desmarteau was the only non-American to win in the field events.[5]
Desmarteau received a hero's welcome back in Montréal and was rehired as a police officer.[2] The following year, he died, possibly of typhoid fever.[4]
A district, a park and a sports arena in Montréal have been named after him; the Étienne Desmarteau Centre was used as a venue for basketball during the 1976 Summer Olympics. The District d'Étienne Desmarteau is part of the borough of Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie.[2]
It is contended that Desmarteau was the first Olympic Games champion from Canada, although 1900 Summer Olympics champion George Orton, who ran for an American university, was also Canadian.[2][4]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Étienne Desmarteau". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 5 July 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f g Sanfaçon, Gaétan (2000). "DESMARTEAU, ÉTIENNE". Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online. University of Toronto/Université Laval. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
- ^ "Étienne Desmarteau". Olympedia. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
- ^ a b c d Leyshon, Glynn (1994). "Étienne Desmarteau. Canada's First Olympic Gold Medallist" (PDF). Journal of Olympic History. 2 (1): 21–25. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 June 2012. Retrieved 4 August 2009.
- ^ Canada at the Olympics : the first hundred years : 1896-1996. Batten, Jack, 1932-. Toronto: Infact Pub. 1996. ISBN 1-896092-03-9. OCLC 35970844.
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External links
[edit]
- Étienne Desmarteau at Olympics.com
- Étienne Desmarteau at Olympedia
- Étienne Desmarteau at Team Canada
- Étienne Desmarteau at Canada's Sports Hall of Fame
- Étienne Desmarteau at the Quebec Sports Hall of Fame (in French)
- 1873 births
- 1905 deaths
- Track and field athletes from Quebec
- People from Boucherville
- Canadian male shot putters
- Canadian male discus throwers
- Canadian police officers
- Male weight throwers
- Olympic weight throwers
- Olympic track and field athletes for Canada
- Olympic gold medalists for Canada
- Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field)
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1904 Summer Olympics
- Medalists at the 1904 Summer Olympics
- Infectious disease deaths in Quebec
- Deaths from typhoid fever