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Bob Richards
Sign in to saveAlso known as Robert Richards, Robert Eugene Richards
American athletics competitor, pole vaulter (1926–2023)
Key facts
- Born
- Robert Eugene Richards , ( 1926-02-20 ) February 20, 1926, Champaign, Illinois , U.S.
- Died
- February 26, 2023 (2023-02-26) (aged 97)
- Party
- Populist (1984–1996), American Freedom (2010–2023)
- Alma mater
- University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
- Height
- 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
- Weight
- 75 kg (165 lb)
- Sport
- Pole vault, decathlon
- Club
- LAAC , Los Angeles
- Personal best s
- HJ – 1.91 m (1954), PV – 4.72 m (1957), LJ – 7.09 m (1954)
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Given name
- Bob
- Family name
- Richards
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- United States
- Place of birth
- Champaign
- Place of death
- Waco
- Occupation
- politician
- Languages spoken
- English language
- Participant in
- 1948 Summer Olympics
- Sport
- athletics
- Country for sport
- United States
- Mass
- 75
- Image
- Bob Richards 1951.jpg
- Height
- 178
Show 9 more facts
- date of birth
- 1926-02-20
- Commons category
- Bob Richards
- sports discipline competed in
- pole vault
- name in native language
- Robert Eugene Richards
- nickname
- The Vaulting Vicar
- different from
- Robert Richards
- date of death
- 2023-02-26
- start of work period
- 1948-00-00
- end of work period
- 1956-00-00
Sources (6)
via Wikidata · CC0
~5 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Robert Eugene Richards (February 20, 1926 – February 26, 2023) was an American athlete, minister, and politician. He made three U.S. Olympic Teams in two events: the 1948, 1952, and 1956 Summer Olympics as a pole vaulter and as a decathlete in 1956. He won gold medals in pole vault in both 1952 and 1956, becoming the first male two-time champion in the event in Olympic history (a feat only equalled in 2024 by Armand Duplantis).
While still an active athlete, Richards became an ordained minister. He ran for President of the United States in 1984 on the Populist Party ticket.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Bob Richards” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.