Clarence Houser

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Men’s athletics
Olympic medal record
Gold	1924 Paris	Shot put
Gold	1924 Paris	Discus throw
Gold	1928 Amsterdam	Discus throw

Lemuel Clarence 'Bud' Houser (Sep 25, 1901, Winigan, Missouri - Oct 1, 1994, Gardena, California) was an American field athlete.

Houser went to college in Oxnard, California and between 1920-22 he participated in the California State Track Meets. His six wins in shot put and discuss, each time breaking a state record, made him the most succesful meet participant ever [1]. During this time he developed a discus-throwing style of doing one and a half rapid turns in the circle before release that has been copied by many later athletes.

At the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, Houser won the gold medal in the shot put, ahead of fellow Americans Glenn Hartanft and Ralph Hills and in the discus, ahead of the Finn Vilho Niittymaa and the American Thomas Lieb. This was the last time an athlete has won both the shot put and discus in the Olympics.

He won national championships in the discus in 1925, 1926, and 1928, and in the shot put in 1921 and 1925. On April 3, 1926 in Palo Alto, he set a world record with a discus throw of 48,20 m.

At the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam he was flag bearer for the United States team. There he retained his title in discuss-throwing, again leading a Finn Antero Kivi and an American James Corson.

Houser became a dentist with a practice in Palm Springs, California.

Olympic champions in men's shot put
1896: Robert Garrett \| 1900: Richard Sheldon \| 1904: Ralph Rose \| 1906: Martin Sheridan \| 1908: Ralph Rose \| 1912: Patrick McDonald \| 1920: Ville Pörhölä \| 1924: Clarence Houser \| 1928: John Kuck \| 1932: Leo Sexton \| 1936: Hans Woellke \| 1948: Wilbur Thompson \| 1952: Parry O'Brien \| 1956: Parry O'Brien \| 1960: Bill Nieder \| 1964: Dallas Long \| 1968: Randy Matson \| 1972: Władysław Komar \| 1976: Udo Beyer \| 1980: Vladimir Kiselyov \| 1984: Alessandro Andrei \| 1988: Ulf Timmermann \| 1992: Mike Stulce \| 1996: Randy Barnes \| 2000: Arsi Harju \| 2004: Yuriy Bilonoh

Olympic champions in men's shot put

Olympic champions in men's discus throw
1896: Robert Garrett \| 1900: Rudolf Bauer \| 1904: Martin Sheridan \| 1906: Martin Sheridan \| 1908: Martin Sheridan \| 1912: Armas Taipale \| 1920: Elmer Niklander \| 1924: Clarence Houser \| 1928: Clarence Houser \| 1932: John Anderson \| 1936: Ken Carpenter \| 1948: Adolfo Consolini \| 1952: Sim Iness \| 1956: Al Oerter \| 1960: Al Oerter \| 1964: Al Oerter \| 1968 Al Oerter \| 1972: Ludvík Daněk \| 1976: Mac Wilkins \| 1980: Viktor Rashchupkin \| 1984: Rolf Danneberg \| 1988: Jürgen Schult \| 1992: Romas Ubartas \| 1996: Lars Riedel \| 2000: Virgilijus Alekna \| 2004: Virgilijus Alekna

Olympic champions in men's discus throw