John Jesus Flanagan

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Men's Athletics
Olympic medalist
John Flanagan
Medal record
Gold	1900 Paris	Hammer throw
Gold	1904 St. Louis	Hammer throw
Silver	1904 St. Louis	56 pound weight throw
Gold	1908 London	Hammer throw

John Flanagan, Martin Sheridan and James Mitchell at the 1904 Summer Olympics

John Jesus Flanagan (January 9, 1873 - June 3, 1938) was a three-time Olympic gold medalist in the hammer throw: 1900, 1904, and 1908.

John Jesus Flanagan was born in Kilbreedy, Ireland on January 9, 1873. He immigrated to the United States in 1897. At that time he already held the world record for the hammer throw, and joined the New York Athletic Club.

In 1900 he represented his new country at the Olympic Games in Paris, France. Flanagan, the only non-college man to medal for the Americans, outdistanced countryman Truxton Hare by 4.75 meters. Hare and Josiah McCracken, both college football players from Pennsylvania, took silver and bronze.

Flanagan joined the New York City police force in 1903. His first assignment was the Bureau of Licenses, where he had little to do and could take time off to train and compete.

In 1904, Flanagan competed in St. Louis, Missouri Olympic Games. In the hammer throw he set a new world record of 168 feet, 1 inch. He placed second to Etienne the Gendarme in the 56-pound throw event.

In the 1908 Olympics in London, Flanagan broke his own record with a hammer throw of 170 feet, 4.5 inches. The silver that year went to another New York City police officer, the former record holder Matt McGrath. John Flanagan competed in the Tug-of-war as well.

On July 24, 1909, Flanagan became the oldest world record breaker at age 41, when he threw the hammer 56.18 meters.

Flanagan quit the police force in 1910, after his "public office" squad was abolished and he was transferred to the West 68th Street Station and forced to walk a beat along Central Park West. That gave him no time to compete, and kept him up late. He left the U.S. in 1911.

When his Father died in 1924, Flanagan went back to Kilmallack, Limerick, in the Irish Free State. He died there on June 3, 1938.

In the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics, the U.S. lost for the first time in the event - to an Irishman, Dr. Patrick O'Callaghan, who'd been trained by John Flanagan.