Fortune Gordien

Medal record
Men’s athletics
Competitor for the  United States
Olympic Games
Silver 1956 Melbourne Discus throw
Bronze 1948 London Discus throw
Pan American Games
Gold 1955 Mexico City Discus throw

Fortune Everett Gordien (September 9, 1922 – April 10, 1990) was an American athlete who competed mainly in the discus throw.

Born in Spokane, Washington he competed for the United States in the 1948 Summer Olympics held in London, Great Britain in the discus throw where he won the bronze medal behind two Italians, Adolfo Consolini and Giuseppe Tosi. He failed to medal in the 1952 Olympics but improved to his best Olympic performance with a silver medal, behind the great Al Oerter, in the 1956 Summer Olympics held in Melbourne, Australia.

According to the Guinness Book of Track and Field: Facts and Feats, the smallest crowd ever to see a world record may have been 48, the number attending a Pasadena, California all-comers track meet in 1953 when Fortune Gordien broke the discus record. His mark of 194 feet 6 inches lasted as the world record for six years.[1]

References


Records
Preceded by
Adolfo Consolini
Men's Discus World Record Holder
July 9, 1949 – June 20, 1953
Succeeded by
Sim Iness
Preceded by
Sim Iness
Men's Discus World Record Holder
July 11, 1953 – June 14, 1959
Succeeded by
Edmund Piątkowski