James Connolly (athlete born 1868)
Connolly in 1906
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| Born | October 28, 1868 Boston, Massachusetts |
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| Died | January 20, 1957 (aged 88) Brookline, Massachusetts |
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| Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 72 kg (159 lb; 11.3 st) | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Country |
 United States
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| Sport | Athletics | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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James Brendan Bennet "Jamie" Connolly (Irish: Séamas Breandán Ó Conghaile, October 28, 1868 – January 20, 1957) was an American athlete and author. In 1896, he was the first modern Olympic champion.
Connolly was born to poor Irish immigrants from the Aran Islands, fisherman John Connolly and Ann O'Donnell, as one of twelve children, in South Boston, Massachusetts. Growing up at a time when the parks and playground movement in Boston was slowly developing, Connolly joined other boys in the streets and vacant lots to run, jump, and play ball.
He was educated at Notre Dame Academy and then at the Mather and Lawrence grammar school, but never went to high school. Instead, Connolly worked as a clerk with an insurance company in Boston and later with the United States Army Corps of Engineers in Savannah, Georgia.
His predisposition to sport also became apparent. Calling a special meeting of the Catholic Library Association (CLA) of Savannah in 1891, he was instrumental in forming a football team. Soon thereafter, Connolly was elected captain of the CLA Cycling Club and aggressively sought to promote the sport on behalf of the Savannah Wheelmen.
Altogether dissatisfied with his career path, Connolly sought to regain the lost years of high school through self-education. In October 1895, he sat for the entrance examination to the Lawrence Scientific School and was unconditionally accepted to study the classics at Harvard University.
After the creation of the International Olympic Committee in 1894 the first modern edition of the Olympic Games were scheduled for April 6 to 15, 1896 in Athens, Greece. Connolly decided to participate, and submitted a request for a leave of absence to the Chairman of the Harvard University Committee on the Regulation of Athletic Sports and was denied. According to Connolly himself, he was informed that his only course of action would be to resign and make a reapplication to the College. Connolly then claimed to have replied:
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Wikipedia