Oliver Leonard Kirk (April 20, 1884 – March 14, 1960) was an American

bantamweight Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports and weightlifting. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In mixed martial arts, MMA, bantamweight is . The name for the class ...

and

featherweight Featherweight is a weight class in the combat sports of boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts, and Greco-Roman wrestling. Boxing Professional boxing History A featherweight boxer weighs in at a limit of . In the early days of the division, ...

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who work (human activity), works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the partic ...

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: *Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing * Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

who won two

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

s in

Boxing at the 1904 Summer Olympics At the 1904 Summer Olympics, seven boxing events were contested, with the sport making its Olympic debut. The competitions were held on Wednesday, September 21, 1904 and on Thursday, September 22, 1904. Contestants in lighter weight classes coul ...

. He was born in

Beatrice, Nebraska Beatrice () is a city in and the county seat of Gage County, Nebraska, Gage County, Nebraska, United States. Its population was 12,261 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Nebraska, 15th most populous cit ...

and died in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

. Kirk is the only

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

to ever win two gold medals in two separate

weight In science and engineering, the weight of an object is a quantity associated with the gravitational force exerted on the object by other objects in its environment, although there is some variation and debate as to the exact definition. Some sta ...

divisions at the same Olympics. He won gold in the

and lost almost 10 pounds in under two weeks and also won gold in the bantamweight category. Kirk only had to win two fights to capture his two gold medals, in the bantamweight class only two boxers competed. In the featherweight class there were three boxers with Kirk earning the bye in the first round.

References

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* * 1884 births 1960 deaths Boxers from Nebraska Bantamweight boxers Featherweight boxers Olympic boxers for the United States Boxers at the 1904 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in boxing Place of birth missing Sportspeople from Beatrice, Nebraska American male boxers Medalists at the 1904 Summer Olympics 20th-century American sportsmen {{US-boxing-Olympic-medalist-stub