Platt Adams (March 23, 1885 – February 27, 1961) was an American

athlete An athlete is most commonly a person who competes in one or more sports involving physical strength, speed, power, or endurance. Sometimes, the word "athlete" is used to refer specifically to sport of athletics competitors, i.e. including track ...

. He competed in various events at the 1908 and 1912 Olympics and won a gold and a silver medal in jumping events in 1912.Platt Adams
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Biography

Adams was born in Belleville, New Jersey. He had a brother, Ben Adams, also an Olympic athlete. In 1908 he finished fifth in the triple jump competition as well as in the standing high jump event. In the standing long jump competition, he finished sixth. He also participated in the discus throw event and in the Greek discus contest but in both events his result is unknown. Four years later, he won the gold medal in the standing high jump and the silver medal in the standing long jump. In 1912, he also finished fifth in the triple jump competition and 23rd in the high jump event. At the same Olympics, he competed in the baseball event, which was held as

demonstration sport A demonstration sport, or exhibition sport, is a sport which is played to promote it, rather than as part of standard medal competition. This occurs commonly during the Olympic Games but may also occur at other sporting events. Demonstration sport ...

. In January 1915, the Metropolitan Association of the

Amateur Athletic Union The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It h ...

found Adams not guilty on charges of professionalism, having sold a prize or accepted cash for a medal in violation of his amateur status, in connection with a claim the Adams had traded a trophy he had received at an exhibition jump in exchange for pins. A resident of South Orange, Adams was serving in the

New Jersey General Assembly The New Jersey General Assembly is the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature. Since the election of 1967 (1968 session), the Assembly has consisted of 80 members. Two members are elected from each of New Jersey's 40 legislative districts f ...

when he was named as the state's Chief Boxing Inspector in March 1923. He died at his home in the Normandy Beach section of Toms River, New Jersey on February 27, 1961."A Roundup Of The Sports Information Of The Week"
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Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...

'', March 13, 1961. Accessed April 13, 2013. "DIED: PLATT ADAMS, 75, winner of the 1912 Olympic standing high jump, at Normandy Beach, N.J. Adams won the now-discontinued Olympic event with a jump of 5 feet 4 inches."

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Adams, Platt 1885 births 1961 deaths American male long jumpers American male high jumpers American male triple jumpers Baseball players from Essex County, New Jersey Olympic baseball players for the United States Athletes (track and field) at the 1908 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1912 Summer Olympics Baseball players at the 1912 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field Olympic silver medalists for the United States in track and field Sportspeople from Belleville, New Jersey Sportspeople from South Orange, New Jersey Republican Party members of the New Jersey General Assembly Sportspeople from Toms River, New Jersey Track and field athletes from New Jersey Medalists at the 1912 Summer Olympics 20th-century American sportsmen Standing high jump Baseball players from Ocean County, New Jersey American athlete-politicians 20th-century members of the New Jersey Legislature