Английская Википедия:Dave Bolen
Шаблон:Short description Шаблон:Infobox officeholder
David Benjamin Bolen (December 23, 1923 – December 10, 2022) was an American track and field athlete, Olympian, diplomat and businessman.
Biography
Bolen competed at the 1948 Summer Olympics in the 400 metres. He finished fourth in the final behind Arthur Wint, Herb McKenley and Mal Whitfield. In 2012, Bolen told The Boulder Daily Camera that "The Olympics is not something you train for. You have to have talent, world-class talent. You have to use that talent for the benefit of yourself and others."[1] Bolen first discovered that he had that talent when he raced other children during an Easter egg hunt during his childhood and found that he was faster. He later decided he wanted to use his "foot speed" to gain a college education.[2]
Bolen graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder in 1950, and was the university's first Olympic athlete.[3] Before serving for two years in the Army Air Force in WWII,[4] he attended Southern University in New Orleans; after his service, he was recruited by CU Boulder track and field coach Frank Potts.[2]
Later, Bolen's career took him to the US State Department. In 1974, President Richard Nixon appointed him ambassador to Swaziland, Lesotho and Botswana simultaneously, while keeping residence in Gaborone. In 1977, the German-speaking Bolen was appointed by President Jimmy Carter and confirmed as US Ambassador to the German Democratic Republic. He was the first African-American to serve as ambassador to a nation behind the Iron Curtain. He served until 1980. As an ambassador to East Germany, Bolen helped to lay the groundwork for the destruction of the Berlin Wall. On November 9, 1989, the day the wall came down, Bolen's daughter, Cynthia, was photographed handing a long-stemmed rose to an East German border guard standing atop the wall.[5] He also worked to help free Nelson Mandela from prison.[2]
Bolen died on December 10, 2022, at the age of 98.[6]
Competition record
| Representing Шаблон:FlagIOC | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1948 | Olympics | London, United Kingdom | 4th | 400 m | 47.2 |
References
- Шаблон:Cite Sports-Reference
- http://www.blackpast.org/aah/bolen-david-benjamin-1923
- https://web.archive.org/web/20140212082044/http://www.coloradanmagazine.org/2013/03/01/running-down-dream/
- http://www.cubuffs.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=920399
- http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=7770 United States Ambassador to the German Democratic Republic Nomination of David B. Bolen.
July 8, 1977
Шаблон:S-start Шаблон:S-dip Шаблон:Succession box Шаблон:Succession box Шаблон:Succession box Шаблон:S-end
Шаблон:Footer US NC Indoor 600y Men Шаблон:Footer USA Track & Field 1948 Summer Olympics
Шаблон:US-sprint-athletics-bio-stub
Шаблон:US-diplomat-stub
- Английская Википедия
- 1923 births
- 2022 deaths
- Olympic track and field athletes for the United States
- American male sprinters
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1948 Summer Olympics
- Ambassadors of the United States to East Germany
- 20th-century American diplomats
- Ambassadors of the United States to Botswana
- Ambassadors of the United States to Lesotho
- Ambassadors of the United States to Eswatini
- Harvard University alumni
- African-American diplomats
- People from Heflin, Louisiana
- Military personnel from Louisiana
- Track and field athletes from Louisiana
- United States Foreign Service personnel
- United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II
- 20th-century African-American people
- 21st-century African-American people
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