List of Connecticut Summer Olympic Gold Medalists Remains Short

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL — With his ninth-place finish in the 3,000 meter steeplechase final Wednesday, Donn Cabral of Glastonbury did not crack a very select group of Connecticut natives who have achieved individual gold in the Summer Olympic Games.

While several gold medalists have significant Connecticut ties (Bruce Jenner attended Newtown High School and Lindy Remigino grew up in Hartford), they were born in New York. Others such as Kristine Lilly have won gold as part of a team, but surprisingly, just five athletes born in the Nutmeg State have won individual Summer Olympic gold.

Ironically, the first Connecticut native to achieve the feat was, like Cabral, a track and field athlete from Glastonbury. At the first modern Olympic Games in Athens, Greece in 1896, 21-year-old William Hoyt (1875-1954) won the pole vault by clearing 3.30 meters (10 feet, 10 inches).

A dozen years later, Bridgeport native Harry Porter (1882-1965) won the high jump in London by leaping 6 feet, 3 inches. In 1924 in Paris, freestyle wrestler John Spellman (1899-1966), who was born in Middletown, raised in Somers and attended Enfield High School, captured the gold medal in the light heavyweight division.

The most recent individual gold medalists from Connecticut were champions at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles. Swimmer Theresa Andrews (b. 1962), a New London native, won the 100 meter backstroke, while New Haven-born Edward Etzel, Jr. (b. 1952) was victorious in the 50 meter rifle prone competition.

Photo credits: www.ovguide.com (Hoyt); www.bbc.co.uk (Porter); Enfield Athletic Hall of Fame (Spellman); www.swimacrossamerica.org (Andrews); commons.wikimedia.org (Etzel)