Help us find and improve next week's Connection Finder profiles: Summer Olympics [closed]

Question

The Summer Olympics will soon be upon us, so we're featuring participants, past and present, in the Connection Finder, beginning with Johnny Weissmuller, gold medalist in swimming.

We're looking for profiles of other Summer Olympics participants.

Here are a few of the people we're considering:

• Jesse Owens, gold medalist in track, (not connected)
• Florence Griffith Joyner, gold medalist in track (not connected)
• Benjamin Spock, gold medalist on rowing team

Can you help with these profiles, or expand their families? Adding relatives in any direction helps with connections. Every missing relative you add will make our connections to them closer.

Who else should we feature? Do they need a profile?

All profiles we feature need a good biography and a connection to the big tree. We also want each one to have an image, and the image needs to have proper source attribution explaining why it's in the public domain or why we have the right to display it.

We can't feature everyone mentioned (we only have room for eleven per week), but if we don't feature a profile you work on, we may use it sometime in the future. And, of course, all contributions help improve our shared tree.

We'll make a final decision on which ones to feature early next week.

Please reply here with what you're working on so that we don't duplicate our efforts. Thank you!

To help us plan future themes, see the 2021 Example Profile Plans post here.

Comments

Some categories to look at that might bring a few more into the mix:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:Olympians

(and all subcategories - there are a lot buried beneath in those subcategories)

Answer 1

Fantastic. Isabelle Martin and I fixed up Johnny W. last year when the Olympics was supposed to occur, and he's connected. There may be some additional family to add though.

If anyone has questions about Olympics categories, please ask us which ones to use, etc. Thanks!

Answer 2

Edwin Flack - Australia - has pic, has bio, is Connected.  He was Australia's first Olympian, being its only representative in 1896.

Fanny Durack - Australian - has pic, has bio, NOT Connected.  Gold medal, swimming,1912 Stockholm Olympics.

Fritz Hofmann - German - has pic, has (minimal) bio, NOT Connected.  Gold medallist in gymnastics 1896.

All the Swedes, Norwegians, etc I looked at did not have a WT profile linked to Wikidata, so they may have WT profiles, or may not.

Answer 3

Kobe Bryant is connected. He won twice a gold medal with the US-Team.

Comments

So, after a double and triple check of Isabelle Martin and me, we found out that I conflated two Harrison Freeman's. The one who is the son of Francis Hitt is NOT the one who is related to Kobe. If anybody wants to try to connect Kobe in time, here you go.

Answer 4

Fanny Blankers Koen, iconic Dutch track and field athlete.

Jesse Owens is supposedly very hard to connect. He is now part of a cluster of 115 profiles, if someone is interested in expanding it?

Wilma Rudolph, on the other hand, is another track and field icon, and connected.

Answer 5

Gillian Rolton is complete. She won Olympic gold in the equestrian events in 1992 and 1996, and in 1996 completed the endurance event with fractured collarbone and ribs, punctured lung and unable to use her left arm following a fall from her horse when he skidded.

Betty Cuthbert is complete. She is the only sprinter to win Olympic gold in the 100m, 200m and 400m events.

Answer 6

Simone Biles -- American Gymnastic

Wilma Rudolph -- Track and Field

Alice Coachman

Lisa Leslie

Marion Jones

Eddie Tolan

Sloane Stephens

Jackie Joyner Kersee

Sha' Çarri Richardson

Lolo Jones

Dominique Dawes

Jimmy LuValle

Crystal Dunn

Archie Williams

John Woodruff

John Taylor

Mack Robinson

Dave Albritton

Claressa Shields

Ralph Metcalfe

Allyson Felix

Debbi Thomas

Gabby Douglas

George Poage

Comments

This is a great list, but would be more useful if links to their WikiTree profiles were included. Would you mind adding those?

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It'd also be helpful to know how many, and which, are still living.  Simone Biles, for example, was very much alive last I checked.  (Wonderful athlete!)

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Many of them are still living. Wilma Rudolph is mentioned somewhere above.

• Alice Coachman (not connected)
• George Poage (not connected)
• Mack Robinson is connected, profile needs to be opened

There are a few deceased ones in the list who could use a profile.

Also, Debi Thomas is not only living, she is a Winter olympian, so she would not be eligible for this feature.

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We can still use them if they're in good shape of they're living, now, too!

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If they fit the decided criteria, yes.  And that depends on the managing Project.

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Gabby Douglas and Dominique Dawes (former gymnasts) are also still living.

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Profiles have been made for the deceased ones, but they're all new, not connected and more like stubs:

Archie Williams

Eddie Tolan

John Woodruff

John Baxter Taylor

Dave Albritton

Ralph Metcalfe

Some of the living ones have profiles:

Dominique Dawes (with private unlisted parents, unlisted siblings, and possibly unlisted spouse - good luck), Jackie Joyner-Kersee. 

Marion Jones, Lolo Jones, Alysson Felix, Sha'Carri Richardson, Sloane Stephens... are of course still living, some of them still active.

Answer 7

Emil Zatopek and Paavo Nurmi would be great candidates, if they could be connected.

Eric Liddell - Scottish track and field athlete, of Chariots of Fire fame, is connected, has pic, bio needs some pasted material removed and highlighting, maybe? His rival Harold Abrahams needs a connection.  

Comments

I will ask the team to work on cleaning up Eric's profile.

Answer 8

Yvette Williams - track & field - New Zealand

She died in 2019 - I connected her profile.

She was the first female to win a gold medal at any Olympics for NZ.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Williams-78619

Comments

I should make that DAME Yvette Williams!!!!

She was awarded the Dame Companion Order of Merit  (DNZM) posthumously, although she was told about it a few days before she died.

Answer 9

Paavo Nurmi would be a candidate for this week. He'd need to be connected though.

Answer 10

Memorial site for Olympians (2,083 memorials):

• https://www.legacy.com/memorial-sites/olympics/

Answer 11

A good candidate might be Alfred Tysoe. He won gold in the 1900 Olympics for England for the 800 metre race and the 5000 metre team race. His profile's in good shape, he has a nice tree, but could use a photograph. I'll see if I can find a photo that can be used.

Comments

OK - photos weren't hard to find - he should be good to use if we choose him.

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A possible German participant could be Alfried Krupp. He won bronze in the 1936 Olympics in 8 meter class Sailing. His legacy is a bit tainted as he was convicted of war crimes for using slave labor during WW II, but he did receive a pardon (but no acquital) after serving 3 years. The pardon led to the return of some of his assets that were forfeited during the penalty in the trial. So I suppose he's a tarnished Olympic winner, but technically qualifies.

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Scott, if https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Thorpe-1162 could be opened on behalf of the Notables project, he could be a good candidate.

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I've moved him to Yellow privacy - best I can do. However, he has no family attached. He does have a nice biography and a photo, so someone would have to do research on his family and make the connection.

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Oops, sorry. I confused with someone else. I thought Thorpe had been in a connection combat, but I was wrong, it was Michael Phelps.

Answer 12

John Brenden Connolly was the first person ever to win a modern Olympic gold medal, winning the Triple Jump in 1896. He has an excellent profile with several great photos. Unfortunately he is not connected. He was an American who had a wife and brother in New England. His parents were both immigrants from Ireland.

John Baxter Taylor became the first African-American to win a gold medal in 1908. He also had an excellent profile and photo but he has no family connections.

Literally 100s of great choices to pick from!

Comments

James Brendan Connolly

John Baxter Taylor  -- Could do with a Notables sticker, as well as the USBH sticker.

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John Baxter Taylor

Taylor Family Tree

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I've added the Notables Stickers (not familiar with USBH sticker format).

Speaking of formatting: Melanie, can you tell me what I did wrong in my failed attempt to link these two profiles in my initial comment. Or perhaps more importantly, what you did correctly in your response. Is there a short cut for linking profiles, or do I link them just as I would any other webpage, using the full URL?

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Randall, you can learn more about the USBH Connecting Challenge here along with the Sticker.

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You somehow managed to linkback to t he question, rather than the profiles. 

do I link them just as I would any other webpage, using the full URL?

commented by David Randall

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Exactly that.  

Just grab the full url from the profile, not the ID# as you would for using in a biography text box (the [[square bracket]] format just doesn't work on g2g) and use the chain link icon.  OR, just copy the full url  and paste it as is in the answer/comment/reply box.  

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Also, you might want to contact Emma MacBeath about Notable African Americans, because she may wish the  Project to co-manage.  (Not always, but checking is always a good idea.)

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Thanks Melanie. That was exactly the answer I needed. I'll contact Emma as I have a few other African-American profiles to make her aware of.

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Thanks for the link, Tommy.

Answer 13

Mina Wiley - Australian, friend and friendly rival of Fanny Durack.  With Fanny was one of only two Australian women swimmers admitted to the 1912 Games in Stockholm -- the first Games to allow women.  In the 100 metres event (one  of only three allowed to the women), Fanny Durack took the  gold, Mina Wiley took the silver, and Jennie Fletcher of Britain took the bronze.  (Jennie does not seem to have a profile.)

Mina has bio, has pic, should be Connected by tomorrow (I still need to create a few profiles.)