11 Facts About Charley Paddock

Charles William Paddock was an American athlete and two-time Olympic champion.

Charley Paddock's family moved to Pasadena, California, when he was a child.

Charley Paddock won the 100 and 200 m in the first major sporting event after the war, the 1919 Inter-Allied Games, in which soldiers of the Allied nations competed against each other.

Charley Paddock was the first person named "The fastest man alive".

In 1920, Charley Paddock represented his country at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp.

Charley Paddock became famous for his unusual finishing style, leaping towards the finish line at the end of the race.

Charley Paddock broke or equaled several other world records over Imperial distances.

In Chariots of Fire, the 1981 Oscar-winning film about those races, Charley Paddock was portrayed by Dennis Christopher.

In 1928, Charley Paddock participated in his third Olympics, but did not reach the 200 m final.

In 1926, Charley Paddock appeared in The Campus Flirt, a black-and-white silent film featuring another Texas native, Paramount starlet Bebe Daniels.

In 1943, during World War II, Upshur and Charley Paddock died in a plane crash near Sitka, Alaska.