Portrait of Charles Jewtraw

(Original Caption) Charles Jewtraw, of Lake Placid, New York, became the first American to win a gold medal in Winter Olympic competition when he sped to victory in the 500 meter speedskating event, with a time of 44 seconds. Photo of Jewtraw snapped at Johnson City, New York, just after he had broken the world's amateur skating record for 3/4 mile, winning the final heat of that race. Yesterday Jewtraw also won the half mile and three mile events, bringing his total to five out of six victories, 170 points out of a possible 180 in the first meet of the series for the Adirondack Gold Cup. The New York State Champion breezed through the three quarter mile in 2:02-4/5, clipping 3-2/5 seconds from the world's amateur record of 2:06-1/5, set last February by William Steinmetz of Chicago. (Photo by George Rinhart/Corbis via Getty Images)