Michail Dorizas

Born in Turkey to Greek parents Mikhail Dorizas began to excel in sports when he was a student at Robert College. Dorizas represented Greece at the 1906 Intercalated Games where he took part in the discus throw and the 14-pound stone throw, winning bronze in the latter. The following year he set a world record in the javelin at the Panhellenic Games. At the 1908 London Olympics Dorizas finished in fifth place in the discus throw and won the silver medal in the javelin. He also competed in the shot put and discus at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics where he finished 11th and 13th, respectively.

In 1913 Dorizas emigrated to the United States to do post graduate work at the University of Pennsylvania. Whilst at the university he began to wrestle becoming one of the best heavyweights in the country where he won the Intercollegiate Championships three years running (1914–16). He also played on the varsity football team for two years and competed for the track and field team. Dorizas earned his master’s degree in 1915 and then began to teach geography at the university.

During World War I Dorizas served as a high-ranking sergeant in the US Army in France. After the war was over he worked as an interpreter at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference before working as a geographer with the American Section of the International Commission on Mandates. Dorizas was an incredibly popular professor at Penn University where he remained on the faculty for 44 years until his death in October 1957.

Personal Bests: SP – 13.57 (1914); DT – 42.15 (1912); JT – 55.10 (1907).