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John B. Kelly, Jr.

The Olympic Games, or Olympics, is an international multi-sport event taking place every four years which comprises of summer and winter games. Though the first ancient games were held in 776 B.C, the modern games started from 1896.The unity of the 5 continents is shown on the Olympic flag by five colorful intertwined rings of red, blue, green, yellow, and black, created by Baron Pierre de Coubertin to represent at least one color of the participating country’s national flag.

John B. Kelly, Jr. was born on May 24, 1927, Philadelphia, died on May 2, 1985, Philadelphia, also known as Kell Kelly or Jack Kelly, was an accomplished oarsman, a four-time Olympian, and an Olympic medal winner. Kelly was awarded the Sullivan Award as the top amateur athelete in the United States. Kelly graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1950 and participated on the rowing team for the school.

At the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, Kelly competed on the same course Henley course where he had won the Diamond Challenge Sculls the year before. Kelly won his openning heat, but did not make the finals after finishing second to eventual Silver Medalist Eduardo Risso in the semi-finals.

At the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Kelly again won his opening heat. In the semi-final, which was one to qualify, Kelly finished second to eventual champion Yuri Tyukalov, and Kelly was relegated to the repechage, or second-chance race, which was also one to qualify for the final. In the repechage, Kelly's main competitor was Teodor Kocerka of Poland. They fought all the way down the course with Kocerka, who would go on to win the Bronze medal, prevailing in a close finish.

At the 1956 Summer Olympics, Kelly won his Olympic medal, a bronze. He was beaten by two teenage prodigies, Vyacheslav Ivanov of Russia and Stuart Mackenzie of Australia, but Kelly beat Teodor Kocerka, who had beaten Kelly four years earlier. Kelly gave the medal to his sister Grace, who married Prince Rainier earlier that year, as a wedding present. He would later quip that he had hoped it would have been a different color. In 1960, Kelly competed in the double scull at his final Olympics in Rome. His boat would be eliminated in the repechage.

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