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Stanley Benham

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Stanley Benham
Medal record
Bobsleigh
Olympic Games
Silver medal – second place 1952 Oslo Two-man
Silver medal – second place 1952 Oslo Four-man
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 1949 Lake Placid Four-man
Gold medal – first place 1950 Cortina d'Ampezzo Four-man
Silver medal – second place 1950 Cortina d'Ampezzo Two-man
Silver medal – second place 1951 Alpe d'Huez Two-man
Silver medal – second place 1951 Alpe d'Huez Four-man
Silver medal – second place 1961 Lake Placid Four-man
Bronze medal – third place 1954 Cortina d'Ampezzo Two-man

Stanley "Stan" Benham (December 21, 1913-April 22, 1970) was an American bobsledder who competed from the late 1940s to the early 1960s. At the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo, he won silver medals in both the two-man and four-man events.

Benham also won seven medals at the FIBT World Championships with two golds (Four-man: 1949, 1950), four silvers (Two-man: 1950, 1951; Four-man: 1951, 1961), and one bronze (Two-man: 1954).

After retiring from bobsleigh, Benham served as a sports official with the FIBT (International Bobsleigh and Tobogganing Federation).

Personal life

A native of Lake Placid, New York, Benham later became a firefighter eventually rising to the rank of Fire Chief, a role he held when the 1949 FIBT World Championships were held in Lake Placid, the first time the bobsleigh World Championships were held outside of Europe. Starting out a ski jumper, he switched to bobsleigh in 1945 when he found ski jumping to be "too tame".

Benham died in 1970 of a heart attack in Miami, Florida at 56.

Legacy

At the bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton track in Lake Placid, turn 14 is named in Benham's honor. The turn is called "Benham's Bend."

References

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