caption death_date death_place birth_place weight height pb sport birth_date image article_title
john o'neil farrell at the 1928 olympics june 20 , 1994 -lrb- aged 87 -rrb- evergreen park , illinois , united states hammond , indiana , united states 78 kg lb on 1.80 m ftin on 500 -- 2:26.8 -lrb- 1928 -rrb- 5000 m -- 9:21.8 -lrb- m 1928 -rrb- 10000 m -- 20:00.9 -lrb- 1932 -rrb- -- 43.6 -lrb- 1928 -rrb- 1500 m speed skating august 28 , 1906 john o'neil farrell 1928.jpg john farrell -lrb- speed skater -rrb-

john farrell -lrb- speed skater -rrb-

john o'neil farrell -lrb- august 28 , 1906 -- june 20 , 1994 -rrb- was an american speed skater and speed skating coach .
farrell participated in the 1928 winter olympics in st. moritz .
on the 500 m , he skated in the first pair and promptly set a new olympic record with a time of 43.6 seconds , breaking charles jewtraw 's old record of 44.0 seconds .
the record would not stand , though , because in the next pair , clas thunberg skated 43.4 seconds , and in the eighth pair , bernt evensen also skated 43.4 .
but since nobody else besides those two skated faster than 43.6 , farrell won the bronze medal .
at the 1932 winter olympics of lake placid , the speed skating events were skated in `` packstyle '' format -lrb- having all competitors skate at the same time -rrb- for the only time in olympic history .
farrell qualified for the final in his heat , but finished in sixth -lrb- and last -rrb- place in the final .
two weeks later , he finished fourteenth at the 1932 world allround championships , also in lake placid .
at the 1936 winter olympics of garmisch-partenkirchen , farrell was the head coach of the american speed skating team .
farrell was a national outdoor champion .
in 1971 he was inducted in the `` national speedskating hall of fame '' .
