William Henry Nieder (August 10, 1933 – October 7, 2022) was an American athlete who mainly competed in the

shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...

. Nieder was born in Hempstead, New York, and grew up in

Lawrence, Kansas Lawrence is the county seat of Douglas County, Kansas, Douglas County, Kansas, United States, and the sixth-largest city in the state. It is in the northeastern sector of the state, astride Interstate 70, between the Kansas River, Kansas and Waka ...

.Bill Nieder
sports-reference.com At the time of 1956 Olympics he was married to Sue and had a daughter Connie of about one year of age. At those Games he won a silver medal, losing to

Parry O'Brien William Patrick "Parry" O'Brien (January 28, 1932 – April 21, 2007) was an American shot put champion. He competed in four consecutive Summer Olympics where he won two gold medals (1952, 1956) and one silver medal (1960). In his last Olympic c ...

. Four years later, he placed fourth at the U.S. Olympic Trials, and was selected to the national team only after Dave Davis withdrew due to an injury. At the Olympics Nieder won a gold medal with a throw of 19.68 m. The mark set a new Olympic record and was an improvement of 5 feet from his mark 4 years earlier. Parry O'Brien had also improved over that time but was almost 2 feet behind Nieder. A graduate of the University of Kansas, Nieder was the first collegiate athlete to better the 60-foot mark with a 16-pound shot. He was also the first high school prep athlete to break the 60-foot barrier with a 12-pound shot put. Nieder, who set the shot put world record on three occasions, tried boxing when his track and field career ended following the 1960 Olympics. He was knocked out in his first bout and hung up the gloves for good. Nieder was employed by 3M and was instrumental in developing artificial athletic turf. Nieder sold the first ever synthetic track surface for an Olympic Games to the

1968 Mexico City Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...

organizers. Such tracks are now standard at all major track meets. Nieder later developed a new version of the rubber room. In 2006 Nieder was inducted into National Track and Field Hall of Fame.USATF Profile
Usatf.org. Retrieved on October 18, 2017. Nieder helped subdue a passenger attempting to enter the cockpit of American Airlines flight 1561 headed to San Francisco on Sunday, May 8, 2011. He was 77 years old at the time. On October 11, 2022, it was announced by the University of Kansas that Nieder had died in the previous week at the age of 89.Former Kansas Legend Bill Nieder Passes Away
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* * 1933 births 2022 deaths American male shot putters Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field Athletes (track and field) at the 1960 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1956 Summer Olympics Track and field athletes from Kansas World record setters in athletics (track and field) Kansas Jayhawks men's track and field athletes Medalists at the 1960 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1956 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for the United States in track and field Sportspeople from Lawrence, Kansas {{US-athletics-Olympic-medalist-stub