James John Bickford (November 2, 1912October 3, 1989) was an American

bobsled Bobsleigh or bobsled is a team winter sport that involves making timed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sleigh. International bobsleigh competitions are governed by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Feder ...

der who competed from the late 1930s to the mid-1950s. Competing in four

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

, he won a bronze medal in the four-man event at St. Moritz in 1948. Bickford also carried the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

flag during the opening ceremonies of the 1952 and

1956 Winter Olympics The 1956 Winter Olympics, officially known as the VII Olympic Winter Games ( it, VII Giochi Olimpici invernali) and commonly known as Cortina d'Ampezzo 1956 ( lld, Anpezo 1956 or ), was a multi-sport event held in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, from ...

. At the

FIBT World Championships The IBSF World Championships (known as the FIBT World Championships until 2015), part of the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation, have taken place on an annual basis since 1930. Starting with 2002, championships of non-Winter Olympic ...

, he won three medals with one silver (Four-man: 1949) and two bronzes (Two-man:

1954 Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...

, Four-man: 1937).

References

1936 bobsleigh four-man results
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20070929091333/http://sports123.com/bob/mw-2.html Bobsleigh two-man world championship medalists since 1931br>Bobsleigh four-man world championship medalists since 1930List of American flag bearers during the Winter Olympic opening ceremonies
1912 births 1989 deaths American male bobsledders Bobsledders at the 1936 Winter Olympics Bobsledders at the 1948 Winter Olympics Bobsledders at the 1952 Winter Olympics Bobsledders at the 1956 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1948 Winter Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in bobsleigh {{US-Winter-Olympic-medalist-stub