Gaston Maurice Strobino (August 23, 1891 – March 30, 1969) was an American athlete and runner. He won the bronze medal in the

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

event at the

1912 Stockholm Olympics The 1912 Summer Olympics ( sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1912), officially known as the Games of the V Olympiad ( sv, Den V olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Stockholm 1912, were an international multi-sport event held in Stockholm, Sweden, bet ...

Biography

Strobino was born in

Büren an der Aare Büren an der Aare (usually abbreviated with Büren a.A., means ''Büren on the Aare'') is a historic town and a municipality in the Seeland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. History Büren an der Aare is first ment ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, by Italian family of Mosso Santa Maria (Biella, Italy) and moved from

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

Paterson, New Jersey Paterson ( ) is the largest City (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.South Paterson South Paterson is a neighborhood in Paterson, New Jersey, United States. Location The neighborhood is bounded by NJ 19 on the west, the border with Clifton, New Jersey to the south, the Passaic River to the east, and I-80 to the north. The Arab ...

and worked as a toolmaker.

Running career

Strobino competed for the United States in the

1912 Summer Olympics The 1912 Summer Olympics ( sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1912), officially known as the Games of the V Olympiad ( sv, Den V olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Stockholm 1912, were an international multi-sport event held in Stockholm, Sweden, be ...

held in

Stockholm, Sweden Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropoli ...

in the marathon at the age of 20. The Olympic marathon was the first time he had ever raced the distance before, having qualified in a 12-mile race in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. The race was notable for being run in particularly harsh conditions, with temperatures reaching 86 degrees Fahrenheit. He finished third behind

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

n runners

Ken McArthur Kennedy Kane "Ken" McArthur (February 10, 1881 – June 13, 1960) is most noted as a track and field athlete and winner of the marathon at the 1912 Summer Olympics. Biography Born in Dervock, County Antrim, Ireland, McArthur was recognise ...

and

Christian Gitsham Christopher William "Chris" Gitsham (15 October 1888 – 16 June 1956) was a South African athlete, who mainly competed in the men's marathon. Gitsham competed for South Africa at the 1912 Summer Olympics held in Stockholm, Sweden where he ...

, with Strobino suffering from raw and bleeding feet. His bronze medal was the sixth ever won by an American marathon runner. The Olympics was the only time in his career that Strobino would ever race a marathon.

References

American male long-distance runners Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in track and field Athletes (track and field) at the 1912 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Paterson, New Jersey American people of Swiss descent Italian emigrants to the United States 1891 births 1969 deaths Medalists at the 1912 Summer Olympics Italian expatriates in Switzerland {{US-athletics-Olympic-medalist-stub