Bill Nieder

William ("Bill") Henry Nieder (born 10 August 1933) is an American athlete who mainly competed in the shot put. He was born in Hempstead, New York.

He competed for the United States at the 1956 Summer Olympics and received a silver medal for his 18.18 m long throw. Nieder later won gold for his throw of 19.68 m/64 feet 6 & 3/4 inches at the 1960 Summer Olympics held in Rome, Italy. Parry O'Brien was second, and Dallas Long third.

Nieder grew up in Kansas and was the second high school athlete to break the 60-foot barrier with the 12-pound shot. In May 1952 he put the shot 60' 9 3/8" breaking the high school national record set less than a month earlier by Leon Patterson who was the first to break the 60 foot mark at the high school level. Leon Patterson took back the record just one week later in his final high school meet throwing 60' 9 7/8" just 1/2 inch further than Bill Nieder's one week old record. At the University of Kansas, he became the first college athlete to surpass 60 feet with the 16-pound shot.

Largely overshadowed by Parry O'Brien and Dallas Long, Nieder won only two national championships, the NCAA outdoor title in 1955 and the AAU outdoor title in 1957. However, he set world records four times, at 62-2 in 1959, 63-10, 65-7 and 65-10 in 1960. The 6-foot-3, 225-pounder retired from competition after the 1960 Summer Olympics and tried professional boxing, but was knocked out in his only bout.

References

• Profile

Records
Preceded by Dallas Long	Men's Shot Put World Record Holder March 19, 1960 – March 26, 1960	Succeeded by Dallas Long
Preceded by Dallas Long	Men's Shot Put World Record Holder April 2, 1960 – May 18, 1962	Succeeded by Dallas Long

This article about a track and field Olympic medalist of the United States is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.