John Jesus Flanagan (1873- 1938) – USA - Hammer Throw. 35 year old John Flanagan became a central figure in the US dominance of weight events at the turn of the 20th century soon after he emigrated to New York at the age of 24. A stalwart of the Irish American Athletic Club of New York, he was seven times the US amateur athletic champion in the hammer throw. He won gold at the London Olympics just as he had done at Paris in 1900 and St.Louis in 1904.