John Preston Halstead (August 15, 1886 - November 15, 1951) was an American athlete. He competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics in London. Halstead graduated from Cornell University the same year with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He earned the nickname "Lightning-foot" Halstead for his exceptional running ability. He was married on August 17, 1922 to Frances Lewis Underwood, at Hutchinson, Kansas. He died on November 15, 1951, in Buffalo, New York, and was buried at Ashes Rome Cemetery.

In the 800 metres, Halstead won his first round heat with a time of 2:01.4. He then placed sixth in the final.

In the 1500 metres, Halstead tied the Olympic record of 4:05.6 in the first round. Unfortunately for him, though, fellow American Mel Sheppard was also in his heat and beat the Olympic record by running the race in 4:05.0 to eliminate Halstead from further competition.

[edit] References

• Cook, Theodore Andrea (1908). The Fourth Olympiad, Being the Official Report. London: British Olympic Association. 
• De Wael, Herman (2001). "Athletics 1908". Herman's Full Olympians. http://users.skynet.be/hermandw/olymp/ath1908.html. Retrieved 29 July 2006. 
• Wudarski, Pawel (1999). "Wyniki Igrzysk Olimpijskich". http://olympic.w.interia.pl/. Retrieved 29 July 2006.  (Polish)

Persondata
NAME	Halstead, John Preston
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	American athlete
DATE OF BIRTH	15 August 1886
PLACE OF BIRTH	Scranton, Pennsylvania
DATE OF DEATH	15 November 1951
PLACE OF DEATH	Buffalo, New York