William "Bill" Frank Hamilton (born 1884, date of death unknown) was an American athlete. He competed at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London.

Hamilton was a member of the medley relay team that won the gold medal. He was the first of the four runners, beginning with a 200 metres run. He was followed by Nathaniel Cartmell, John Taylor, and Mel Sheppard.

In the first round, Hamilton gave the team a small head start as they ran to victory with a combined time of 3:27.2. The lead that Hamilton had at the end of his leg of the final was bigger, a full six yards over the nearest competitor. Hamilton's split for the final was 22.0 seconds, as the team finished in 3:29.4 for first place and the gold medal.

Hamilton also competed in the 100 metres event and the 200 metres competition. He won his first round heat of the 100 with a time of 11.2 seconds, but did not start the second round. In the 200, he won in the first round with a time of 22.4 seconds and placed second in the semifinals to be eliminated from 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 24 July 2006. 
• Wudarski, Pawel (1999). "Wyniki Igrzysk Olimpijskich". http://olympic.w.interia.pl/. Retrieved 24 July 2006.  (Polish)

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