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Charles Downing Lay, The American Who Won An Olympic Silver Medal For His Drawings
The great global games once included more unusual categories, including art and city planning
With each respective iteration of the Olympics occurring just once every four years, participants and those who win are lauded for their immense dedication and talent. Claiming a medal at these games is a permanent symbol of someone being one of the best in the entire world at their particular discipline. While some activities like running or swimming are best known to observers, there have been a litany of other categories that were once part of the competition before being done away with. One of the most unusual examples for this was 59-year-old American Charles Downing Lay, who won a silver medal at the 1936 Olympics in art for his community planning.
The1936 Olympics were held in Berlin, Germany. They were incredibly controversial Games, as the rise of Adolph Hitler and Naziism in the host country put other nations at odds.
Lay, a Harvard-educated New Yorker approaching his 60th birthday, made his dash to glory during the art competitions (a category in existence for only 1928–1948). He had first fallen in love with what became his life’s work by spending summers in his youth at his grandparent’s…
