The Olympic champion who arrived upside down
After winning Olympic golf gold in 1904, George Seymour Lyon reportedly approached the presentation on his hands, singing as he went. The Canadian was 46. His victory was serious; his entrance was rather less conventional.
Wikimedia Commons / Christophe95
The late starter behind the handstand
Lyon had excelled at other sports before taking up golf in his late thirties. An unusual swing did not prevent him becoming a leading Canadian amateur. At St Louis, he faced Chandler Egan, the young reigning U.S. Amateur champion, in the final.
The match ended 3 and 2 in Lyon’s favour. The PGA Tour’s account describes his hand-walking entrance and singing at the presentation—a detail worth attributing as an account, rather than treating the scene as something a surviving photograph proves.
The medal later went missing, while his championship trophy survived. Golf then disappeared from the Olympic programme until 2016, leaving Lyon’s win as its last individual Olympic gold for more than a century. The contrast gives the story its charm: a late arrival to golf achieved a lasting sporting distinction, then declined to mark the occasion with an entirely solemn walk across the room.