View source for Billy Sherring

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{{Infobox sportsperson
| headercolor    = 
| name           = Billy Sherring
| image          = Sherring1.jpg
| image_size     = <!--Only for images narrower than 220 pixels.-->
| caption        = William Sherring
| birth_name     = William John Sherring
| fullname       = 
| nickname       = 
| residence      = 
| birth_date     = {{birth date|1877|09|18}}<!-- {{birth date and age|yyyy|mm|dd}} -->
| birth_place    = [[Hamilton, Ontario]], Canada
| death_date     = {{Death date and age|1964|09|05|1877|09|18}}
| death_place    = Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
| height         = {{height|ft=5|in=5}}<!-- {{convert|}} (yyyy) -->
| weight         = {{convert|119|lbs|kg|abbr=on}}<!-- {{convert|}} (yyyy) -->
| website        = <!-- {{URL|}} -->
| country        = 
| sport          = [[Marathon]]
| event          = 
| collegeteam    = 
| club           = 
| team           = 
| turnedpro      = 
| coach          = 
| retired        = 1906
| coaching       = 
| worlds         = 
| regionals      = 
| nationals      = 
| olympics       = {{Unbulleted list| '''[[Athletics at the 1906 Intercalated Games|1906 Summer Olympics]]''': [[Marathon]] – Gold}}
| paralympics    = 
| highestranking = 
| pb             = 
|medaltemplates = 
{{MedalSport|Men's [[Athletics at the Summer Olympics|athletics]]}}
{{MedalCountry|{{flag|Canada|1868}}}}
{{MedalCompetition|[[Olympic Games]]}}
{{MedalGold| [[1906 Intercalated Games|1906 Athens]]|[[Athletics at the 1906 Intercalated Games|Marathon]]}}
| show-medals    = yes
}}

'''William John Sherring''' (September 18, 1877 – September 5, 1964) was a [[Canadians|Canadian]] athlete of English and Irish descent, winner of the [[Marathon|marathon race]] at the [[1906 Intercalated Games|1906 Olympic Games]] (later called "Intercalated Games").<ref>{{cite Sports-Reference |title=Billy Sherring |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/sh/billy-sherring-1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081229112307/http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/sh/billy-sherring-1.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2008-12-29}}</ref>

[[File:Spyridon Louis, The Olympic Marathon (National Historical Museum, Athens).jpg|thumb|left|140px|With [[Spyridon Louis]], Athens, 1906]]
[[File:William J. Sherring, plaque in Hamilton.jpg|thumb|left|180px|Plaque in Hamilton]]

During the decade of the early 1900s, Sherring, from [[Hamilton, Ontario]]<ref name=memproj2>{{cite press release| title = Tigertown Triumphs| publisher =The Hamilton Spectator-Memory Project (Souvenir edition)|page=MP56| date =2006-06-10}}</ref> was acknowledged to be a world class marathoner. He had won a second place behind a fellow countryman [[Jack Caffery (track and field athlete)|Jack Caffery]] at the [[Boston Marathon]] in 1900. He also had won the Hamilton [[Around the Bay Road Race]] on two occasions.

In 1906, Sherring&nbsp;– an athlete of St. Patrick's Athletic Club&nbsp;– was chosen to represent Canada in the Athens Olympic Games. However, it was left up to him, a working man with meager resources (he was a brakeman at the [[Grand Trunk Railway]]), to finance his journey to [[Athens]]. Sherring managed to collect an amount claimed to be between $45 and $90 (a clearly insufficient amount to travel to Athens), which he then bet on a horse named ''Cicely'' which won with good odds.<ref>The story, while often cited, is open to dispute. Glynn Leyshon quotes an unnamed relative of Sherring's as stating that Sherring was a notoriously poor gambler and "never won anything in his life." [http://library.la84.org/SportsLibrary/JOH/JOHv14n3/JOHv14n3j.pdf Leyshon, Glynn, “2nd International Olympic Games in Athens 1906: The Participating Countries – Canada,” ''Journal of Olympic History'' 14(3) Dec 2006, 30-33].</ref> He arrived in Athens seven weeks before the Olympic Games and started to work as a porter at the Athens railway station.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}

At the marathon race, the {{convert|45|kg|lb|abbr=on}} Sherring proceeded at a steady pace, at one point a half-mile behind the leaders, before taking the lead at about the fifteen mile mark and finishing seven minutes before the next runner.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Olympic Marathon|last=Martin|first=David E.|last2=Gynn|first2=Roger W.H.|publisher=Human Kinetics|year=2000|isbn=0-88011-969-1|location=Champaign, IL|pages=[https://archive.org/details/olympicmarathon00mart/page/59 59]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/olympicmarathon00mart/page/59}}</ref> [[Prince George of Greece and Denmark|Prince George of Greece]]<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/olympicgamesatat00sullrich#page/38/mode/2up "The Olympic games at Athens, 1906". James E. Sullivan, American commissioner to the Olympic games. Published 1906.]</ref> ran the last 50 metres of the marathon alongside Sherring. Sherring received a live lamb and a statue of [[Athena]] as a reward. When he returned to Canada, Hamilton City Council awarded him $5000 and the City of [[Toronto]] awarded him a further $400. [[Pierre de Coubertin|Baron Pierre de Coubertin]] wrote a letter to the [[Governor General of Canada]], [[Albert Grey, 4th Earl Grey|Albert Grey]], protesting the gifts as inconsistent with the Olympic ideal of "sport for sport's sake."<ref>"PROTEST ON MARATHON GIFTS. Restorer of Olympic Games Objects to Presents of Money to Sherring, Winner of Famous Race." ''Chicago Daily Tribune'', July 29, 1906, p. 2.</ref> So far as is known, Sherring got to keep his money. The province of [[Ontario]] named two new townships in New Ontario (now part of [[Cochrane District]]) in honour of Sherring, Sherring twp and Marathon twp (not to be confused with [[Marathon, Ontario]]).<ref>"MORE HONORS-Government names a New Township after Wm Sherring" ''Hamilton Spectator'', May 11, 1906, p. 1</ref>

Upon his triumphant return from the marathon, Sherring quit athletics and worked as a customs officer in Hamilton until his retirement in 1942.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}

Sherring was inducted into the [[Canada's Sports Hall of Fame]] in 1955.<ref>{{cite web |title=Bill Sherring |url=http://www.sportshall.ca/hall-of-famers/hall-of-famers-search.html?proID=165 |website=Canada's Sports Hall of Fame |accessdate=18 May 2019}}</ref>

After his death, the [[Around the Bay Road Race]] was renamed the Billy Sherring Memorial Road Race, and Hamilton has since built a Billy Sherring Park to commemorate their most famous athlete.

Sherring is thought to have inspired the founders of [[Panathinaikos A.O.|Panathinaikos]] to adopt the [[shamrock]] as the Greek multi-sport club's official emblem in 1918.<ref>[https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/news/0253-0d7f7b7fcbc4-cbe4b3cb3617-1000--five-claims-to-fame-panathinaikos/ "Five claims to fame: Panathinaikos"]. uefa.com.</ref>

==References==
<references />
* Jim Smyth, Shamrocks in the Greek Isles: Billy Sheering's Greek Journey, and Mine, New Hibernia Review, Volume 22, Number 4, Winter 2018,9-18.

== External links ==
{{Commons category|William Sherring}}
* {{Team Canada|william-sherring|William Sherring}}
* {{Canada's Sports Hall of Fame|165|Bill Sherring}}
* {{Olympedia|79593|Billy Sherring}}

{{Footer Olympic Champions Marathon Men}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sherring, Billy}}
[[Category:1877 births]]
[[Category:1964 deaths]]
[[Category:Olympic gold medalists for Canada]]
[[Category:Olympic track and field athletes for Canada]]
[[Category:Canadian men long-distance runners]]
[[Category:Canadian men marathon runners]]
[[Category:Track and field athletes from Hamilton, Ontario]]
[[Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1906 Intercalated Games]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1906 Intercalated Games]]
[[Category:Canadian people of Irish descent]]
[[Category:Olympic gold medalists in athletics]]