The Olympic Gold Medalist Who Lied his Way into the Battle of Britain

Quick answer: Who was Billy Fiske?

Billy Fiske was an American who drove the U.S. bobsled team to Olympic gold in 1928 and 1932, then declined the 1936 Games in Nazi Germany. Though his U.S. passport made it illegal, he joined the RAF's 601 Squadron. On August 16, 1940, he landed his burning Hurricane instead of bailing out, and died the next day.

In the crypt of St Paul's Cathedral, not far from Nelson and Wellington, a small plaque reads: An American citizen who died that England might live. Billy Fiske was twenty-nine. He had two Olympic gold medals, a Cresta Run record, a London flat, a country house, a banking career in New York, and no obligation to fight in someone else's war. At sixteen he drove the U.S. bobsled team to gold at St Moritz in 1928, then won again at Lake Placid in 1932. Offered a seat for the 1936 Games in Nazi Germany, he declined. He had seen what was being built. As a banker in London, he gravitated to 601 Squadron, the “Millionaires' Squadron,” and talked his way into the RAF despite his American passport. On August 16, 1940, he chose to land his burning Hurricane rather than bail out, and died the next day. John's point: the character you discover under pressure is the character you assembled, one quiet decision at a time.

Why it matters for leaders: The decision in the cockpit is the easy part; the hard part is the convictions you build in the years before it.

Q: How is Fiske remembered in London?

A: A plaque in the crypt of St Paul's Cathedral reads: An American citizen who died that England might live.

Q: Why did Fiske decline the 1936 Olympics?

A: He'd seen what the regime was building and refused to compete under, salute beside, or lend his name to it.

Read the full essay on Substack → https://heroespath.substack.com/p/the-olympic-gold-medalist-who-lied

By John Fenzel, founder and CEO of Heroes' Path Foundation