Ray Ewry was struck with infantile paralysis as a child and almost did not survive. After his recovery, he exercised his severely weakened legs relentlessly. At Purdue University, he was a star of the track team and lettered one year in football. With his mechanical engineering degree, Ewry moved to New York City to work as a hydraulic engineer. A member of the New York Athletic Club, he earned a place on the 1900 U.S. Olympic team. Ewry won three gold medals, one for each event he entered: standing high jump, standing broad jump, and standing hop, step and jump. He also set records in each of the events.

He repeated as a winner of the three events in the 1904 Games at St. Louis, breaking his own broad jump record. In the 1906 games in Athens, he again won two gold medals. The standing hop, step and jump event had been discontinued. In 1908 at London, he again won two gold medals. Ewry's eight Olympic gold medals (the 1906 results do not count in the records) stood as a record until Mark Spitz won nine medals at the 1972 games at Munich.