A track star by his Senior year in High School, he was recruited to join the accomplished
Irish American Athletic Club in Queens, New York, by their coach
Lawson Robertson, who would be both an American Olympic medalist and Olympic Track coach. He set a 1500 meter world record of 3:55.8 minutes in
Cambridge, Massachusetts in June 1912. In the same year, he set the world record for 1500 meters three times in 15 days; during the third effort, Harvard stadium was sold out with 15,000 in attendance – referenced in "The Milers" by Cordner Nelson.
Olympic silver medal He competed for the U.S. Olympic Team as a member of the
Irish American Athletic Club. He won a silver medal in the 1500 m at the Olympic Games in
Stockholm 1912. For the first time, the Olympics used a photo finish to determine who won the medal. With Kiviat leading until the final lap of the 1500, English gold medal winner
Arnold Jackson outkicked him in the final stretch at a last turn in the track. Kiviat called the loss "the greatest disappointment of my life." After serving on the front lines with the US Army in France in WWI, he continued his athletic career until 1925. After retirement from competition, he acted as an official at track meets for 60 years and served as chief press steward at the Penn Relays and many Madison Square Garden meets. He later participated in the Olympic Torch Relay before the 1984 Olympics. was inducted into the
International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, in 1985, he was inducted into the
USA Track & Field Hall of Fame, and in 2023 he was inducted into the
National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. He died of
prostate cancer on August 24, 1991, at his home in
Lakehurst, New Jersey. He was survived by a son Arthur, two brothers and a grandchild. He was predeceased by his wife Isabelle. ==Legacy==