XV Olympiad

Carl Posey

Description

XV Olympiad, the thirteenth volume in The Olympic Century series, tells the story of 1952 Summer Olympic Games of Helsinki, Finland. The Helsinki Games were the first for the Peoples' Republic of China, Israel and the USSR, and set a record for most world records broken at a single Olympics that would stand until 2008.The book profiles heroes of Helsinki like Bob Mathias of the U.S., who defended his decathlon title from the 1948 London Games; the distance runner Emil Zatopek of Czechoslovakia, who claimed three golds including the marathon; and Josy Barthel, who became the first and only gold medal winner from Luxembourg with his triumph in the 1500 metres. In team sports, the legendary "Magic Magyars" of Hungary claimed gold in soccer.The second part of the book focuses on the Winter Olympics of 1956, held in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, which boasted the most events ever held at a Winter Games. With televisions now common in homes in most advanced countries, Cortina d'Ampezzo was also the first Olympics viewed by a wide global audience, boosting the popularity of the Games to a new level. Heroes of Cortina like the Austrian skier Toni Sailer, who swept all three alpine events, became household names, and the world got its first glimpse of the mighty Soviet hockey team, which went on to win five of the next six Olympic gold medals. Juan Antonio Samaranch, former President of the International Olympic Committee, called The Olympic Century, "The most comprehensive history of the Olympic games ever published".

Informations

• Publié par: Warwick Press Inc.
• Date de parution: 18 novembre 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781987944129
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 7 Mo

Extrait

THE OLYMPIC CENTURY THE COMPLETE HISTORY OF THE MODERN OLYMPIC MOVEMENT VOLUME 13
THE XV OLYMPIAD
HELSINKI 1952 CORTINA D AMPEZZO 1956
by Carl A. Posey
W
Warwick Press Inc. Toronto
Copyright 1996 WSRP
The Olympic Century series was produced as a joint effort among the International Olympic Committee, the United States Olympic Committee, and World Sport Research Publications, to provide an official continuity series that will serve as a permanent on-line Olympic education program for individuals, schools, and public libraries.
Published by:
Warwick Press Inc., Toronto
www.olympicbooks.com
1st Century Project: Charles Gary Allison
Publishers: Robert G. Rossi, Jim Williamson, Rona Wooley
Editors: Christian D. Kinney, Laura Forman
Art Director: Christopher M. Register
Picture Editors: Lisa Bruno, Debora Lemmons
Digital Imaging: Richard P. Majeske
Associate Editor, Research: Mark Brewin
Associate Editor, Appendix: Elsa Ramirez
Designers: Kimberley Davison, Diane Myers, Chris Conlee
Staff Researchers: Brad Haynes, Alexandra Hesse, Pauline Ploquin
Copy Editor: Harry Endrulat
Venue Map Artist: Dave Hader, Studio Conceptions, Toronto
Fact Verification: Carl and Liselott Diem Archives of the German Sport University at Cologne, Germany
Statistics: Bill Mallon, Walter Teutenberg
Memorabilia Consultants: Manfred Bergman, James D. Greensfelder, John P. Kelly, James B. Lally, Ingrid O Neil
Office Staff: Diana Fakiola, Brian M. Heath, Edward J. Messier, Brian P. Rand, Robert S. Vassallo, Chris Waters
Senior Consultant: Dr. Dietrich Quanz (Germany)
Special Consultants: Walter Borgers, Dr. Karl Lennartz, Dr. Dietrich Quanz, Dr. Norbert Mueller (Germany), Ian Buchanan (United Kingdom), Wolf Lyberg (Sweden), Dr. Nicholas Yalouris (Greece).
International Contributors: Jean Durry (France), Dr. Fernand Landry (Canada), Dr. Antonio Lombardo (Italy), Dr. John A. MacAloon (U.S.A.), Dr. Jujiro Narita (Japan), C. Robert Paul (U.S.A.), Dr. Roland Renson (Belgium), Anthony Th. Bijkirk (Netherlands), Dr. James Walston (Ombudsman)
International Research and Assistance: John S. Baick (New York), Matthieu Brocart (Paris), Alexander Fakiolas (Athens), Bob Miyakawa (Tokyo), Rona Lester (London), Dominic LoTempio (Columbia), George Kostas Mazareas (Boston), Georgia McDonald (Colorado Springs), Wendy Nolan (Princeton), Alexander Ratner (Moscow), Jon Simon (Washington, D.C.), Frank Strasser (Cologne), Val ry Turco (Lausanne), Laura Walden (Rome), Jorge Zocchi (Mexico City)
All rights reserved. No part of The Olympic Century book series may be copied, republished, stored in a retrieval system, or otherwise reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means whatsoever without the prior written consent of the IOC, the USOC, and WSRP.
eBook Conversion: eBook Partnership, United Kingdom
ISBN 978-1-987944-24-2 (24 Volume Series)
ISBN 978-1-987944-12-9 (Volume 13)
CONTENTS
I E NTER THE T AIGA W OLVES
II C ONVOCATIONS OF E AGLES
III M AN F OR A D IFFICULT S EASON
IV S AILER S S ENSE OF S NOW
A PPENDIX
A CKNOWLEDGMENTS
P HOTO C REDITS
B IBLIOGRAPHY
I NDEX

ENTER THE TAIGA WOLVES
HELSINKI 1952
James Henry Peters may have felt the cold touch of fate as he led his 65 rivals three and a half times around the 400-meter brick-dust track on that warm July day in Helsinki and out into the Finnish afternoon. Perhaps he felt some omen as he passed the statue guarding the stadium s approaches-one of two copies of W ino Aaltonon s life-size bronze likeness of a 27-year-old Paavo Nurmi, the incomparable runner, suspended forever in mid-stride. The actual Nurmi, now 55, had brought the Olympic flame to the stadium s soaring tower, in the ritual torch relay linking the ancient Olympic Games with the modern festival, now in its eighth day of competition. And now, as the marathoners flowed out along the northward road, through the capital s scatter of suburban villages, of flickering stands of birch and black pine, Nurmi sat in the stands as a rain-coated observer, isolated and taciturn as ever, watching what must have been, for him, a race less sweet than bitter. His greatness had accreted around every long-distance event but this one-the immortal Nurmi had never won an Olympic marathon, and his single opportunity to do so, at Los Angeles 1932, had been snatched away, many thought unfairly.
Peters, on the other hand, was in his element, leading the pack at his customary killer clip. Just six weeks earlier, the 35-year-old London optician had run the fastest marathon on record: 2:20:42.2-an average speed of 10.5 miles per hour (17 kilometers per hour), or, put another way, a seamless series of 5 -minute miles. With that behind him, Peters had every reason to expect victory in this final contest of the 1952 Olympic track and field competition. Instead, there was fate.
Below: Czechoslovakia s Emil Z topek, Olympic Gold Medalist, London 1948, Helsinki 1952

The world s fastest marathoner-and Britain s first claim in a generation to greatness in that punishing but central Olympic event-had come late to his sport, delayed by World War II. In 1946, at age 27, he d taken the venerable British Amateur Athletic Association s 6-mile title and a year later the 10-mile crown. Those wins had given him a spot on the British team for the 1948 London Olympic Games, where, in the 10,000 meters, he-along with all but one other runner-was humiliatingly lapped by the winner. He had finished a poor eighth. The magnitude of the loss had cracked Peters spirit, and he d abandoned running for a time-that is to say, he tried to abandon the sport that had attracted him fatally and discovered he could not.
Below: Great Britain s Jim Peters gets a drink on the run as he tries to keep his lead in the marathon. Peters led through the first 9.3 miles (15 kilometers) in a time of 47 minutes 58 seconds, a pace that drained him after 12.5 miles (20 kilometers).

Adopting the famously severe training regimen of coach Johnny Johnson, Peters again began preparing himself for world-class competition. In 1951, he d won Britain s Polytechnic Windsor-Chiswick Marathon, a classic race formerly owned by Peters compatriot, Jack Holden. Peters had won the Polytechnic the following year as well, cutting 2 minutes off his time.
With a single-mindedness that would have impressed a wolverine, he d pushed himself to the top of his sport, to the exclusion of almost everything else. Too bad, he would write later, the day had only 24 hours in it, for after eight hours in his optician s shop and eight hours sleep, only a few remained for training, and none at all for so-called pleasures and hobbies. His obsessive pursuit of excellence had another price: It imparted a kind of frailty. Peters preferred to set the pace in his races, taking an early lead with his long stride and head-bobbing style, dragging his competitors to exhaustion. When the Peters machine worked, the tactic succeeded brilliantly; but when the machine faltered the exertion sometimes forced him out of races prematurely.
Still, heading out into the Finnish countryside, Peters might have taken comfort from his record and the fact that his wiry, 135-pound body had never been better prepared for the long haul of a marathon. The trouble was Peters had more than his own world-best time and the inscrutable bronze Nurmi behind him today. A hundred yards back in the pack ran a compact, ungainly-seeming Czech who d decided he would run his first marathon at Helsinki. He d come over to Peters before the race to introduce himself: Hello, he said, I am Z topek.
Peters put out a hand. I m Jim Peters.
Z topek was Emil Z topek, a slight, 30-year-old army captain from Prague. The British champion had recognized the name, of course. Z topek was the man who had lapped Peters in the 10,000 meters at London four years earlier on his way to a gold medal and had missed winning the 5,000 meters by only a step or two, having kicked a second too late in the stretch. The Czech had arrived in Finland, where an epoch of remarkable runners, and the heroic example of Paavo Nurmi, had created a unique public appreciation of long-distance men, and did not disappoint.
The encounter had been, for Peters, something like Hector s first sighting of the armored Achilles beneath the walls of Troy. Peters had calculated what Z topek might do in a marathon based on the Czech s winning 10,000-meter time. It had taken Z topek an average of 4.7 minutes to run each mile of that 6.2-mile race. Although Peters had that world-best 2:20:42.2, it didn t seem enough. He knew that if the supremely conditioned Z topek could stay close to mat 10,000-meter pace for 26 miles, the marathon was a done deal. I have no chance against Z topek, he d confided to a reporter before the race. He can run 2:15:00. Pounding along the highway to Kyrksl tt, Peters must have sensed that his fate was indeed sealed. Like Hector, he might fight valiantly, but he had no hope of winning.
The strung-out cluster of runners struck north along the blacktop road, past farms and dense evergreen forests and pale clouds of birch, with some 200,000 people scattered along the highway, cheering them on the 20 kilometers to their turning point at Ruotinkiloyo, from which they would start back toward the Helsinki Olympic Stadium. The route would have been considered flat, varying not much more than 150 vertical feet over the entire course.
Z topek stayed where he d decided to place himself, within sight and reach of Peters, privately marveling at the pace the Englishman was setting. It seemed very fast to the Czech, but, then, he d never run a marathon before. Indeed, running marathons would have seemed a gilding of the lily, given his record-shattering performances in the other long-distance classics. On the previous Sunday, July 20, Z topek had easily won the 10,000 meters, the only hint of a challenge coming from his perennial competitor and run