The 1984 Olympics were a refreshing change of pace, as there were only a minimum of political demonstrations (although the Soviet boycott was damaging), and there were no terrorist incidents (a major concern) in overcrowded Los Angeles. The thrill of the athletic competition, the original objective of the Olympic Games, was the top priority. At various times throughout the history of the “Games, however, this has gotten lost in political innuendo, reaching its low point with the terrorist incident in Munich in 1972.

Internationally competitive athletes often have their own training regimen, which to others might seem humorous. The African runners at the L.A. Games in 1984, for example, could not stand the stop and go traffic of the side streets. So, they decided to combine some distance running with their commuting to the Games from their Olympic housing. They tried training in the Harbor Freeway at rush hour, which brought commuter traffic to a standstill. The Los Angeles Police Department took a dim view of this, so the athletes had to discontinue this practice.

Carl Lewis was outstanding in the sprints in 1984, winning four Gold medals and would go on to compete again in 1988 in Korea. Mary Lou Retton won a Gold medal in gymnastics, won the all-around competition, and then was graced with her likeness on Wheaties boxes; very unusual for a female athlete in the United States at that time.

The Olympics in 1984 saw the first women’s cycling road race. This was held in beautiful Mission Viejo, 80 miles south of L.A. An American, Connie Carpenter-Phinney, beat teammate Rebecca Twigg in a very close race. This was the first Gold medal ever won by the united States in cycling. Both ladies showed a lot of heart in this 79.2 kilometer event.

Mary Decker, of the USA, and Zola Budd, of Great Britain, had their infamous stumbling (or tripping?) incident in the 3000-meter run, which led to another country taking the Gold. Joan Benoit, of the USA, won the first Olympic women’s marathon by a very comfortable margin.

Greg Louganis, although quite well known on the West Coast and to other international divers, became nationally recognized after winning Gold medals in the Springboard and Platform Diving competitions.

The United States Men’s volleyball team won the Gold medal, which was the first medal for our country in this sport, against first rate Olympic quality competition. This was no accident, however, as we managed to get some of our very best players to compete in the event. Southern California has always been a hotbed for this sport. I believe that our 1984 Olympic success led to a resurgence of interest in the sport, as the beach version is now as popular as ever on both coasts.

Bobby Knight, of the University of Indiana and a former Ohio State basketball star, coached the 1984 U.S. Olympic basketball team which included: Michael Jordan, Sam Perkins, Alvin Robertson, Vern Fleming, Chris Mullin, Patrick Ewing, Wayman Tisdale, Leon Wood, Steve Alford, Joe Kleine and Jon Koncak.

All of these men went on to play professional basketball with the 1992 “Dream Team” to compete in Barcelona, Spain.

The U.S. men easily beat China 97-49 in their opening game. In their second game, the men won over Canada, 89-68. The U.S. women’s basketball team kept pace with an 81-47 victory over Australia. The men continued with a 106-68 victory over Uruguay and then clobbered France 120-62 to remain undefeated in the basketball competition.

The U.S. women, still very much in contention, defeated South Korea 84-47. The men then defeated previously unbeaten Spain by the score of 101-68 and completed the preliminary round-robin with a 5-0 record. This got them into the quarterfinals against West Germany whom they promptly defeated. In the semifinals, the U.S. men defeated Canada 78-59. They then defeated Spain by the score of 06-65 to win the Gold medal. Although the Soviets were not present, the Jordan-led team stated that they would have been happy to play them.

The U.S. women got into the Olympic finals by beating China 91-55. They then routed South Korea 85-55 to win their first Olympic Gold medal in basketball.

The 1984 Olympics were a great success for the United States’ entire Olympic team. After having been denied the right to compete in Moscow in 1980, the Los Angeles Games were extremely special to them. Once again, the original concept of the thrill of competition among the world’s finest (even though Russia refused to attend) was present in the 1984 Games.

 

Helsinki, Finland, is a port city on the Baltic Sea. It is the capital of Finland, the land of lakes and forests. Helsinki contains approximately one-sixth of the Finnish population. It is a relatively new city for Europe in that it was established by King Gustav of Sweden approximately 400 years ago, in order to woo trade from the Estonian city of Tallinn and thereby challenge the monopoly of the Hanseatic League. It contains some of the purest neo-classical architecture in the world. The Finns are a tough and resilient people as demonstrated by the fact that they fought the Soviets to a standstill in the Winter War of 1939-40.

Fittingly enough, in 1952 at Helsinki, the U.S.S.R. joined the Olympics for the first time. It was the height of the Cold War, and many feared a showdown. In an age when sports truly did transcend politics, the Soviet and American athletes got along quite well; and the Olympics were not intruded upon by differing politics. It is remarkable to think that 40 years later, in Albertville, France, at the 1992 Winter Olympics, there was concern because of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the possibility of political protests or dramatic expressions of the new-found freedom by the former Communist competitors.

The world backdrop to the ‘52 games included the Korean War, a Republican ticket of Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon in the U.S. Presidential Election, the death of King George VI of England, and the ascension to the throne of Queen Elizabeth II, the regaining of power by General Batista in Cuba, and the death of Eva Peron.

Headlines read as follows: “Narcotics dealers have fanned out from New York City and are selling drugs to teenagers in cities throughout the U.S. But, today that market took a steep down-turn as federal agents arrested more than 500 dealers nationwide;” “Communist guerillas in Viet Nam have stepped up their attacks on French troops. Cities, especially Saigon, have been disrupted by acts of terrorism;” “a Sub-Committee of the House of Representatives has deplored the proliferation of violent crime shows and omnipresent beer ads on TV;” “the Maryland Chesapeake Bay Bridge, third longest in the world, is open to traffic at a cost of $45 million.”

The sports events of the day included Jackie Robinson becoming the highest paid player in Brooklyn Dodgers’ history; Rocky Marciano knocking out Lee Savold for his thirty-ninth straight victory, and Eddie Arcaro taking an unprecedented fifth Kentucky Derby in the saddle of Hill Gail. 1952 saw the birth of two future athletic greats, James Scott Connors and Bill Walton who would grow to become giants in the sports of tennis and basketball, respectively. Also in that year, Ernest Hemingway’s Old Man and the Sea was published and Gary Cooper appeared in High Noon.

It was fitting, as these Olympics turned out, that the Olympic Torch bearer opening the Helsinki games was none other than “The Flying Finn,” Paavo Nurmi, one of the greatest distance runners in Olympic history. He was the owner of nine Gold medals and several Silver medals. During the time that he was competing, he set 29 world records at distances ranging from 1,500 meters to 20,000 meters. At the time of the 1952 Olympic games, the Olympic stadium in Helsinki was graced with a Bronze statue of Nurmi.

The star of the Helsinki games turned out to be a distance runner, Emil Zatopek. Zatopek, from Czechoslovakia, had competed in the ‘48 games and won a Silver medal in the 5,000 meters and a Gold medal in the 10,000 meters. In ‘62, the 10,000-meter race was run first. The outcome of the race was never in doubt as Zatopek won going away with a cushion of about 100 yards and a time of 29 minutes, 17 seconds.

Next on the agenda for Zatopek was the 5,000 meters. He hoped to become the first runner since Hannes Kolehmainen of Finland to win both the 5,000 and 10,000 meter races. Kolehmainen had performed his double in 1912 in Stockholm. In the qualifying heats, the multi-lingual Czech decided to amuse himself by chatting with the other runners. He took his time to run with and talk to Alesander Anoufriev of the U.S.S.R., Bertil Albertsson of Sweden, and Les Perry of Australia, slowing his pace as was necessary in order to engage the other runners in conversation.

The final was, of course, a more serious affair. Yet, Zatopek still took the time to speak to Herbert Schade before the start, advising him to hold back for the first 2,000 meters and not waste his energy setting the pace. Schade ignored this advice and paid the price. The race itself was full of action, with the lead changing numerous times. As the laps wound down, it appeared that any of five runners could win: Zatopek, Schade, Mimoun, Chataway, or Perry. At the bell, Zatopek was in first place, hard-pressed by Schade.

In the backstretch, Chris Chataway, who later paced Roger Bannister and John lndy to the first two sub-four minute miles, dashed into the lead, followed by Mimoun, and Schade, leaving Zatopek in fourth place. Entering the final curve, Zatopek made his move, swinging wide into lane 3. Halfway through the bend, he was already in front again and pulling away. Entering the home straightaway, Chataway, exhausted, stepped on the curb and fell. He was able to regain his feet and stagger home, but by that time Zatopek had already gained a five-yard victory over Mimoun, becoming the first man in 40 years to win both the 5,000 and 10,000 meters at the Olympics. Not too bad for someone who, upon entering the 10,000 meters, stated that  “the marathon won’t be for a long time yet, so I simply must do something until then.”

Zatopek was not yet through. The marathon was part of his program for an unprecedented triple even though Zatopek had never even run the marathon. The fact that he had never run a marathon before bothered him slightly. He wasn’t concerned about coming up with the necessary endurance, but it did worry him a bit that there might be pacing strategies with which he was not familiar. With this in mind, Zatopek decided to run along with the man whom he considered to be the favorite in the race - Jim Peters of Great Britain, who had run the fastest marathon in history only six weeks earlier. Zatopek took note of Pewter’s running number in the newspaper, and the next day he located Peters on the starting line and introduced himself.

Peters took off at what seemed to be an outlandish pace, but Zatopek, as well as Gustaf Jansson, kept contact with him. After 15 kilometers, Zatopek and Jansson caught up with Peters, and the three ran together for a couple of miles.

Then Zatopek turned to Peters and said, in English, “The pace? Is it good enough?”

Peters, who had exhausted himself with his early running, pretended that he was still fresh, and replied, “Pace too slow.”

Zatopek mulled this over for a few moments and then said, “You say, ‘too slow.’ Are you sure the pace is too slow?”

“Yes,” came the reply. They continued on in silence for a short while, and then Zatopek zipped by Peters, taking Jansson with him.

They passed the turnabout together, with Peters ten seconds behind. After 20 miles, Peters developed a leg cramp and dropped out. By this time, Zatopek had shaken off Jansson, and he was able to enter the stadium far ahead of the other runners. The huge crowd greeted him as the hero of the 1952 games, chanting “Za-to-pek, Za-to-pek,” as he completed the final lap. The Jamaican relay team hoisted him on their shoulders and carried him around the field. Zatopek was already signing autographs by the time the next runner, Renaldo Gorno, arrived. Zatopek greeted him at the finish line with a slice of orange.

Although other people may have won more Gold medals in other events in other Olympics, winning three Gold medals in a single Olympiad in the classic long distance running events (5,000 meters, 10,000 meters, and the marathon) was astonishing; a record surely never to be broken.

As phenomenal as Zatopek’s performance was, the Zatopek family was not yet finished. Zatopek’s wife, Dana Zatopkova, born on September 16, 1922, the exact same date as her husband, was competing in the javelin throw. At the time of the competition, Emil had already been awarded one of his Gold medals which Dana placed in her bag and took to the competition for good luck. She set a world record winning a Gold medal, the fourth Gold medal for the Zatopek family in the 1952 Helsinki games.

Although the Zatopeks were the story of the ‘52 Olympics, there were also other noteworthy accomplishments. Twenty-one-year old Bob Mathias of the U.S.A. won the Gold medal for the decathlon with 7,887 points, a world record, having also won the Gold in 1948 in London.

The U.S. boxing team won five Gold medals. Most noteworthy was that of Floyd Patterson, who at 17, won the middle-weight title with a knockout in 74 seconds. Four years later he would knock out Archie Moore to win the vacant heavy weight title.

The U.S. basketball team, of course, also won the Gold medal, as they had done in the Olympics since 1936 (and would continue to do so until 1972 in Munich). Having been crushed by the United States, 86-58, in the semifinal round, the Soviet team decided to freeze the ball in the final match. After ten minutes, the United States led 4-2. At the halftime, the score was still only 17-15. With five minutes left to play, Clyde Lovellette scored a basket to give the United States a lead of 31-25. The next time the Americans got the ball, it was their turn to stall. One Soviet player became so exasperated that he sat down on the floor until his coach ordered him to stand up.

Overall, it was a successful Olympics for the U.S.A., having won a total of 40 Gold medals, 19 Silver medals, and 17 Bronze medals.

 

 

The Olympics in 1908? It was a time which mirrors the 1990s. The athletes from Finland protested by marching into the Shepherd Bush Stadium in London, flagless; because they refused to carry the flag of their then ruling country, Russia (Eastern Europe deja vu?). The Irish were angry because they had to compete under the British flag (are you listening IRA?). The Americans and British almost had a second revolution as a result of the running of the 499-meter run. There were charges of professionalism, and it rained for two weeks (the ozone layer was a factor even then).

In other news, there were four sets of candidates for the office of President of the United States: Republican, Democratic, Socialist and Prohibition. Think of that misters Bush, Clinton, Brown, Perot and Bucitanan. General Motors was started. Ford introduced the “Model T”, a car for the multitudes; and women’s suffragettes stormed London’s Parliament demanding voting rights. Twenty-four protesters were jailed (no way to skirt the issue).

There were 2,035 athletes (1999 men and 36 women) competing from 23 nations. Of the 38 events at the summer games, only one, archery, had female competitors. The games, originally, had been scheduled for Italy. However, financing became a difficulty (a shortage of dollars sounds familiar in today’s world, doesn’t it?); so the scene shifted to England where the allegedly biased officiating of the “all English” judging panels drew protest from France, Canada, Italy, Sweden and the United States.

It didn’t help harmonious relations when the final result showed Great Britain had won 147 medals. The United States, with 47 and Sweden, with 25, trailed far behind; and four nations didn’t win any. The Irish won four Gold medals as part of the British total.

Standouts for the American team included Ray C. Ewry, who won two Gold medals: the standing broad jump and the standing high jump, both of which events are no longer scheduled. Ray had also won three events in 1900, three in 1904, a total of eight in three games, which made him a dynasty all by himself.

Melvin Winfield Sheppard won Gold medals for the 800- meter and the 1500-meter runs and ran on the 1600-meter relay. His times were 1:52.8 and 4:03.4, and the relay team won in 3:29.4. Interestingly, Sheppard had been rejected as a candidate by the New York City Police Department because he had a weak heart.

The protest in the 400-meter run? The racers ran without running lanes as we know them now (they came about as a result of this event). On one of the turns, American John Carpenter ran wide, forcing the favorite, Lieutenant Wyndham Halswelle of “Great Britain, who was not in the lead, to run wider. Haswelle had run an Olympic record time (48.4) in the semi-finals. Americans Robbins and Taylor finished one and two. The English judges (there was one for every 20 yards) ruled “no race,” and they disqualified John Carpenter. The race was rescheduled for two days later. Robbins and Taylor, the Americans, refused to run. Lines to establish one lane per runner were established. Halswelle won, literally unopposed. (What price victory?)

The Olympics have always reflected the politics of the world in one way or another (remember the raised, clenched, gloved fists in Mexico in 1968?). To some other extent, the Olympics have provided a temporary respite to those political ills. They always will, but during the games, nationalism is high.

As an afterthought on how traditions are set, let us consider the marathon. The 26-mile course was laid out through the streets of London. However, the British had set the Royal Box, for Queen Alexandra, at the finish line of the track in Shepherd Bush Stadium. The oval was 385 yards in length, and was added to the distance, so the Royal Family would see the finish. Thereafter, the marathon course was set at 26 miles, 385 yards. It was a Royal concession.

Other afterthoughts: William Howard Taft, the Republican, won the election; Finland is now its own country; the Irish situation is still a donnybrook; British-American relations seem to have gotten better, the charges of professionalism have been replaced with the use of steroid (although one runner from Great Britain, leading at the time, was disqualified in the 1908 marathon for accepting and drinking a glass of champagne presented by an overzealous well wisher just before the last mile was to begin. The wine was considered a drug); and the weather is still inclement in England - The Queen wants her “reign” to continue.