Sport fans around the world will be turning their attention to Beijing in August 2008. The 112-year-old Olympic movement and its philosophy will hopefully achieve its original aim of creating peace through sports. In the history of the Olympic Games, sport was not always the key player behind the human or superhuman achievements. There were many amusing or disheartening stories over the years. Below is a collection of these.
The right to receive the first modern Olympic Games was given to Athens, the cradle of the competitions. However, the government at the time was reluctant to organise the event and pay the costs. The games were saved when the government failed and a Greek businessman, Georgios Averoff, offered one billion drachmas to build new sports facilities. The enthusiasm and national eagerness was well demonstrated by the fact that he also offered to the anticipated Greek winner of the traditional marathon his daughter’s hands and a dowry of 1 million drachmas. Several other Greek businessmen and industrialists also promised to make miraculous contributions.
The winner was indeed Greek, named Spiridon Luis. However, he was already married. Still, he was showered with presents, money, even a flock of sheep and cattle.
Two amazing victories were recorded, in both of which chance played a large part. One was that of the American Garrett who won the discus gold medal despite being a shot-putter who actually threw a discus for the first time in Athens. The other victory was recorded by a Briton named Boland who had arrived to the Greek capital as a tourist when he learned about the Olympics and ended up winning tennis gold singles and doubles.
Over the history of the Olympics, politics have often interfered with the games. Three games had to be cancelled as a result of world wars: in 1916, 1940 and 1944. Various countries boycotted the games or were not invited for various reasons in 1920 in Antwerp, in 1948 in London, in 1976 in Montreal, in 1980 in Moscow and in 1984 in Los Angeles.
On several occasions, the originally chosen host city of the games had to be changed. In 1904, Chicago was going to host the Olympics, but President Roosevelt “asked” the city only 6 months before the event to step back and let St. Louis organise the games, which was also the host of a world expo. In 1908, the Italian state budget was so exhausted by the costs of reconstruction following repeated eruptions by Vesuvius that Rome had to cry off hosting the Olympics and London stepped in. As a result of strict animal quarantine laws in Australia, equestrian competitions could not be held there in 1956. These took place in Stockholm instead.
In the quest for an Olympic victory, many sportspeople have used dishonourable methods over the years. Some of these were rather amusing. In St. Louis in 1904, Fred Lorz won the marathon but after basking in the praise for his victory for some time, he admitted that he had jumped into a car after just nine kilometres and began running again only a few hundred metres before the home straight. The Russian fencer Boris Onishchenko was found cheating in 1976, when it was discovered that the grip of his foil had been modified to include a switch that allowed him to close the circuit without actually depressing the tip of his weapon.
Many blunders have been recorded in the history of the Olympics, some by the competitors, others by the organisers. The 1900 Summer Olympics of Paris went into sport history as the “Olympics of chaos.” The winners were given silver medals and the runner-ups received bronze medals. In Melbourne in 1956, the Russian rower Ivanov won the single sculls event and he was so excited that he dropped his gold medal in the water. He immediately jumped in but never found it. In 1964, the Australian swimmer Dawn Fraser, later named Australian Female Athlete of the Century, was placed under a ten-year ban after she had allegedly climbed a flagpole in Emperor Hirohito’s palace and took the Olympic flag. In Munich in 1972, three American sprinters named Taylor, Robinson and Hart were in the ABC television studios when they realised that their race was just going to begin. Only Taylor was fast enough to make it to the start and he finished in second place. The explanation was that their coach had given them an outdated schedule.
Rulers and their dynasties have also written their names in sport history. When the Olympic Games were held in a monarchy, it was always the king’s task to launch the event. In London in 1908, the United States’ flag bearer refused to dip the flag to the royal box. The American team captain said “This flag dips to no earthly king.” The distance from the start of the Marathon to the finish at the stadium was established at these games; 42.195 km (26 miles 385 yards). The starting line was moved to allow the Royal Family a good view from Windsor Palace. Legend has it that, when awarding Jim Thorpe his prize at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, King Gustav said, "You, sir, are the greatest athlete in the world," to which Thorpe replied, "Thanks, King." At the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, the future Constantine II, King of Greece, won his country a sailing gold in the Dragon Class. Also in 1960, Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia, who was a personal guard for Emperor Haile Selassie, won the marathon bare-footed to become the first black African Olympic champion.
The 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm also broke two amazing records. The bicycle race, 320 kilometers around Lake Mälaren, became the longest race in the history of the Olympics. There was also a wrestling match that has gone down in history as the longest in any modern Olympic Games. Estonian Martin Klein and the Finnish Alfred Askiainen were up against each other in the semi-finals. Klein won the match after 11 hours and 40 minutes. But it came at a price since Klein was so exhausted he could not wrestle in the final the next day.
The American Alvin Kraenzlein was the first sportsman to win four Olympic titles (the 60 metres, the 110 metres and the 200 metres hurdles, and the long jump) in a single Olympic Games (in 1900). As of today, he is still the only track and field athlete to have done so in individual events only. Ray Ewry was an American track and field athlete who won 8 gold medals at various Olympic Games (in 1900, 1904 and 1908), in standing high jump, standing long jump and standing triple jump.. This puts him among the most successful Olympic athletes of all time. Ewry's achievement was all the more impressive considering that he had contracted polio as a young boy. For a short while, he was in a wheelchair, and it was feared that he might become paralysed for life. Another story of miraculous healing involved Wilma Rudolph, an American athlete born in a family of 22 children, who became the first American woman to win three gold medals (in Rome in 1960) despite not being able to walk until age 12. And we should not forget about many people’s favourite, Eric Moussambani, a swimmer from Equatorial Guinea, who became famous for his exceptionally slow swim at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. Nicknamed Eric the Eel, Moussambani took up swimming only 8 months before the Olympics.
