International Olympic Committee : News

Albin Stenroos made his own mark on the sport's biggest stage

7/14/1924 3:30:00 PM

Its early years were laced with tragedy and drama; from the collapse of Italian Dorando Pietri within sight of the finish line in 1908, to the tragic death of the Portuguese runner Francisco Lazaro at the 1912 Games in Stockholm.

Pietri was disqualified after British officials to come to his aid, his flailing legs and unsteady gait becoming one of the iconic moments in the history of the summer Games.

Like many Olympic marathons that had gone on before it, the race at the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris was contested in searing heat.

Race organisers delayed the start time to allow the oppressive conditions to calm but by the time the 58-man field took to the starting line temperatures remained stubbornly high.

An array of improvised headgear and caps were on show as the field did all they could to calm the severity of the Parisian heat.

Refuelling stations were a far cry from those of the modern era, with pales of water available for competitors to refresh their faces and wet rags handed out to assuage the heat.

As with so many distance events of the era, it was a Finn who dominated the race.

While team-mate Paavo Nurmi was breaking all records on the track in Paris, Albin Stenroos, a 35-year-old from Vehmaa, was about to make his own mark on the sport's biggest stage.

Stenroos hadn't run a marathon for 15 years until he qualified for the Finnish team at the trials prior to the Games.

He had enjoyed Olympic medal success with a team cross country silver in Stockholm as well as a individual bronze in the 10,000m.

But few expected such an emphatic victory in the 1924 marathon.

He surged clear of the field and entered the Olympic stadium with an unbeatable lead of around six minutes.

With a casual doff of his cap he acknowledged the crowd's applause and gingerly completed the final lap before breaking the tape in 2 hours 41.22 minutes, almost six minutes clear of second-placed Italian Romeo Bertini.

In an indication of the toll that the fierce heat took on competitors, seventh-placed Boughera El Ouadi would win the Amsterdam marathon four years later in a time nine minutes quicker than the Finn's mark.

Ritola thrives in shadow of Nurmi

7/13/1924 3:30:00 PM

He and Paavo Nurmi cut a swathe through the opposition, winning a clutch of gold medals in a period of dominance not seen again until African runners came to the fore decades later.

While the running machine Nurmi won nine gold medals at the 1920, 1924 and 1928 Games, Ritola’s statistics were no less impressive.

Ritola, a wiry, versatile runner, declined an offer to attend the 1920 Games in Antwerp but felt he was ready to compete at the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris after a number of years training in the United States.

Ritola had already etched his name in the Olympic annals with a dashing victory in the 10,000m in a world-record time.

Next came the 3,000m steeplechase run over a fascinating course on a 500m circumference track in the French capital.

Instead of the barriers and water jumps of today runners were presented with a variety of challenges.

Some of the fences runners were required to jump more closely resembled the kind of obstacles you would see in a horse steeplechase with branches, twigs and leaves used to create the barriers.

There were also obstacles that looked like garden fences while the water jump was deep enough to reach most competitors’ knees and resulted in some chaotic tangles.

Ritola pretty much ran through any challenge thrown at him, however. After running the most gentle of semi-finals, he gritted his teeth and destroyed the field with a time of 9 minutes 33.6secs, a new Olympic record.

Ritola also contributed to gold medal wins for Finland in the 3,000m and cross country team events.

He was to add 5,000m gold in the Amsterdam Games four years later.

Unsung Osborn makes Olympic mark

7/12/1924 3:30:00 PM

When Harold Osborn sustained a severe eye injury as a teenager, it put a huge dent into his potential athletic career as he became unable to judge distances easily.

It was a condition which made his later success in the decathlon, where skill, precision, endurance and raw speed are put to their most severe test, all the more surprising.

And for an athlete who finds it difficult to assess and perceive objects, it’s hard to imagine a more difficult event to succeed in than the high jump.

Raised on an Illinois farm in an athletics-keen family, Osborn had always been encouraged to jump, run, leap further and faster than all of his school friends.

He enjoyed a massively successful collegiate career and went to Paris as the favourite in the high jump but as something of an unknown quantity in the decathlon.

The high jump turned into a one-man show. He cleared every height using an accurately measured run-up which helped him assess the precise moment he should execute his leap.

In a whirl of arms and legs he set an Olympic record of 6ft 6ins which would remain unbeaten until Berlin 12 years later.

Later in the week he faced the ultimate Olympic test; the decathlon. Spread over two tiring, hot days, Osborn trailed American compatriot Emerson Norton thanks mainly to a huge pole vault of 3.80m.

However Norton’s throwing arm deserted him in the penultimate event, the javelin, and Osborn then finished over 40 seconds ahead of Norton in the closing 1500m to secure the gold.

It was a world record of 7,710.775 points, and to this day he is the only athlete to have won the decathlon and an individual event at the same Games.

Norwegians win 6-metre gold at Le Havre

7/11/1924 3:30:00 PM

Wildly varying weather conditions off the Normandy coast also made life difficult with blustery days alternating with dead calm making it tough for the crews to find any kind of rhythm.

The competition was organised into elimination rounds and semi-finals and it was clear from the outset of the 6-metre class that the Norwegian crew were going to take some beating.

Despite the choppy, unappealing competition waters the boats still managed to cut an elegant swathe through the water, their graceful sails and wooden hulls making for compelling viewing.

In the opening race the Norwegians finished behind their Danish and Dutch rivals, and this trio of crews were to dominate the competition.

Skippered by Anders Lundgren, the Norwegian boat Elizabeth V would not be beaten again, winning the second and third elimination races to ensure their place in the three-boat final.

They continued their domination in the semi-finals, winning all three races to complete an imperious performance in at times quite awful conditions.

Lundgren’s team-mates were Christopher Dahl and Eugen Lund, who was the first of four generations of the Lund family to compete at the Olympic sailing regatta.

Myyra adds to Finnish javelin legacy

7/10/1924 3:30:00 PM

Myyra arrived at the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris with a fine pedigree in major international competition already under his belt.

It was a time when the Scandinavian powerhouses Finland and Sweden took it in turns to share the javelin spoils; it was a national sport in both countries.

Myyra finished eighth in the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm and threw a marvellous Olympic record in Antwerp four years later to take the gold medal as Finns occupied all four top places.

That win was all the more remarkable after he was struck in the arm by a stray javelin thrown while he rested by the side of the athletics field.

Myyra easily qualified from the starting field of 29 throwers for the six-man final in Paris four years later.

The slow motion replay of Myyra’s winning throw could have been taken yesterday.

He accelerated beautifully at the end of his run-up, arching his back to a gravity-defying angle before unleashing a lightning fast throw out to the far reaches of the Olympic Stadium.

His winning throw of 62.96m was more than two metres further than any other athlete but some way short of the 65-66m of which he was capable. Second place went to Sweden’s Gunnar Lindstrom.

Lindstrom would break Myyra’s world record at a meeting in Sweden just months after his silver medal in Paris.

Morgan Taylor steals Parisien limelight in hurdles

7/9/1924 3:30:00 PM

Yet in 1924, Frederick Morgan Taylor began his bid for the 1924 Olympic Games gold medal in Paris with in emphatic style at the United States trials.

He set new world records on consecutive days at Cambridge, Massachusetts, running 53 seconds exactly in his semi-final before shaving off four tenths of a second the next day as he strode to victory in the final.

Morgan Taylor and team-mate Charlie Brookins were considered the two best hurdlers in the field, and they both passed through the qualifying races.

Brookins edged out Morgan Taylor in the semi-final in a time of 54.6 secs, almost two seconds faster than the winner of the second semi-final, another American Ivan Riley.

In the final, Morgan Taylor surged clear and matched his record time set at the trials but it was not allowed to stand as a world record as he had knocked over a hurdle in the process.

Brookins finished second but he suffered a more severe legal punishment when he ran out of lane and was disqualified, handing the silver medal to the Finn Erik Vilen.

Although Morgan Taylor barely ran 30 races over the distance during his entire career, he added bronze medals at Amsterdam in 1928 and in Los Angeles in 1932.

Morgan Taylor again set a new world record prior to the Los Angeles Games, but was undone in the final by a superb run from Irishman Bob Tisdall.

Lowe prevails after favourite fades

7/8/1924 3:30:00 PM

Ovett and Coe swapping world records with every run stirred the British imagination like seldom before but at the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris it was another pair of British runners who were aiming to stealing the limelight.

Henry Stallard and Douglas Lowe entered the competition as favourites, with Stallard thought likely by most observers to take the honours.

Both athletes won their opening heats in the Olympic Stadium and likewise prevailed in their semi-finals to book their places in the nine-man dash for gold.

Stallard, however, was nursing a minor leg injury and the watching crowds were denied the chance to see the world’s two finest two-lap runners at their best.

It was left to Lowe and Swiss runner Paul Martin to vie for the gold medal and after an evenly paced first 700m it was left to a frantic dash down the finishing straight.

Lowe, his face contorted with physical exertion in the closing strides, just held off Martin, clocking a time of 1 minute 52.4secs. American Erick Schuyler claimed the bronze with Stallard claiming a valiant fourth place.

Days later Stallard, his leg injury improved, won the bronze medal behind Flying Finn Paavo Nurmi in the 1500m final.

Lowe continued to excel in the 800m and proved 1924 was no fluke when he retained the title in more emphatic style four years later in Amsterdam.

Liddell legend is born in Paris

7/7/1924 3:30:00 PM

Liddell was the devout Christian who refused to run his preferred 100m because one of the qualifying rounds fell on the Sabbath, and instead went on to secure a gold medal in the lung-bursting 400m.

Made famous by the Oscar-winning movie Chariots of Fire, the Scot’s story is indeed a beautiful one at odds, however, with his running style.

Purists describe him as an ugly mover, with his head tilted skywards, his hands clawing through the air and his feet pattering at tremendous speeds.

Unlike the famed scene in Chariots of Fire, the schedule for the men’s sprint was announced several months before the Paris Games and once Liddell decided he could not run, he trained instead for the 200m and 400m.

He won a bronze medal in the 200m, with team mate and 100m champion Harold Abrahams back in fifth, and was faced with the 400m qualifying round the following day.

Some had derided Liddell’s decision not to run on a Sunday but it was reported that an American team member handed him a piece of paper shortly before the race. Written upon it were the words "Those who honour me I will honour."

Many felt Liddell’s tactics in the final bordered on the suicidal.

The 400m was considered almost a middle distance race in those days and the terrific speeds Liddell set off at in the final surprised the field and watchers alike.

Surely his stamina would fade in the closing stages and allow the more fancied Americans and even team mate Guy Butler to come through?

Somehow Liddell retained his form and focus and while other competitors fell in the trail of the searing pace he set, he managed to cross the line in an Olympic record of 47.6 seconds which would stand until the Berlin Games 12 years later.

Liddell was hoisted aloft before cheering crowds on the streets of Edinburgh. He later returned to the country of his birth, China, to continue his work as a missionary.

He would die of a brain tumour in a Japanese internment camp during the final year of the Second World War.

Kinsey pips Atkinson to the post

7/6/1924 3:30:00 PM

Whether it be Gail Devers falling at the final hurdle while storming clear at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, or fellow American Lolo Jones doing the same at the penultimate hurdle 14 years later in Beijing, there is always the possibility of high drama in the event.

And so it turned out in Paris.

South African Sydney Atkinson was the favourite, comfortably clocking the fastest time in the eight heats.

Atkinson was a muscular runner who had metronomic timing over the obstacles and he sauntered through his semi-final in a similarly impressive time.

Kinsey meanwhile was a highly proficient hurdler and won the Intercollegiate title in the US before taking his place in the American squad for the trip to France.

He likewise won his heat and semi-final and was expected to be a strong contender for one of the medals.

In the event, Atkinson made an excellent start to the final but Kinsey matched him stride for stride.

It appeared Atkinson was edging ahead in the closing stages but the big South African clipped the final obstacle and Kinsey, in the lane outside him, had sufficient momentum to carry him over the line first.

Kinsey looked as surprised as anyone at his success as he shook Atkinson’s hand before the world’s press. Atkinson righted the wrong four years later however winning the gold medal at the Amsterdam Games.

Heavyweight Houser’s double seals glory

7/5/1924 3:30:00 PM

One such feat was performed by American throwing legend Bud Houser at the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris.

He was the last man to win gold in the discus and shot and, given the now refined techniques of both power-throwing events, it is difficult to picture the achievement being emulated in the modern era.

He was very much an innovator, however, and took many of the throwing records of the time to new levels.

Houser pioneered the rotation-style throw now used universally in the discus and he was also the first to see the benefits of the explosive, staccato throwing style in the shot.

He went to Paris a warm favourite.

First he produced an imperious performance in the discus, winning the event by almost four feet (1.32 metres) with an Olympic record throw of 151ft 4ins (46m) which he recorded in the qualifying rounds.

It was a victory for the USA which would be repeated in eight out of the next nine Olympic discus finals, rounded off by Al Oerter’s record fourth straight win completed at Mexico City in 1968.

Five days later came the shot put final and a much tighter contest developed.

Houser again threw an imposing leading effort in the qualifying round of 49 feet 2.25 ins and he failed to improve on that in the final.

Two American colleagues – Samuel Glenn “Tiny” Hartranft and Ralph Hills – sent out throws tantalisingly close to that of Houser’s but it was not to be and Houser’s place in the record books was confirmed.