The Olympic Dictionary C

CAMBER IRENE (, , b. Trieste 12/2/1926). Four appearances (1948, 1952, 1960, 1964), one , (individual foils 1952), one (team foils 1960). 1952 1-0-0, 1960 0-0- 1. She started to concentrate on foils at 8 years old when, in Trieste, she accidentally entered the fencing hall instead of the hall where she was in the habit of practising . In 1948, after graduating in industrial chemistry, she made her debut at the London Games, where she was eliminated in the semi-finals. 4 years later in Helsinki she won the , beating the 45 year- old Hungarian Ilona Elek in the deciding match 4-3, the Olympic champion at Berlin and London. She skipped the Melbourne Games because pregnant after having married Giangiacomo Corno, and in Rome in 1960 she won the bronze team medal. She continued until the Tokyo Games, then in 1972 at the Munich Olympics she was head coach for the national team, which included Antonella Ragno (q.v.), who won the individual gold medal. Without ever giving up work at Montedison, during her career she also won 2 world titles (individual 1953 and team 1957), one silver medal, and 5 bronze ; and 2 Italian individual titles.

CAMBODIA (Kingdom of Cambodia, Asia, capital Phnom Penh, area 181.035 km2, 14.443.678 inhabitants). After competing at the Games in 1956 (not in Melbourne, but only at in the equestrian event), 1964, and 1972, the Olympic Committee was officially founded in 1983 and was recognised in 1994 by the IOC. Cambodia competed in the Games in 2000 and 2004, without winning any medals.

CAMEROON (Republic of Cameroon, Africa, capital Yaoundé, area 475.442 km2, 18.549.179 inhabitants). 4 medals: 2 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze. Best Olympics: Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004, with a gold in men’s football and with Françoise Mbango Etone in the women’s triple jump. The Olympic Committee was formed in 1963 and recognised the same year by the IOC. Cameroon has competed in all the Olympics since 1964.

CANADA (Federal State of Canada, North America, capital Ottawa, area 9.984.670 km2, 32.876.045 inhabitants). 242 medals: 55 gold, 86 silver, 101 bronze. Best Olympics: Los Angeles 1984 with 10 , 18 silvers and 16 bronze medals. Best sport: track & field with 14 golds, 15 silvers and 23 bronze medals. Most decorated : Kathleen Heddle and Marnie Elizabeth McBean, rowing, with 3 golds and one bronze each (coxless pairs 1992, eight 1992, pair 1996, victories for both, which they obtained together, also the bronze in the coxed four in 1996). The Olympic Committee, formed in 1904, was recognised in 1907 by the IOC. After the participation of two Canadians in the 1900 Games in the American team (and one of them, George Orton, won the gold in the hurdles), Canada has only missed one edition of the Games in 1980 due to the boycott, since 1904. Canada hosted the 1976 Montreal Games; Toronto has been nominated 3 times without success.

CANOEING AND KAYAK The sport made is debut in 1936 at Berlin, even though in 1906 in Athens there was a ‘French canoeing’ race held under the rowing category. Canoeing and kayaking are regulated by the ICF, International Canoe Federation (www.canoeicf.com). See section IV, Sports.

25 The Olympic Dictionary

CAPE VERDE (Republic of Cape Verde, Africa, capital Praia, area 4.033 km2, 530.438 inhabitants). The Olympic Committee was founded in 1989 and was recognised in 1993 by the IOC. Cape Verde has competed in the Games since 1996, without winning any medals.

CARROLL DANIEL BRENDAN “DAN” (rugby, Australia/USA, b. Melbourne, Australia, 17/11/1888 – or according to other sources 1889 or 1892 – d. New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, 5/8/1956). Two appearances (1908, 1920) and 2 golds (1908 for Australia, 1920 for the USA). 1908 1-0-0, 1920 1-0-0. At just under 19 years old he was the youngest (as well as the fastest) player of the first Wallabies, and during the tournament in Europe he scored 15 tries, 2 of them in the 32-3 match against Great Britain, the only Olympic tournament of London, where he won the gold. After the 1911/12 tournament in the USA, he registered at Stanford and took American citizenship. He fought in the American army during the First World War, then went back to Australia but in 1920 he was back at Stanford as a coach. That year, as the player/coach, he won the second gold at the Games, beating 8-0 (also in that case there were only two participants). The French took it badly and called for a re-match, managing 14-5 a month later. In the meantime the American selection had won three matches against other transalpine representatives. But they took it even worse 4 years later, losing the Olympic final again (this time 17-3) against the USA, and at home in Colombes in front of 40.000 screaming spectators. This time Carroll was ‘only’ the coach. Charles Doe, one of his players said sixty years later: “Our victory in 1924 became like the one against the USSR in in 1980, an everyday thing. If we’d had the same TV and media coverage, rugby would now be a true national American pass-time”.

CASARTELLI FABIO (cycling, Italy, b. Como 16/8/1970, d. Tarbes, France 18/7/1995). One appearance (1992) and one gold (road race). As a child he had glandular fever, and in 1990, he fractured his 12th vertebrae after being knocked down by a car. However, two years later he managed to win the gold in . A winning sprint 250 m from the finish, with a one-second advantage over the Dutchman, Erik Dekker. “Do I fear the disasters which almost readily hit the winners of the World Championships or the Olympics? I didn’t have time to think about it. And I couldn’t really brake during a sprint, could I?” A spine-chilling statement reading it later, because Casartelli died at 24 years of age, due to a fall during the 15th stage of the Tour de France, the Saint Girons-Cauterets. At the 34th km he hit his head violently against a block of cement on the descent at Col de Portet d’Aspet. The immediate transfer by helicopter to the local hospital was futile. His death was caused by a cerebral haemorrhage, and fractures to the cranial bones, after 4 cardiac arrests. His son Marco was only 2 months old. Usually Casartelli wore a helmet when descending, but he didn’t bother that day because the lap was only 3-4 km. “However, a helmet wouldn’t have saved him” (Massimo Testa, Motorola doctor). A stone was erected at the location of the tragedy in 1997.

ČASLÁVSKÁ VERA (gymnastics, , b. Prague 3/5/1942). Three appearances (1960, 1964, 1968), 7 golds (individual competition 1964 and 1968, 1964 and 1968, beam 1964, exercise 1968, 1968) and 4 silvers (team competition 1960, 1964 and 1968, beam 1968). 1960 0-1-0, 1964 3-1-0, 1968 4-2-0. She was one of the last female gymnasts, before the advent of (q.v.) and the child gymnasts. “By lowering the age limit, womanhood has been removed from gymnastics”, she said. “Now women are represented by children, who are too immature to express deep aesthetic sentiments. One must be a woman, to have loved and suffered. Now they have replaced art with technique and risk”. Her career started at 15 years old, when she gave up skating to concentrate on gymnastics, under the guidance of Eva Bosakovà. Within a few months she was in the national team, with whom she started in 1957 against Belgium. A year later she made the Moscow World Championships, where she came eight in the beam and second in the team event. It was the first of 10 medals: 4 golds (vault 1962, all-round, vault and team 1966), 5 silvers, and one . In 1959 she won her first international victory, the

26 The Olympic Dictionary

European title for the beam. She had 14 medals at the end of her career: 11 golds (beam 1959-65- 67, all-round, floor exercise, parallel bars and vault 1965-67), one silver (vault 1959), and 2 bronze medals (all-round and floor exercise 1961). She made her debut at the 1960 Games; she was sixth in the beam, which her mentor Eva Bosakovà won, and eight in the all-round event, while in the team event she won the silver medal. Four years later she dominated Tokyo (3 gold medals), but it was the 1968 Games which marked out her career. Some months before going to Mexico, she signed, along with other sportsmen and women (amongst them Zátopek q.v.), and academics, the 2000 Words Manifesto, declaring support for the renewal and liberation process set in motion by Alexander Dubcek, the new secretary of the Communist Party. It was at the start of spring in Prague when on 21 August the invaded the Czechoslovakian capital with armed tanks. Časlávská was forced to flee, and left the training camp in Moravia and went to Sumperk, a small town near Ostrava, where she continued to prepare for the Games as much as possible, whereas her brother ended up in the hands of the police for anti-Soviet propaganda. Two months later she left for Mexico, where she won 4 gold and 2 silver medals, which she dedicated to Dubcek and other leaders defeated by the Soviet repression. The day after winning her last gold medal, she married the Czechoslovakian middle-distance runner Josef Odlozil (silver medal in the 1.500 m in Tokyo). On returning to her homeland after her honeymoon in Capri, she was the victim of Stalin censorship. Her support of the Manifesto was not forgotten and she couldn’t find work for 5 years; it was only in 1974 that she was entrusted with the gymnast section of Sparta Prague, but with limitations (she couldn’t work abroad). In 1979 a special request from the Mexican president Portillo allowed her the possibility of returning to the places where she had had success, to work as a coach. The experience lasted 2 years, and then she returned to Sparta. She had some difficult years; she lost her brother and parents, and she left her husband, becoming a single parent to her children Martin and Radka. She returned to the spotlight with the birth of the Czech Republic, when she was elected president of the Olympic committee. However, another family tragedy affected her life. In 1993, during a party, a fight broke out in which her son Martin killed his father and her ex- husband Jozef Odlozil. Two years later, in 1995 she became IOC member.

CAULKINS TRACY ANN (, USA, b. Winona, Minnesota, 11/1/1963). One appearance (1984) and 3 golds (200 m medley, 400 m medley, 4x100 m medley). She won 5 golds (200 m medley, 400 m medley and 200 m butterfly, all with the world record, plus the 4x100 m freestyle and 4x100 m medley) at the 1978 World Championships, but the American boycott meant she missed the 1980 Moscow Games. At the 1982 World Championships she won only 2 bronze medals in the 200 m and 400 m medley, but two years later she was in both Olympic competitions, adding one gold in relay, and retired immediately after the Games. She won 48 American titles, a record. With 415 individual wins starting from 1977 in all distances between the 50 m freestyle and the 400 m medley, she was probably the most versatile swimmer of all time. She set 5 world records and (in all styles) 63 American records.

CAYMAN (Cayman Islands, British colony, Caribbean, capital George Town, area 272 km2, 47.210 inhabitants). The Olympic Committee was founded in 1973 and was recognised in 1976 by the IOC. They have competed in the Games since then, and have only missed the 1980 Games. No medals have been won.

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC (Africa, capital Bangui, area 622.436 km2, 4.342.736 inhabitants). The Olympic Committee was formed in 1964 and recognised the year after by the IOC. The Central African Republic has taken part in all the Games since 1968, without winning any medals.

27 The Olympic Dictionary

CESANA GIORGIO (rowing, Italy, b. Venice 14/4/1892, d. Venice Lido 17/4/1967). One appearance (1906) and 3 golds (coxed pairs 1000 m, coxed pairs one mile and coxed fours). At 14 years and 10 days old he became the youngest gold medal winner in Italian Olympic history, a title which he still holds today. He was the team coxswain of the Bucintoro of Venice, qualifying after a sensational incident during the selections on the Tevere. In the coxed fours race, the narrowness of the river section near the Tiberina island made it inevitable that the Querini of Venice was forced to stop after a bump, and that 400 m from the arrival point the Ariene and Bucintoro collided, probably due to the careless manoeuvre of the Venetians. The Aniene recovered and finished third, after the Bucintoro and the Barion from Bari, qualified for Athens; the Bucintoro declined the repetition, and Cesana with the others went to Athens and won 3 gold medals.

CHAD (Republic of Chad, Africa, capital N’Djamena, area 1.284.000 km2, 10.780.573 inhabitants). The Olympic Committee was formed in 1963 and recognised the year after by the IOC. Since 1964 Chad has only missed the 1976 and 1980 Games. No medals have been won.

CHARPENTIER ROBERT (cycling, France, b. Maule 14/4/1916, d. La Neuville-Chant-D’Oisel 28/10/1966). One appearance (1936) and 3 golds (individual and team road race, team pursuit). In 1935 he won the World Championship silver in the road race, and in Berlin he won 3 Olympic golds before the pursuit gold in front of Italy. Two days later he beat another Frenchman Lapébie in a sprint, and together with him and Dorgebray (4th by 1 second), he also won the team event which considered the time total. In 1937 he turned professional without any results and retired in the 1947 Tour de France.

CHASTAIN BRANDI DENISE (football, USA, b. San José, California, 21/7/1968). Three appearances (1996, 2000, 2004), 2 golds (1996, 2004) and one silver (2000). 1996 1-0-0, 2000 0-1- 0, 2004 1-0-0. She played 13 of the 16 Olympic matches, scoring a goal against Nigeria (in 2000, 3- 1) and competing in all the finals: 2-1 against China in 1996, 2-3 AET against Norway in 2000 and 2-1 again AET against Brazil in 2004. However, she became the most famous football player in the world when she celebrated winning against China with a critical penalty in the 1999 World Championship, by taking off her jersey and sitting on her knees for a few seconds on the pitch at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, with her black bra in full view. “It was the best moment of my life on that football pitch, but also the craziest”, was how she described it when it reached the covers of Time, Newsweek, People and Sports Illustrated. ‘Hollywood’ Chastain, as her team-mates called her, competed in 192 national matches as defence, midfield and attacker, scoring 30 goals (5 in 1991 in Mexico, a record, and starting from the bench). She also won the 1991 World Championship, even though taking part in just two preliminary heats. In 1993 she played in Japan with Siroki Serena, the only foreigner chosen for the top 11 in that championship.

CHECHI JURY (gymnastics, Italy, b. Prato 11/10/1969). Three appearances (1988, 1996, 2004), one gold medal ( 1996) and one bronze medal (rings 2004). 1996 1-0-0, 2004 0-0-1. He entered a gym for the first time at 6 years old, where his sister was following a course of gymnastics. At 14, after his first junior Italian title, he moved to Varese to specialise in the centre run by Bruno Franceschetti. He started at the 1988 Seoul Games coming sixth in the rings and 17th in the overall competition. A year later he won his first international medal, the bronze in the rings at the Stuttgart World Championships. At the end of his career he had 5 world titles in his event (1993-94-95-96-97), and 2 bronze medals (1989 and 1991). In 1990 he won the European title in Lausanne, the first of four (1990-92-94-96, all on the rings), in addition to 2 bronze medals (all- round individual 1990 and floor exercise 1992). In 1992 he was the man to beat at the Barcelona Games, but with three weeks to go he damaged his right Achilles tendon in training and had to withdraw. He tried again in 1996, when at Atlanta he won the Olympic gold medal on the rings, the only one he didn’t have in his collection. La Gazzetta wrote: “ The plaster cast from Barcelona has

28 The Olympic Dictionary now become an heirloom to be put with the gold medal from Atlanta. Justice has been done”. After the tendon injury on the biceps of his left arm, which prevented him from defending his title in Sydney, he retired and entered the Italian Federation. However, in 2003, to keep a promise made to his father, he went back to competitive sport. He took part in the European Championships at Ljubljana where he came eighth, and in 2004 he won the bronze medal in the rings at the Athens Games. It was the last medal to be added to his collection which already included 6 Italian titles. He retired permanently and concentrated on a political career.

CHILE (Republic of Chile, South America, judicial capital Valparaiso, administrative capital Santiago, area 756.102 km2, 16.634.758 inhabitants). 12 medals: 2 gold, 6 silver, 4 bronze. Best Olympics: Athens 2004 with 2 golds and one bronze. Best sport: , with 2 golds in 2004 won by Nicolas Massu (becoming the athlete with most medals), in the singles and in the doubles with Fernando Gonzalez. The Olympic Committee was formed in 1934 and recognised the same year by the IOC. Chile took part for the first time in the 1912 Olympics, only missing the 1932 and 1980 Games.

CHINA (People’s Republic of China, South Asia, capital Beijing, area 9.536.499 km2, 1.305.771.039 inhabitants). 286 medals: 112 gold, 96 silver, 78 bronze. Best Olympics: Athens 2004 with 32 golds, 17 silvers and 14 bronze medals. Best sport: diving with 20 golds, 13 silvers and 5 bronze medals. Most decorated athlete: Fu Mingxia (q.v.), with 4 golds (platform 1992 and 1996, springboard 1996 and 2000) and one silver (synchronised 2000). The first Olympic Committee, formed in 1910, was recognised by the IOC in 1922; the current one was recognised in 1979. China competed in the Games from 1932 to 1952, then missed 7 editions due to problems relating to the acknowledgment of Taipei, returning only in 1984. China has won all of its 286 medals since Los Angeles. Beijing is the host city for the 2008 Games.

CHRISTIE LINFORD (track & field, Great Britain, b. St. Andrews, Jamaica 2/4/1960). Three appearances (1988, 1992, 1996), one gold medal (100 m 1992), 2 silvers (100 m 1988, 4x100 m 1988). 1988 0-2-0, 1992 1-0-0. Until the age of 26 he was a physical education teacher in a primary school and he nurtured his athletics hobby (long jump and sprinting). In 1986, encouraged by the trainer Ron Roddan, he changed his life concentrating fully on sport. In the same year he won the 100 m at the Stuttgart European Championships. He had 3 continental titles at the end of his career (1986-90-94), in addition to one silver medal and 2 bronze medals. In 1987 he won the bronze medal in the 100 m at the Rome World Championships, to which he added the bronze in the 4x100 m in 1991, the silver in the 4x100 m in 1993 and most of all the gold in the 100 m won in Stuttgart in 1993. “Was Lewis (q.v.) there?” he said, commenting on his victory and the disappointing 4th place of the American, “I didn’t see him. By now he is the third sprinter of America. Or rather, he’s not even a sprinter any more; he’s a mix of Madonna, Tina Turner and Michael Jackson”. At his debut in the 1988 Seoul Games, he was third in the final of the 100 m behind Ben Johnson (q.v.) and Carl Lewis, but he won the silver medal following the disqualification of the Canadian. In Barcelona, in a final without Lewis, he won his only Olympic gold medal, winning the 100 m in 9.96, coming in front of the Namibian Frankie Fredericks and the American Dennis Mitchell. He was at the Atlanta Games, where he reached the final but was disqualified for a double false start. He continued to win (26 national titles; 3 indoor European titles, 2 in the 60 m and one in the 200 m, and one bronze; 2 silvers in the World Indoor Championship) and to race in events until 39 years old until up he was disqualified by IAAF for having used Nandrolone. After retiring he joined the coaching staff in the British athletics team.

29 The Olympic Dictionary

CHUKARIN VIKTOR IVANOVICH (gymnastics, Ukraine, b. Krasnoarmeyskoye 9/11/1921, d. Lvov 26/8/1984). Two appearances (1952, 1956), 7 golds (individual all-round 1952 and 1956, team event 1952 and 1956, 1952, vault 1952, parallel bars 1956), 3 silvers (rings 1952, parallel bars 1952, floor exercise 1956) and one bronze (pommel horse 1956) for the USSR. 1952 4-2-0, 1956 3-1-1. During the war he was an artillery man. The Nazis held him prisoner for 4 years (his number was 10491) at Sandbostel Lake, where he spent 4 terrifying days on the open seas when, in retreat, they put him and his companions on a barge loaded with explosives. He was saved by a British ship. “When I went back home my mother could only recognise me from an old scar on my head”. He was already more than 30 years old when he took part in his first Olympics, winning 4 golds, one of them for the all-round event. In 1952 with just 5 hundredths of an advantage over the Japanese athlete Ono (q.v.), he became the second gymnast capable of a repeat after (q.v.), and he brought his collection of Olympic medals to a total of 11. He also won 3 golds (individual all-round with equal merit with his fellow countryman Muratov, then parallel bars and team event), and one bronze at the 1954 World Championships, and 4 all-round Soviet titles. In 1957, along with (q.v.), he was the first athlete to receive the Order of Lenin.

CINEMA Olympia, released in 1938, is the most widely-known documentary film about an Olympiad. Directed by Leni Riefenstahl and divided into two parts (Olympia: Fest der Völker, [Olympia: Celebration of the People] and Olympia: Fest der Schönheit, [Olympia: Celebration of the Beauty]), together they have a running time of 217 minutes. Step by step, the film follows the Berlin Games in 1936: from lighting the torch in Greece, the torch relay, and the opening ceremonies to the Games themselves. Made using techniques that were innovative for the time, Olympia was included by Time magazine in their list of the 100 most beautifully-photographed films of all time. The film has attracted criticism for its propagandist imprint, which was intended to show the grandeur of the Nazi regime. Previously, the motion picture camera had made its first appearance in an Olympic stadium in London in 1908, capturing the dramatic final moments of Dorando Pietri (q.v.) in the marathon. Cameras also made an appearance in Stockholm in 1912, but the first complete filmed documentary was at the Games in 1924, titled Jeux de Paris. No film for Amsterdam in 1928 or Los Angeles in 1932, but from Riefenstahl’s masterwork onwards every Games has had an official film. In terms of quality, the best ones are Romolo Marcellini’s La Grande Olimpiade (Rome, 1960), Yuri Ozerov’s Olimpijskij Prazdnik (Moscow, 1980) and Bud Greenspan’s 16 Days of Glory (Los Angeles, 1984). But the only official film that can compete with Riefenstahl’s masterpiece is Tokyo Olympiad by Kon Ichikawa, a director better known for The Burmese Harp (Japan, 1956). Presented at the 1965 Cannes Festival, Ichikawa’s film-documentary concentrates on the human side of the Olympics and tells the story of the Games, not through its races, but rather its protagonists: the winners and, especially, the losers. A constant star in the history of Olympic cinema is American director Bud Greenspan (q.v.), who has made numerous films on the Games and its personalities. Of the other films that take the Olympics as their setting or inspiration, one of the most famous and best made is Hugh Hudson’s Chariots of Fire (USA, 1981), which tells the story of two British competing at the Paris Games in 1924: Eric Liddell, a Scottish pastor who refused to run on Sundays for religious reasons, and Harold Abrahams, who came from a well-to-do Jewish family. Although it contains a number of errors (in reality Liddell did not discover at the last minute that he could not compete in the 200 metres heats because it took place on a Sunday: he knew the programme of the Games well in advance and put his name down directly for the 400 metres), the film won 4 Academy Awards (best film, best original screenplay, costume design and best original music score for the famous soundtrack by Vangelis) and it is still today considered one of the best films with a sporting theme. Rather less successful was Bruce Malmuth’s Pentathlon (USA, 1995), in which the beefy Dolph Lundgren, famous for his role as Ivan Drago in Rocky IV, plays an Olympic athlete from who defects to the US but is flushed out by his ex-coach and forced to play a lethal game. A legend in real life in America is Steve Prefontaine, who came fourth in the 5.000 metres at Munich in 1972. Killed at 24 years of

30 The Olympic Dictionary age in a road accident, Prefontaine is considered the precursor of the running boom in the US and he is the subject of two films, Steve James’s Prefontaine (USA, 1997) and Robert Towne’s Without Limits (USA, 1998). Turning to the much darker theme of the events at the 1972 Munich Olympics, when a group of terrorists from the Palestinian Black September organisation broke into the Olympic Village and began a chain of events that culminated in the world-famous massacre, two films of note are Kevin McDonald’s One Day in September (Australia, 2000) and Steven Spielberg’s Munich (USA, 2005), which tell the story and explore what happened in the wake of the massacre. The Winter Olympics are served by Gavin O’Connor’s Miracle (USA, 2004) which tells the story of the US national hockey team’s historic win over the Soviet team (who were considered invincible) at the Lake Placid Games in 1980, and John Turteltaub’s comedy Cool Runnings (USA, 1993), the amazing-but-true story of the first Jamaican four-man bobsleigh team to take part in the Winter Games, in 1988 in Calgary. The most recent films with an Olympic theme were released in 2008: Frederic Foster’s Asterix at the Olympics (a joint French, German and Spanish production) is based on a comic strip and only fleetingly deals with sport; in the film the celebrated warrior of Gaul and his faithful companion Obelix participate in the Games to help a friend win the heart of a beautiful Greek princess. Rather more down to earth is The One Man Olympics (China, 2008), which tells the story of sprinter Liu Changchun, the first Chinese to take part in the Games, in 1932. Cinema and Olympics have come together in front of the camera as well as behind it: many athletes went on to become actors. The most famous is Johnny Weissmuller (q.v.), winner of 5 gold medals for swimming from 1924 to 1928 and later the lead actor in 12 films in the role of Tarzan and 13 as “Jungle Jim”. Tarzan was also played by other sportsmen, including gymnast Glenn Morris, pole- vaulter Don Bragg, decathlete Rafer Johnson and swimmer Buster Crabbe. Hawaiian Duke Kahanamoku (q.v.), winner of 3 Olympic swimming titles from 1912 to 1920, acted in 14 films, almost always as a savage. The life of Jim Thorpe (q.v.), gold in the pentathlon and decathlon at Stockholm in 1912 and elected best American athlete of the first half of the 20th century, is the subject of Michael Curtiz’s Jim Thorpe - All-American (USA, 1951), starring Burt Lancaster. Italy produced its own athlete-actor in the form of Giuseppe Gentile, nephew of philosopher Giovanni Gentile and participant at the 1968 Games in Mexico City, where he competed in one of the finest triple jump events of all time: the world record was broken 5 times and Gentile won bronze. The following year he was cast by writer-director-philosopher Pier Paolo Pasolini in the role of Jason in Pasolini’s film version of Medea, alongside Maria Callas. Gentile returned to athletics and competed at the 1972 Games in Munich.

CLAUDIUS LESLIE WALTER (field hockey, India, b. Bilaspur 25/3/1927). Four appearances (1948, 1952, 1956, 1960), 3 golds (1948, 1952, 1956) and one silver (1960). 1948 1-0-0, 1952 1-0- 0, 1956 1-0-0, 1960 0-1-0. He shares the record for 4 medals with Udham Singh. The first was won just two years after he discovered hockey, having left football, and playing only in a preliminary heat (8-0 against Austria). He was the first player to appear more than 100 times in the national team. He left it after the Rome Games, where he was captain (he was the first from the Anglo- English community to have this honour), and where India broke a series of 6 golds and 30 consecutive victories at the Olympics, losing the final against Pakistan 1-0. He continued to play in India until 1965. His son Robert, who had taken part with India in the 1978 World Cup, died that year in a road accident.

CLAY CASSIUS See ALI MUHAMMAD.

COCHELEA COGEANU VERONICA (rowing, , b. Iasi Voinesti, 15/11/1965). Four appearances (1988, 1992, 1996, 2000) 2 golds (eight 1996 and 2000), 3 silvers (pair 1988 and 1992, coxed four 1992) and one bronze (coxed four 1988). 1988 0-1-1, 1992 0-2-0, 1996 1-0-0, 2000 1-0- 0. She won five of the six medals along with Elisabeta Lipă Oleniuc (q.v.), the only one to have got

31 The Olympic Dictionary more than her in rowing (eight). She also won 4 golds (1990/93/97/98 in the eight), 2 silvers and 2 bronze medals in the World Championships. She then became the national coach.

COE SEBASTIAN (track & field, Great Britain, b. London 29/9/1956). Two appearances (1980, 1984), 2 golds (1500 m 1980-84), 2 silvers (800 m 1980-1984). 1980 1-1-0, 1984 1-1-0. Coached by his father Peter, he showed his potential in 1975 coming third at the European Junior Championships in the 1500 m. Equipped with great basic speed, although he always expressed a preference for the 800 m, Coe obtained his best results in the 1500 m. In 1977 he won the European indoor title in the 800 m and a year later, at the European Championships in Prague, he won the bronze in the 800 m finishing behind East German Olaf Beyer and great rival, fellow countryman Steve Ovett (q.v.). In continental exhibitions he collected one gold (800 m in 1986), 2 silvers, and one bronze. He was like an explosion in 1979 when he set 3 world records in 42 days: 1:42.4 in the 800 m, 3:32.1 in the 1500 m and 3:49.0 in the mile. A year later he made his debut at the Games in Moscow; he won silver in the 800 m behind Ovett, but he recuperated in the 1500 m beating the East German Jürgen Straub and Ovett. In 1981 he ran the 800 m in Florence in 1:41.73, a record he held for 16 years, and he improved the 1500 m world record twice bringing it to 3:47.33. At the Los Angeles Games he won the 1500 m, becoming the only athlete to repeat the gold on distance; at the same Games he won silver in the 800 m, coming behind the Brazilian Joaquim Cruz. He retired in 1990, after having beaten 8 outdoor and 3 indoor world records. Along with Lord Burghley (1927) and Sam Dobin (2007), he is one of 3 athletes who have completed the Great Court Run in 1988, (made famous in the film Chariots of Fire), running the 367 m court at Trinity College, Cambridge, in the time it takes the clock to strike 12 o’clock (about 43 seconds). When he finished his athletics career, he concentrated on politics. He was a British MP from 1992 to 1997, is the president of the organising committee for the 2012 London Games, and vice president of IAAF.

COLOMBIA (Republic of Colombia, South America, capital Bogotà, area 1.141.748 km2, 46.155.958 inhabitants). 8 medals: 1 gold, 2 silver, 5 bronze. Best Olympics: Sydney 2000 with one gold won by Maria Isabel Urrutia for weightlifting, 75 kg category (but Munich ’72 was the only Games in which more than one medal was won, with one silver and 2 bronze medals being awarded). Best sport: weightlifting with one gold and one bronze. Most decorated athlete: The only one with two medals is Helmut Bellingrodt, for shooting, with 2 silvers (mobile target 1972 and 1984). After competing with only the marathon runner Jorgé Perry Villate in the 1932 Games, Colombia formed an Olympic Committee in 1936, which was recognised by the IOC in 1948. Since then only the 1952 Games have been missed.

COMĂNECI NADIA (gymnastics, Romania, b. Onesti 12/11/1961). Two appearances (1976, 1980), 5 golds (individual all-round 1976, parallel bars 1976, beam 1976 and 1980, floor exercise 1980), 3 silvers (team event 1976 and 1980, individual all-round 1980) and one bronze (floor exercise 1976). 1976 3-1-1, 1980 2-2-0. She was discovered at nursery by a physical education teacher, and at 7 years old she was already in a national competition. Her mother and father, who worked as a clerk and mechanic respectively, entrusted her to Béla Kàrolyi, the coach who shaped her with an exceptionally strict training programme. She showed her ability in 1975 at the Skien European Championships winning 4 golds (individual all-round, vault, parallel bars and beam), and one silver. At one metre 52 cm tall and weighing 40 kg, she reached the top of her career at the 1976 Montreal Games, when she was the first gymnast to score 10. She did it 7 times, winning 3 golds (all-round, parallel bars and beam), one silver (team event) and one bronze (floor exercise). A year later she won the team event and the parallel bars at the European Championships, in addition to one silver for the vault, and in 1978 she won gold on the beam, and 2 silvers. In 1979 she won another 3 continental titles (all-round, vault, floor exercise). Her European total victories are 9 golds, 2 silvers and one bronze; in the same year representing Romania wins her first world team title (2 golds and 2 silvers). At the Moscow Games she repeated the gold on the beam and the floor

32 The Olympic Dictionary exercise, but in all-round she was second behind Yelena Davydova, following a jury discussion lasting 30 minutes. In 1981, during a tournament in the USA, her coach applied for political asylum and left Nadia, who returned to Romania and became one of the many conquests of Nicu, the son of the dictator Ceausescu. She fled to the United States in 1989 and in 1996 she married the American ex-gymnast , winner of 2 Olympic golds in 1984. Together with her husband she runs a gymnastics academy and owns several sportswear shops.

COMMONWEALTH OF INDEPENDENT STATES (CIS) In 1992 some of the republics of the Soviet Union, dissolved in 1991, had national Olympic committees which weren’t recognised by the IOC. On the suggestion of President Samaranch (q.v.), and to ensure wide participation, they were accepted under the term ‘Commonwealth of Independent States’ (Unified Team in English, Équipe Unifiée in French, EUN or CIS). The team, comprising representatives from Armenia (4), Azerbaijan (4), (48), Kazakhastan (20), Kyrgyzstan (2), Moldova (10), (270), Tajikistan (2), Ukraine (81) and Uzbekistan (13), also included athletes from Georgia (12), which at the time had not yet joined this Commonwealth, which has existed as a subsidiary political structure since the dissolution of the USSR. The CIS won 45 golds, 38 silvers and 29 bronze medals in Barcelona (two republics didn’t win medals, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan). Best sport: gymnastics with 10 golds, 5 silvers and 5 bronze medals. Athlete who won most medals: (q.v.), gymnast with 6 golds (individual and team events, parallel bars, vault, pommel horse and rings).

COMOROS (Federal Islamic Republic of the Comoros, Africa, capital Moroni, area 1.862 km2, 839.189 inhabitants). The Olympic Committee was founded in 1979 and was recognised in 1993 by the IOC. Comoros competed in the Games in 1996, 2000 and 2004, without winning any medals.

COMPANS DE BRICHANTEU DE CHALLANT CARLO Marquis and Count d’Ala, (CONI president, Italy, b. Chambéry in Haute-Savoie 30/5/1844, d. Turin 2/11/1925). Descendant of the Savoia family, Italian MP from 1876 to 1919, he was the vice secretary twice, sports manager, and president of CONI from 1914 to 1920 after having been the president of the ‘Italian Committee for London 1908’.

CONGO (Republic of Congo, Africa, capital Brazzaville, area 342.000 km2, 3.768.087 inhabitants). The Olympic Committee was founded in 1964, was immediately recognised by the IOC, and competed in its first Games that year. It then missed only the 1968 and 1976 Games, No medals have been won. Best placement was 6th place (out of 6 teams) with the women’s team in 1980.

CONI The Italian Olympic Committee was officially founded in 1914 and was recognised by the IOC a year later, however it was established as the result of a decade of managerial activity described as follows. The Italian Olympic Committee is the result of a series of meetings (between sporting personalities and Italian politicians interested in promoting sport and the in Italy), over the space of 10 years from 1904 to 1919, which led to that which was defined by historians as ‘The Italian Olympic Movement’, in support of a series of precursor organisations resulting in an official and proper ‘committee’. The first inception of CONI is evident in initiatives taken by the FGI (Italian Gymnastics Federation), regarding participation in the St. Louis Games in 1904. Upon receiving the invite on the 20th June 1902, the FGI was in favour of participating, but nothing came of it due to a lack of means and interest. Consequently, the ‘St. Louis Games Committee’ wasn’t established, but several attempts were made over a long period, supported by Count Brunetta d’Usseaux (q.v.) and the secretary of the FGI, Ballerini, to formalise the request to host the IV Olympian Games in Rome in 1908. The initiative lasted a long time, but failed in 1906 (see Rome withdraws its bid in section II), when Brunetta was forced to announce to the IOC that Rome would have to abandon its plans. In the same year the 1906 Athens Olympic Games

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Committee was in operation, supported by Luigi Lucchini, head of an organisation dealing with team selection for the Games, which then disbanded after the Games dispute. On the 22nd February 1907 Brunetta sent a circular to all the organisations involved, regarding the creation of a 1908 London Olympic Games Committee, which would establish the framework for a formal Italian Olympic Committee while at the same time preparing and choosing athletes. On the 10th June 1907, in the headquarters of the Italian Touring Club in Milan, the Italian Olympic Committee was founded, which was approved immediately by the IOC. The President of this organisation, officially concentrating on the London Olympic selection, was Marquis Compans de Brichanteau (q.v.), to whom Brunetta wrote on the 15 June 1907, proposing that the Committee became a permanent body: this date is considered as the CONI ‘foundation proposal’, which didn’t have the following that Brunetta was hoping for. After two failed attempts Compans gave up, and the Committee survived with the aim of preparing the team for London. After the Games, the Committee didn’t officially dissolve, but in practice its activities ceased; it was only permanent on paper, although it remained inactive until the eve of the Stockholm Games. Attempts resumed at the end of 1911, when the IOC member and deputy Attilio Brunialti (q.v.) supported the foundation of a permanent Committee for the Stockholm Games. However it was only after Stockholm that the idea of a permanent Sporting Federation Committee took hold; following the concerns of the IOC regarding the existence of different organisations in Italy driving the Olympic movement, Ballerini took the initiative in writing a statute for the Italian Olympic Committee, which was approved on the 10th June 1914 in Milan. Therefore the first CONI statute was in 1914, but the deed of charter of the first inception of an Italian Olympic Association, dates from 1907/1908. The 1914 statute defines the Italian Olympic Committee as the “Federation of sporting federations established in 1908”, referring to the London Games Committee, which had never become permanent. A third statute was voted for in 1919, leading to the approval of a definitive statute in 1921 that sanctioned the use of the term CONI. Compans of Brichanteau was president of the first Italian Olympic Committee from its conception up to 1919, when the First World War (1915-18) put a stop to committee activities for reasons of force majeure. In 1919, when the war finished, Compans had already stood aside and Brunetta had died. CONI flourished again on the eve of the 1920 Antwerp Games, and has its definitive statute dated as 1921. It was down to Colonel Carlo Montù (q.v.), who was president from 1920 to 1921, to resume the fortunes of CONI, with Francesco Mauro then president from ’21 to ’23, and then the fascist party leader Aldo Finzi from 1923 to 1925. CONI becoming fascist was finalised in 1925 when the ex-journalist of the Gazzetta, Lando Ferretti was nominated as president of the organisation. Ferretti remained in office until the result of the Amsterdam Games, which was considered disappointing by Mussolini; after Ferretti a range of representatives of the National Fascist Party (PNF) ran CONI, whose responsibilities overlapped with those of other organisations created by Mussolini, such as the Italian Youth of Littorio and the Fascist University Groups. In 1942, as a further objective, the PNF approved the CONI institutional law whose first point stipulates amongst its objects ‘the development and strengthening of race’. The institutional law, even though amended with references to race and the fascist organisation, essentially remained in force after the end of the Second World War. The Badoglio government, which followed Mussolini’s, entrusted the running of CONI to the owner of the Gazzetta, Alberto Bonacossa (q.v.); however on the 28th June 1944, after the liberation of Rome, the secretary of the Socialist Party, Pietro Nenni, sent the young lawyer Giulio Onesti (q.v.) to dissolve CONI. Instead Onesti waited for better times, and re-established the organisation in 1946, thus becoming the first president after the Second World War.

CONI Presidents. Carlo Compans de Brichanteau (1914-1920), Carlo Montù (1920-1921 commissioner), Francesco Mauro (1921-1923), Aldo Finzi (1923-1925), Lando Ferretti (1925- 1928), Augusto Turati (1928-1930), Icilio Bacci (1930-1931 commissioner), Leandro Arpinati (1931-1933), Achille Starace (1933-1939), Rino Parenti (1939-1940), Raffaele Manganiello (1940- 1943), Alberto Bonacossa (1943 commissioner), Ettore Rossi (1943-1944), Puccio Pucci (1944),

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Giulio Onesti (1944-1978 commissioner until 1946 then president), Franco Carraro (1978-1987), Arrigo Gattai (1987-1993), Mario Pescante (1993-1998), Bruno Grandi (1998-1999 acting president), Giovanni Petrucci (1999-today). Present day structure. CONI has its headquarters in Rome in Largo Lauro de Bosis 15. It is recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and it co-ordinates and supervises national sporting organisations. The Italian Olympic Committee is a public organisation responsible for organising and developing national sport, and promoting widespread sporting activity. Since the last legislative changes on the 9th January 2004, CONI has been the “Confederation of Sporting Federations and Associated Disciplines”. Today CONI is present in 102 provinces and 19 regions, recognises 45 National Sporting Federations, 15 Associated Disciplines, 17 National and 1 Local Organisation for the Promotion of Sport, and 18 Charitable Associations. Around 65.000 sporting groups have joined these organisations, resulting in a total of around 8 million members. It is made up of a National Council (CN), whose rightful members include the president, the presidents of the National Sporting Federations and the members of the IOC, and includes representatives from various organisations and peripheral associations.

CONNOLLY JAMES BRENDAN BENNETT (track & field, USA, b. South Boston, Massachusetts, 28/11/1868, d. Brokline, Massachusetts, 20/1/1957). Three appearances (1896, 1900, 1906), one gold (triple jump 1896), 2 silvers (high jump 1896, triple jump 1900), one bronze (long jump 1896). 1896 1-1-1, 1900 0-1-0. He came from a poor family of Irish origin, and he enrolled at Harvard (classical literature and language) having been self-taught. The rector wouldn’t give him permission to take part in the Athens Games, but he went anyway, leaving university for good (and in 1949 he refused an honorary degree). In Naples, after 16-and-a-half days at sea, his wallet was stolen, and he arrived at Athens on the train at 9 in the evening before the opening of the Games, but he still didn’t know. He was woken at 4 in the morning by a musical band, and he discovered that he was competing that day, when he thought he still had 12 days to go (because the American and Greek calendars were different. Despite everything, on 6 April 1896 he became the first gold medal winner of the modern Games (or rather, it was silver; gold for winners was only introduced in 1908), with 13.71 in the triple jump he beat the Frenchman Tuffère by a metre and a centimetre. The day after, he won the bronze in the long jump, on 19 April the silver in the high jump. He added a silver to his medal collection in the triple jump in 1900 in Paris, where he had gone at his own expense. At the 1904 Olympics in St. Louis he attended only as a journalist, then he went back to Athens for the 1906 intercalated Games, but he didn’t manage a single valid jump, getting three scores of nil in the long and triple jump. He was a war correspondent for Collier’s Magazine, and he wrote 25 books (seafaring and adventure stories) and more than 200 narrations.

CONSOLINI ADOLFO (track & field, Italy, b. Costermano, Verona, 5/1/1917, d. Milan 20/12/1969). Four appearances (1948, 1952, 1956, 1960), one gold (discus 1948) and one silver (discus 1952). 1948 1-0-0, 1952 0-1-0. The youngest of five children to a family of farmers, he began working in the fields as soon as he had finished primary school. He had his first taste of sport in 1937 when he took part in a demonstration stone throwing competition in the courtyard of his village church. A few months later, during a Fascist Youth Movement meeting, he was spotted by Marshal Bovi, who took him under his wing and turned him into a discus thrower. By 1938 he was already representing Italy in the European Championships, coming fifth, and the following year he won the first of his 15 Italian titles. After the Second World War, during which he broke the world record (53.34) at the Giuriati club in Milan, he won the first of his three European titles in 1946 (the other two would come in 1950 and 1954) and extended the world record to 54.23. 1948 saw Consolini reach the zenith of his career with victory at the London Olympics, his throw of 52.78 seeing him finish a metre ahead of Giuseppe Tosi and two ahead of American Fortune Gordien. After the Games he set his third and final world record, 55.33, at Milan Arena. “The gentle Hercules of Italian sport is now our most famous athlete in the world”, wrote la Gazzetta. He

35 The Olympic Dictionary married Hanny, an Austrian fan of his, and found work at Pirelli, where he remained for the rest of his working life. He didn’t manage to defend his crown in Helsinki, taking the silver behind American Sim Iness. He then competed in Melbourne (sixth) and also Rome where, at 43 years of age, he took the Olympic oath and came 17th in the competition. Consolini ended his competitive career here but continued throwing until he was 52, throwing 43.94 in Milan. Five months later he died from a form of viral hepatitis.

CONTE ANTONIO (fencing, Italy, b. Traetto, Caserta, presently Minturno, Latina 11/12/1867, d. 4/2/1953). One appearance (1900) and one gold (masters sabre). He won in Paris with 7 victories in 7 matches in front of Italo Santelli (a weapon master born in Italy but who, living in Budapest since 1986, represented Italy in the Olympics). CONI recognised the gold up until 1975, then cancelled it for some years, believing it a professional competition, before re-instating it in the official medal collection. Rightly so, because it was the Baron Pierre de Coubertin (q.v.) himself, the creator of the modern Olympics, to put it into the 1900 Games, assaults de fleurets, sabre et épée pour amateurs et pour professeurs, in other words, for the masters. Having enrolled in the Maddaloni Battalion, with the rank of sergeant, Conte perfected his fencing technique at Modena Military School. He moved to Milan to teach fencing, then to Paris after leaving the army because he was forbidden from going to the French capital to take part in a tournament. In 1904 he went to Spain, then he went back to Paris with his wife Sofia, a waitress who saved his life when someone tried to poison him. At 80 years old, after the death of his wife, he went back to Minturno. He left an estate worth 300 million lire between property, land and jewellery, to the hospital in his home-town.

COOK (Islands in free association with New Zealand, Oceania, capital Avarua, area 236,7 km2, 13.325 inhabitants). The Olympic Committee was founded in 1986 and was immediately recognised by the IOC. The Cook Islands have competed in the Games since 1988, without winning any medals.

CORNAGGIA-MEDICI PETERBELLI GIANCARLO (fencing, Italy, b. Milan 16/12/1904, d. Milan 23/11/1970). Three appearances (1928, 1932, 1936), 3 golds (team sabre 1928 and 1936, individual sabre 1932), one silver (team sabre 1932) and one bronze (individual sabre 1936). 1928 1-0-0, 1932 1-1-0, 1936 1-0-1. He won the individual gold at Los Angeles with 8 victories, 2 draws and one defeat in the final section, in front of the Frenchman Buchard, who had 8 wins and 3 defeats. “The fighting spirit had always reproached itself; today it has sensationally redeemed itself”. Then the Marquis sent a telegram to his father: “I’ve won. Giancarlo”. He had already won the team gold in Amsterdam. After 11 out of 12 matches won in the preliminary heats, it went badly for him in the final section with 3 victories and 9 defeats, but Italy had nevertheless beaten Belgium 10-6, France 9-7, second (“Cornaggia was unlucky, a victory was stolen from him”), and Portugal 9-6, in third place. In 1936 in Berlin he won another gold in front of , beaten 10.5-5.5 in the final section, with 3 victories and one defeat for him (14-3 his total assessment). He would also have won the individual gold in 1936, instead of the bronze, if the Hungarian hadn’t made a comeback from 2-0 to 2-3 in the third last match. “He kept his guard very open, then he would strike unexpectedly. Have you ever watched monkeys when they want to catch a fly?” He also won 2 golds (1931/1933) and 2 silvers in the team sabre, in what were known as the European Championships and were subsequently considered World Championships.

COSTA RICA (Republic of Costa Rica, Central America, capital San José, area 51.102 km2, 4.467.626 inhabitants). 4 medals: 1 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze. Best Olympics: Atlanta 1996 with Claudia Poll Ahrens’ gold in the 200 m freestyle (who then won 2 bronze medals in 2000 in the 200 m and 400 m freestyle, and her sister Silvia won the silver in 1988 in the 200 m freestyle, 4 medals all in swimming, and all in the family). The Olympic Committee was formed in 1953 and

36 The Olympic Dictionary recognised a year later by the IOC. Costa Rica competed in the Games in 1936 and then in all the Games from 1964 to present day.

COURT OF ARBITRATION FOR SPORT The IOC formed the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne in 1983, in order to resolve doping issues, with the aim of settling athletes’ legal disputes. Re-organised in 1994, it became an independent body, and is also called the Tribunal of Arbitration for Sport (TAS). The athletes which compete in the Games sign a document which commits them to settling any legal dispute through this body. During the Games the CAS has a panel of judges available for making decisions in 24 hours. Website: www.tas-cas.org.

COUTTS RUSSELL (sailing, New Zealand, b. Wellington 1/3/1962). One appearance (1984), one gold (Finn 1984). After risking losing the gold due to disqualification (his clothes were 0,5 kg heavier than the 20 kg allowed; which was confirmed at the third weigh-in), and became the second coxswain in the world, (the first was ‘Buddy’ Melges), capable of being in the Games and the American Cup: he won it three times, winning it in 1995 with Black Magic against Young America (37 victories and only one defeat in the final summary), and defended it in 2000 with New Zealand (5-0 against Luna Rossa) and winning it with the Swiss Alinghi in 2003 (another 5-0 in the final, this time against his old boat). Then after arguing with the sponsor Bertarelli before the 2007 final, he came to an agreement for the next edition with the Americans of Oracle. During his career he has also won 3 Match Racing World Championships (1992/93/96), 2 in the Farr 40 (2001/06), one in the Finn (1981) and in the 12 m Ji (2001), and in 1993 he won the Admiral’s Cup. For 22 months in a row he was the number one sailor in the world, a record.

COVA ALBERTO (track & field, Italy, b. Cremnago di Inverigo, Como, 1/12/1958). Two appearances (1984, 1988) and one gold (10.000 m 1984). 1984 1-0-0. Cova began running at the Youth Games at the age of 14, taking his first steps with the Atletica Mariano Comense club. In 1979 he moved to Pro Patria Milano, where he ran under the stewardship of Giorgio Rondelli, and a year later he won the first of his 14 Italian titles (four 5000 m, two 10.000 m, three 3000 m indoor, 5 cross country) in the 5000 m. Blessed with a fast finish, he combined his athletics career with a career as an office worker. He exploded on the scene in 1982 when, as something of an outsider, he won 2 European titles – the indoor 3000 m and the outdoor 10.000 m in Athens. His 10.000 m world title came in 1983 and saw him installed as favourite going into the 1984 Olympics. The 10.000 m final in Los Angeles was very slow, with Briton Rose only upping the tempo at the mid- way stage, taking Cova and Finn Vainio with him before Cova secured the gold with a sprint finish at the end. He was second at the European Championships in 1986, Italy completing a clean-sweep with Stefano Mei taking the gold and Salvatore Antibo the bronze. The same year he won the historical Cinque Mulini cross-country race, putting to an end 22 years of foreign dominance of the Italian race. An ankle problem hindered him over the next few years. He appeared again at the Seoul Olympics of 1988 after a long absence but failed to qualify for the 10.000 m final. He retired two years later, becoming a manager and embarking on a political career.

CRICKET Cricket only appeared at the Games in 1900, and consisted of just one match between a British and a French team. It is regulated by the International Cricket Council (ICC), icc- cricket.yahoo.com. See Section IV, Sports.

CROATIA (Republic of Croatia, Europe, capital Zagreb, area 56.594 km2, 4.555.402 inhabitants). 12 medals: 3 gold, 4 silver, 5 bronze. Best Olympics: Athens 2004 with 1 gold, 2 silvers and 2 bronze medals. Best sport: handball, with 2 golds (1996 and 2004, both with men). Athletes who won most medals: Slavko Goluza, Venio Losert and Valter Matosevic, handball, all with 2 golds (1996 and 2004). Until 1988 Croatia was part of Yugoslavia, and under this flag Croatian athletes won medals in athletics, , football, canoeing, wrestling, swimming, handball, water polo,

37 The Olympic Dictionary and . Independence was declared in 1991 and civil war broke out, which didn’t prevent the formation of an Olympic Committee, recognised by the IOC in 1993; however Croatia had taken part the year before in its first Games.

CROQUET Only included in Paris in 1900, with three mixed competitions, men and women, it was replaced in St. Louis in 1904 with the American variation roque (in a demonstrative but not olympic competition); it then disappeared from the Olympic programme. It is ruled by the WCF (World Federation – www.wcfcroquet.org). See Section IV, Sports.

CUBA (Republic of Cuba, Caribbean, capital Havana, area 109.886 km2, 11.267.884 inhabitants). 164 medals: 64 gold, 51 silver, 49 bronze. Best Olympics: Barcelona 1992 with 14 golds, 6 silvers and 11 bronze medals. Best sport: boxing with 32 golds, 15 silvers and 8 bronze medals. Most decorated athlete: Ramon Fonst Segundo (q.v.), fencing, with 4 golds (sabre 1900 and 1904, individual foils 1904, team foils 1904 with a mixed team; there was also the American Van Zo Post), and a silver (open sabre amateur/professional 1900). After the participation of Fonst in 1900, and some athletes in 1904 and 1924, the Olympic Committee was founded in 1926, but was only recognised in 1954 by the IOC. In the meantime only one athlete had taken part in the 1928 Games, whereas between 1948 and present day, Cuba missed the 1984 Games due to the boycott, and in 1988 to support North Korea. Cuba has never hosted the Games; Havana has been nominated twice without success.

CUTHBERT “BETTY” ELIZABETH (track & field, Australia, b. Merrylands 20/4/1938). Three appearances (1956, 1960, 1964), and 4 golds (100 m 1956, 200 m 1956, 4x100 m 1956, 400 m 1964). 1956 3-0-0, 1964 1-0-0. She was the only athlete, men included, capable of winning the 100 m, 200 m, and the 400 m at the Olympics. After the Melbourne double (the only case at the Olympics in which the first three in the 100 m, Cuthbert, Stubnick and Matthews, finished in the same order in the 200 m), a tendon injury forced her to forfeit in the 200 m at Rome, after elimination in the quarter-finals for the 100 m. She had to give up for two years, coming back in ’62 in Tokyo where she benefited from the absence of the North Korean world record holder Dan Shin- geum, and competed in “the one perfect race in my life”. It was the first time that the women’s 400 m race was in the Games. She set 18 individual world records (23.2 in the 200 m in 1956, two months before winning at the Games with a time two tenths superior), or in relay. In 1979 she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and is now in a wheelchair, which didn’t stop her from carrying the Olympic torch into the Sydney stadium on the day of the inaugural ceremony of the 2000 Games.

CYCLING Sport which has been at the Games since 1896 ruled by UCI (www.uci.ch). See Section IV, Sports.

CYPRUS (Republic of Cyprus, Asia, capital Nicosia, area 5.896 km2, 854.673 inhabitants). The Olympic Committee was founded in 1974 and was recognised by the IOC in 1978. Cyprus has competed in the Games since 1980, but many athletes from Cyprus had already represented Greece in 1896. No medals have been won.

CZECH REPUBLIC (Europe, capital Prague, area 78.866 km2, population 10.186.330). 27 medals: 7 gold, 9 silver, 11 bronze. Best Olympics: Atlanta 1996, 4 gold, 3 silver and 4 bronze medals. Best sport: canoeing, 4 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze medals. Most decorated athlete: Jan Zelezny (q.v.), track & field, 2 gold medals (javelin 1996 and 2000, plus the 1992 gold and the 1988 silver won with Czechoslovakia). After the division of Czechoslovakia, the new Olympic Committee received IOC recognition in 1993: the Czech Republic has taken part in all Olympics since 1996.

38 The Olympic Dictionary

CZECHOSLOVAKIA The Games in 1900, 1906, 1908 and 1912 included athletes from Bohemia, which in 1918 became part of Czechoslovakia. From then on Czechoslovakia competed in the Olympics from 1920 to 1992, only missing the 1984 Games due to the boycott. The following year it was split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. 142 medals have been one: 49 gold, 49 silver, 44 bronze. Best Olympics: Helsinki 1952 with 7 golds, 3 silvers and 3 bronze medals. Best sport: gymnastics with 12 golds, 13 silvers and 10 bronze medals. Most decorated athlete: Vera Časlávská (q.v.), gymnastics, with 7 golds (all –round 1964 and 1968, vault 1964 and 1968, beam 1964, parallel bars 1968, floor exercise 1968), and 4 silvers (team event 1960, 1964 and 1968, beam 1968). It has never hosted the Games; Prague was nominated for the 1924 Games.

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