TUESDAY, AUGUST 2, 2016 SPORTS Legends of the Games - from 1920 to 1980

RIO DE JANEIRO: The 31st Summer waved to him in passing. But Owens was Olympics starts on August 5 in Rio de snubbed by his own president on his return Janeiro. Here is AFP Sport’s first set of leg- to the United States when Franklin D. ends of the Games. Roosevelt failed to greet him, a customary honour for returning champions. “When I PAAVO NURMI, THE ‘FLYING FINN’ came back to my native country, after all the One of the Olympics’ first superstars, stories about Hitler, I couldn’t ride in the Finland’s Nurmi stole the show at Antwerp front of the bus,” Owens said later. “I had to 1920, winning three gold medals in the go to the back door. I couldn’t live where I 10000m, individual and team cross country, wanted. I wasn’t invited to shake hands with and silver in the 5000m, in the space of just Hitler, but I wasn’t invited to the White House three days. But he outdid himself four years to shake hands with the president, either.” US summer of later in Paris, winning the 1500m and then Owens, a pack-a-day smoker for much of his the 5000m two hours later, before success- life, died of lung cancer in 1980. In testament racial tension fully defending his team and individual cross to his enduring popularity among the country titles and then taking gold in the German public, he has a street and a school surfaces on 3000m team race, becoming the first athlete named after him in Berlin. to win five gold medals at the same road to Rio Olympics. But there was controversy when FANNY BLANKERS-KOEN Finnish officials, fearing for his physical con- Female athlete of the century Blankers- LOS ANGELES/RIO DE JANEIRO: dition, refused to allow him to defend his Koen defied conventions about age, sex and America’s hot summer of racial tension, 10000m title. The angry Nurmi responded, motherhood, and blazed a pathway for violence and politics has spilled on to the after returning to Finland, by setting a new women’s sport when she swept to four track Fanny Blankers-Koen basketball court, the track and the Twitter world record in the event. At Amsterdam in gold medals at the 1948 Olympics as a 30- feeds of some of the country’s top sports 1928, Nurmi reclaimed his 10000m title and year-old mother of two. After making her competing and finally she was caught steal- en-title haul remained unmatched until stars. Now, as athletes head to the took silver in the 5000m and 3000m steeple- Games debut in 1936 — where she ing souvenir flags near the Imperial Palace- Michael Phelps swam to eight gold medals Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro from crimes which earned her a whopping 10- in Beijing in 2008. The mustachioed Spitz did Aug. 5-21, will they take the debate over approached Jesse Owens for an autograph, one of her most treasured possessions-the year ban, prompting her retirement. Fraser, the 100m and 200m double in both freestyle America’s racial divide onto the world’s from a working-class suburb of Sydney, and the butterfly, together with three relay biggest global sports stage with them? Dutch marvel’s Olympic career was put on hold by World War II. By the time the remains one of Australia’s most outspoken titles-and promptly retired. The abrasive What comes to mind is another sum- sports heroes, and recently courted contro- Spitz’s success wasn’t universally popular mer in which sports and race collided Olympics returned in London in 1948, and despite living for six years under German versy when she told misbehaving tennis among his rival swimmers: “It could have spectacularly: in 1968 at the Olympics in stars Nick Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic “to go happened to a nicer guy,” remarked one. Mexico City. occupation near Amsterdam, Blankers-Koen held six world records. Nevertheless, many back to where their parents came from”, Lucrative endorsements and business deals There, two American 200 metres track comments for which she later apologised. were to follow, until Spitz made a shortlived medallists, Tommie Smith and John held doubts about the young mother’s suit- comeback attempt aged 41, nearly two Carlos, raised their black-gloved fists and ability to compete-which were quickly LARISA LATYNINA, SOVIET decades after Munich, in time for the 1992 bowed their heads on the podium in sup- erased when she took gold in the 100m, MEDAL MACHINE port of Black Power, a protest for which 200m, 80m hurdles and 4x100m relay, top- Olympics. After Phelps broke his gold-medal Carlos says he has paid dearly. ping the podium in every event she entered. Ukrainian-born Latynina competed in the record in Beijing, Spitz was unstinting in his “As soon as we raised our hands, it’s “One newspaperman wrote that I was too 1958 world gymnastics while four months praise. “He is the single greatest Olympic ath- like somebody hit a switch. The mood in old to run, that I should stay at home and pregnant-and took home five gold medals. It lete of all time now... I always wondered the stadium went straight to venom,” take care of my children,” she told the New was the sort of determination that was to what my feelings would be. I feel a tremen- Carlos wrote in an op-ed on Vox in July. York Times in 1982. “When I got to London, I bring her 18 Olympic medals, a record which dous load off my back.” “Within days, Tommie and I were sus- stood for nearly half a century until it was pointed my finger at him and I said: ‘I show TEOFILO STEVENSON, THE CUBAN ALI pended from the US Olympic team and you.’” In 1999, Blankers-Koen was named broken in 2012 by American swimmer had to leave Mexico City early.” The vio- female athlete of the century by the IAAF, Michael Phelps. Latynina finished her Stevenson resisted the lure of profession- lence on America’s streets has made and she died five years later in 2004. Olympic career with nine gold medals, five al boxing-including a lucrative fight with many think back to the 1960s, the decade silver and four bronze, becoming gymnastics’ Muhammad Ali-to remain resolutely ama- defined by the fight for civil rights. EMIL ZATOPEK, UNIQUE DISTANCE TREBLE inaugural superstar. “She was our first leg- teur throughout his career, earning the In July alone, two black men were Zatopek spoke six languages and “never end,” Bela Karolyi, the coach of Romania’s devotion of his fellow Cubans. “What is a mil- killed by police in Louisiana and Nadia Comaneci, said of Latynina. “When lion dollars worth compared to the love of Minnesota, and there were two ambush- shut up”, according to one miffed rival, and sometimes it seemed that he never stopped she stepped out on the floor, all eyes were eight million Cubans?” he once said. es on police in Dallas and Baton Rouge, on her. She demanded attention and Stevenson was crowned Olympic heavy- Louisiana that left eight officers dead. running either. The Czech distance great, known for his ungainly running style, respect.” At her first Games in 1956, Latynina weight champion three times in 1972, 1976 Some athletes, like women in the won the vault and floor exercises en route to and 1980, one of only three fighters to win WNBA pro basketball league, have shown claimed an enormous victory in the 10000m a hard-fought all-round title, as well as gold three Olympic gold medals, and the first support for the Black Lives Matter move- at the 1948 Olympics, lapping all but two ment that coalesced nationally in 2014 competitors, despite racing for the first time in the team event. She defended her all- after Hungary’s Laszlo Papp 24 years earlier. after the police killing of an unarmed over the distance only two months earlier. A round title in 1960, and again took gold in In a 1988 Boxing Illustrated poll, the tower- teenager in Missouri. few days later in the 5000m, an out-of-sorts the floor exercises and team event. At Tokyo ing but graceful Stevenson, with a thunder- Others like basketball player Carmelo Zatopek dropped 100m behind Belgian in 1964, when she was 29, Latynina won her ing right hand-and a striking resemblance to Anthony, a member of the Olympic team, leader Gaston Reiff before stirringly fighting third straight floor and team titles. Despite Ali-was selected as the greatest Olympic have used their star power to bring back to miss gold by a whisker, in what her unprecedented medal haul, Latynina’s boxer of all time. In 1974, two years after his together communities and police to dis- would have been one of the great recoveries achievements were later overshadowed in first Olympic victory, promoters Bob Arum cuss racial tension and policing. of all time. Four years later at the Helsinki Olympic history by the exploits of Soviet and Don King both tried to lure the 22-year- “I am so humbled and honored that Olympics in 1952, Zatopek successfully gymnast Olga Korbut and Comaneci, but she old to fight the then fading Ali, a match that the women of the WNBA went to such an defended his 10000m crown, and then came to public attention again as Phelps many observers believe the Cuban would extent to uplift our message and the zeroed in on her record in London. have won. Instead Ali fought George cause,” said Kofi Ademola, lead organiser claimed a dramatic 5000m victory when he stormed past his rivals on the final bend. But Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaire, in the famous for Black Lives Matter in Chicago. MARK SPITZ, DAMP SQUIB Rumble in the Jungle. Stevenson only ever Ademola said he is watching to see if his most remarkable victory was in the TO RECORD-BREAKER marathon, which he had never run before lost one round at the Olympics, in his third Anthony and other athletes follow the The brash American boasted he would and last final against the Soviet Union’s Piotr “powerful women from the WNBA” or but won so easily that he chatted with pho- tographers along the route and afterwards win six gold medals at the 1968 Mexico City Zaev in 1980. He also won three world ama- support the police like some entertainers Olympics but he ended up with two relay teur titles and would have been a good bet have or “remain silent and oblivious to declared the event “very boring”. Zatopek, the only man to win the 5000m, 10000m and titles, plus an individual silver and bronze, in for a fourth Olympic gold medal, but Fidel everything, as if nothing is going on”. what he called “the worst meet of my life”. Castro’s Cuba boycotted both the 1984 and The WNBA initially fined teams for marathon at the same Olympics, later fell out Perhaps it was the motivation he needed, 1988 Olympics in Los Angeles and Seoul. wearing Black Lives Matter t-shirts or of favour with Czech authorities. He was because four years later in Munich, Spitz Stevenson, described by his friend Ali as black warmups last month, but then assigned to collect rubbish in Prague and stunned the world by winning an unprece- “one of the great boxing champions”, retired backtracked after widespread outrage. worked for seven years in a uranium mine. Tina Charles, who is on the Olympic dented seven gold medals at the same aged 36 to a modest home in Havana. He team, tweeted “I refuse to be silent LASZLO PAPP, HUNGARIAN BOXING GREAT Games-winning every event he entered, and died in 2012, at the age of 60, after a heart Emil Zatopek @WNBA” with a picture of her in a t-shirt Papp tangled with Hungary’s Communist setting a world record each time. Spitz’s sev- attack. —AFP emblazoned with #BlackLivesMatter and chase. However this turned out to be Nurmi’s authorities as well as opponents in the ring #Dallas5. “Appreciate our players express- last Olympics as by now his fame was such in a career which made him the first boxer to ing themselves on matters important to that he was invited to star at athletics meets win three Olympic gold medals. The fluid, them,” WNBA President Lisa Borders worldwide, prompting the IAAF to designate hard-hitting southpaw, known for his devas- tweeted after she reversed course. him a professional-ruling him out of the tating left hook, totted up an astonishing “Rescinding imposed fines to show them 1932 Games, and a shot at a 10th gold 301 amateur wins against just 12 losses, with even more support.” medal. 55 of his victories ending in first-round knock-outs. His Olympic career was equally ABIDING BY RULE 50 JOHNNY WEISSMULLER as fearsome: in 13 bouts spread across Other athletes have chosen to make From gold to the silver screen Long London 1948, Helsinki 1952 and Melbourne more neutral statements about peace before he swung on to the silver screen as 1956, Papp lost only one round-in the 1956 and pride in their country. ‘Tarzan the Ape Man’. America’s Weissmuller final, which he won 2-1 against America’s After winning the 200 metres final in found fame at the Olympics, where he domi- Jose Torres. That third and final title came at the US Olympic track trials days after the nated the swimming events at the Paris and a highly emotional time for Hungary, as it Dallas police killings, Justin Gatlin urged people to take the love in the stadium Amsterdam Games in 1924 and 1928. At a coincided with the brutal crushing of an “and give it to someone you have never time when only six men’s gold medals were uprising against the Soviet-backed regime. loved before. Just go up to them and say I on offer, the son of German immigrants won Budapest-born Papp turned professional at love you for being an American.” the 100m and 400m freestyle, as well as the 31 in 1957 but had to train in Vienna to In the violence-filled first week of July, 4x200m freestyle relay, in Paris, before suc- become the first professional boxer from the Crystal Dunn, a member of the US cessfully defending the 100m and relay titles Soviet bloc. In 1965, he was denied a shot at women’s soccer team, tweeted “ANY four years later-a career haul of five Olympic reigning middleweight world champion wrongful death should concern every- titles. He also took water polo bronze in Joey Giardello in the United States when the one,” and noted that she has been get- Paris, for good measure. Weissmuller didn’t Hungarian Communist authorities revoked ting “a lot of questions lately about how I win as many gold medals as Mark Spitz or his passport, concerned about the sensitivi- feel about being a black player on the Michael Phelps, but he bears comparison ties of a boxer from the Soviet bloc fighting national team.” owing to his huge margins of victory and the for money in the focal point of the capitalist “Although I am Black, I am a human small number of swimming events contest- world. “This is my one big regret in life,” Papp first...,” she added. Public opinion appears ed at the time. His superiority owed much to said later. He retired undefeated as a profes- to be against using the Olympic stage to his revolutionary use of the flutter kick and sional and as European middleweight cham- make statements. head-turning breathing-innovations that pion and was later awarded an honorary Around two-thirds of Americans want remain to this day. After his Olympic career, world title by the World Boxing Council, who Olympic athletes to keep their political Weissmuller made even more of a splash in also named him the best amateur and pro- views to themselves in Rio de Janeiro, Hollywood, where he shot 12 Tarzan films fessional fighter of all time. according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll and became synonymous with the character, released yesterday. pioneering his famous jungle yell. DAWN FRASER, THE AUSTRALIAN REBEL When asked how the US Olympic The Australian swimmer made her mark Committee would deal with athletes who JESSE OWENS, FIRST TRACK SUPERSTAR in the 100m freestyle, taking gold in the made statements or protested, a Owens exploded the Nazi-propagated 1956 Melbourne Olympics, and then in spokesman pointed simply to the myth of Aryan racial superiority when he Rome in 1960 and Tokyo in 1964. In doing so, Olympic Charter’s Rule 50. won four track and field gold medals at the she became the first woman to defend an That rule discourages participants 1936 Berlin Olympics under the nose of Olympic swimming title and the first from using the Games as a platform for Adolf Hitler. The African-American was Olympic swimmer of either sex to win the protests or “the promotion of political, already a star when he arrived in Berlin, a same event three times. Fraser also won religious or racial propaganda”. year after he set five world records and gold in the 4x100m freestyle relay in 1956 And while the International Olympic equalled a sixth in the space of 45 minutes in and earned silver medals in four other events Committee says athletes are free to Ann Arbor-including a long jump mark of over the Games in which she competed. express their opinions, they are advised 8.13m that would stand for 25 years. He However, her career was also defined by to only wear official uniforms on the field didn’t disappoint in Berlin, winning gold in clashes with Australia’s swimming authori- and at ceremonies. The place to make a statement might the 100m, 200m, 4x100m relay and long ties. After the Rome Olympics, she was hand- be at one of the Games’ last events, the jump, and setting three world records along ed a two-year ban after a number of minor men’s basketball gold medal game on the way. Hitler was reported to have stormed offences, including not wearing the team Aug. 21. If protesters get sent home, they out of the stadium after Owens, the grand- tracksuit to receive her medal. At Tokyo, she will not miss much at all. — Reuters son of slaves, won the 100m, although the defied team orders by marching in the cere- “Buckeye Bullet” later said the Nazi leader mony, wore an unofficial swimsuit while Laszlo Papp