The Olympic Dictionary T

TABLE TENNIS Governed by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF, www.ittf.com). An Olympic sport since 1988.

TAEKWONDO Governed by the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF – www.wtf.org), it has been an Olympic sport since Sydney 2000.

TAIWAN (Republic of Taiwan, Asia, capital Taipei, area 36.188 km2, 22.858.872 inhabitants). 15 medals: 2 gold, 6 silver, 7 bronze. Best Olympics: 2004 with 2 golds, 2 silvers and 1 bronze. Best sport: taekwondo with 2 golds, 1 silver and 2 bronze medals. Most decorated athlete: the two golds for taekwondo were won in 2004 by Mu Yen Chu (58 kg man) and Shih Hsin Chen (49 kg woman). There was also Chen Jing, who won the silver in 1996, and the bronze in 2000 in the women’s singles in table tennis, after winning the gold in the singles and the silver in the doubles in 1988, competing for China, with a personal total of one gold, 2 silvers and one bronze. The Olympic Committee was formed in 1960 and recognised the same year by the IOC. Taiwan competed in the Games as the Republic of China in 1956, then as Taiwan between 1960 and 1972. The 1976 Olympics were forfeited, refusing the stipulation of the IOC to compete again as Taiwan (wanting to use the name Republic of China again). They returned to the 1984 Games, with the name Chinese Taipei.

TAJIKISTAN (Republic of , Asia, capital Dusanbe, area 143.100 km2, population 6.735.996). From 1952 to 1988 there were Tajikistani athletes in the USSR team, and in 1992 in the Unified Team. Three athletes won medals: Yury Terentyevich Lobanov won a gold and a bronze in canoeing, Andrey Abduvaliyev won a gold in the hammer, and Zebinisso Sanginovna Rustamova won a bronze in archery. The Olympic Committee, formed in 1992 (a year after independence), received IOC recognition in 1993. Took part in the 1996, 2000 and 2004 Olympics. Yet to win a medal.

TANI TAMURA RYOKO (judo, Japan, b. Fukuoka 6/9/1975). Four appearances (1992, 1996, 2000, 2004), 2 gold (light flyweight 48 kg 2000 and 2004) and 2 silver (light flyweight 48 kg 1992 and 1996) medals. 1992 0-1-0, 1996 0-1-0, 2000 1-0-0, 2004 1-0-0. She is one of 2 women to have won 4 medals in judo (the other, Cuban Driulys González, won one gold, one silver and 2 bronze medals). Maiden name Tamura, 1.46 metres in height, she won silver in a month before her 17th birthday, beating British 1989 world champion Briggs (who dislocated her shoulder in the match) and losing in the final against the then current world champion Nowak (France). From then on she remained unbeaten for 4 years and 84 matches, winning 2 world titles, but in the Atlanta final she was unexpectedly beaten by the 16-year old North Korean Kye Sun-hui, who had arrived at the Games as a wild card because her country had abandoned competition during the 3 previous seasons. Sun-hui had never heard about the Japanese judoka, and just watched a couple of videos before their match. “At that point, I thought that I could have simply resigned, but I would have regretted it for the rest of my life”. Ryoko reached Sydney after another winning streak, but she came close to losing against another North Korean, Cha Hyon-hyang, but then at last won the gold medal, beating the Russian Bruletova in the final with an ippon after just 36 seconds, and in Athens, the year after her marriage to Yoshimoto Tani (who had won silver Olympic medal for baseball in 1996), her husband won a gold medal, and she won her second gold, beating the French Jossinet in

198 The Olympic Dictionary the final. After the 1991 bronze medal, she won 7 consecutive gold medals in the World Championships (1993-95-97-99-2001-03-07, missing just the 2005 competition because she was pregnant). She also won a gold medal at the (1994). Even though she was beaten by Emi Yamagishi at the national championships, the Japanese Federation selected her for the Peking Games, where she became the only Japanese athlete (including men) to have taken part in 5 Olympiads. In Japan, where she is nicknamed Yawara-chan for her resemblance to a cartoon character, she has featured in advertisements for about 20 companies, and hundreds of Internet sites are dedicated to her.

TANZANIA (United Republic of Tanzania, Africa, capital Dodoma, area 945.090 km2, population 40.453.512). Two medals (both silver, in 1980, Suleiman Nyambui in the 5000 metres, and Filbert Bayi in the 3000 steeplechase). Tanganyika sent 3 athletes to the 1964 Olympics, and in the same year the country merged with Zanzibar to form Tanzania. The Olympic Committee, formed in 1968, received immediate recognition from the IOC. From then on it has taken part in all the Olympics, except in 1976, missed due to the boycott.

TELEVISION The first Olympics to be broadcast on TV were the 1936 Berlin Games. The Reichspost, using Telefunken equipment, broadcast over 70 hours of coverage, to public viewing rooms in Berlin and Potsdam and to a very small number of private homes. Twelve years later, the British TV service also ran experimental broadcasts, reaching about 80,000 viewers in the Wembley area. Helsinki did not even try. Coverage of the Melbourne Games was restricted to a few Australian territories. The 1956 Winter Games at Cortina d’Ampezzo received analogous, restricted but groundbreaking coverage, while the first Games to be extensively broadcast were the 1960 Olympics, , with 17 commentators for Italian broadcasts, live or taped coverage in 21 countries, and 102 hours broadcast; the USA watched the Games on tape, for which the CBS spent 395.000 dollars, a large sum at that time. For the 2004 Games, NBC, which has rights for the USA up until 2012, paid 793 million dollars, and 894 for the Peking Games (China sold rights all over the world for a total of 1.715 million dollars). In the 1960s, technology moved ahead with geo- stationary satellites. , which had already been prepared to start experimental transmissions in 1940, before the Games were cancelled, broadcast coverage of the 1964 Games to the USA by means of the Syncom 3 satellite. In 1968, the Mexico Games were televised in black and white, and in part in colour, in Europe as well as America. Munich was the first Olympiad to be broadcast with regular colour transmissions all over the world. TV broadcasting rights, redistributed by the IOC, represent an important source of funds for the various Organising Committees. As regards viewers, live coverage of the Athens 2004 Games was broadcast in 200 countries. It has been estimated that 20.000 hours coverage of the Barcelona Games were seen worldwide during the 2 weeks of competition by 24.6 billion viewers - one and a half billion a day - with peaks of 2.3 billion and an 85% share of all those possessing a TV in the world. At Atlanta, coverage reached 25.000 hours; this increased to 29.600 for Sydney. The most recent statistics for the Summer Olympics are for Athens 2004: 35.000 hours broadcast, on 300 different channels, in 220 countries live, with peak figures of 3.9 billion viewers. Peking will be the first edition to be broadcast entirely in high definition, after the experiments in Athens 2004, and the daily share is expected to exceed 4 billion viewers. Proceeds from the sale of TV rights are as follows (in millions of dollars, corrected to the value of the US dollar in 2004): Rome 1960: 7 / Tokyo 1964: 9 / Mexico 1968: 46 / Munich 1972: 72 / Montreal 1976: 106 / Moscow 1980: 202 / Los Angeles 1984: 476 / Seoul 1988: 594 / Barcelona 1992: 778 / Atlanta 1996: 990 / Sydney 2000: 1.332 / Athens 2004: 1.364 / Beijing 2008: 1.715 (contracts signed in 2003).

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TENNIS Governed by the International Lawn Tennis Federation (from 1977 simply ITF, www.itftennis.com). The sport was included at the Games from the first Olympics up until 1924, when the IOC dropped it from the programme because it was played by “non-amateur” athletes. It reappeared only at Seoul, 1988.

THAILAND (Kingdom of , Asia, capital , area 513.116 km2, population 63.883.661). 17 medals: 5 gold, 2 silver, 10 bronze. Best Olympics: Athens 2004, with 3 gold, one silver and 4 bronze medals. Best sport: boxing, 3 gold, 2 silver and 6 bronze medals. Best athletes: the winners of the 5 gold medals, one each, namely Somluck Kamsing (boxing, featherweight 57 kg, 1996), Wijan Ponlid (boxing, flyweight 51 kg, 2000), Manus Boonjumnong (boxing, light welterweight 64 kg, 2004), Udomporn Polsak (women’s weightlifting, featherweight 53 kg, 2004) and Pawina Thongsuk (women’s weightlifting, heavyweight 75 kg, 2004). The Thai Olympic Committee, formed in 1948, received IOC recognition in 1950. From 1952 on, Thailand has only missed the 1980 Games.

THESSALONIKI The city of was ruled by the Ottoman Empire when it took part in the 1906 Intercalated Games with a team (Thessaloniki Music Club) in the football tournament, winning the bronze medal.

THOMAS PETRIA ANN (swimming, Australia, b. Lismore 25/8/1975). Three appearances (1996, 2000, 2004), 3 gold medals (100 m butterfly 2004, 4x100 m freestyle 2004, 4x100 m medley 2004), 4 silvers (200 m butterfly 1996 and 2004, 4x200 m freestyle 2000, 4x100 m medley 2000) and one bronze (200 m butterfly 2000). 1996 0-1-0, 2000 0-2-1, 2004 3-1-0. She won four medals in the Atlanta and Sydney Games, but she was beaten by the other Australian swimmer O’Neill (q.v.) in the 200 butterfly both in 1996, where they came first and second, and in 2000, where they finished second and third. When her rival retired, she decided to continue and to take part at Athens despite having undergone the fourth operation of her career (the third time on her shoulder; the other operation was on her ankle) that meant that she missed the 2003 season. She thus at last managed to win 3 gold medals: first in the 4x100 freestyle, setting the world record at 3:35.94; then in the 100 butterfly, finishing ahead of Jedrzejczak (Poland, 200 world record holder) and de Bruijn (q.v., Netherlands, 100 record holder); and finally in the 4x100 medley (with another world record, 3:57.32), after she had been beaten into second place by Jedrzejczak, coming back from behind, in the 200 butterfly, preventing her from achieving the remarkable feat of winning four golds. At the World Championships she won 3 gold (100 and 200 butterfly 2001, 4x100 medley 2001), 2 silver and 2 bronze medals, plus one gold, 6 silver and 2 bronze medals in short course events; 9 gold, 2 silver and one bronze at the Commonwealth Games; 3 gold and 2 silver medals at the Pan-Pacific Games; and 13 national titles.

THOMPSON FRANCIS MORGAN OYODÉLÉ “DALEY” (track & field, Great Britain, b. London 30/7/1958). Four appearances (1976, 1980, 1984, 1988) and 2 gold medals (decathlon 1980 and 1984). 1976 0-0-0, 1980 1-0-0, 1984 1-0-0. Considered as the most popular decathlete of all time, he was born to a Nigerian father and Scottish mother. In 1976 he qualified for the Montreal Games, turning 18 during competition, and ended 18th. In 1978, after winning a silver medal at the European Championships, he began a winning streak that saw him go unbeaten until 1987. At the Moscow Games he won the gold ahead of Soviet athletes Yuri Kutsenko and Sergey Zhelanov, with 10.62 in the 100 m, 8.00 in the long jump, 15.18 in the shot put, 2.08 in the high jump, 48.01 in the 400 m, 14.47 in the 110 hs, 42.24 in the discus, 4.70 in the pole vault, 64.16 in the javelin, and 4:39.90 in the 1500 m, for a total of 8.495 points (8522 if the tables used today are applied). He won another gold at Los Angeles (where he also came 7th in the 4x100), with 10.44 in the 100 m, 8.01 in the long jump, 15.72 in the shot put, 2.03 in the high jump, 46.97 in the 400 m, 14.34 in the 110 hs, 46.56 in the discus, 5.00 in the pole vault, 65.24 in the javelin, and 4:35.00 in the 1.500 m: the latter

200 The Olympic Dictionary time meant that he did not equal (on purpose?), by one point, the world record held by the German Jurgen Hingsen, who finished second. However he would be assigned the record, with 8798 points, when, two years later, the IAAF analysed the photo-finish of the 100 hs and reduced his time by a hundredth of a second, 14.33 instead of 14.34: the record stood for 8 years, with 8.847 points according to the new scoring tables. At Seoul in 1988, suffering from many muscle problems, he did not succeed in winning an Olympic medal in the decathlon for the third consecutive time, and ended up 4th because he finished almost 22 seconds behind the Canadian David Steen in the 1.500. Steen took the bronze medal, just 22 points ahead of Thompson. He continued to compete until 1992, when he officially retired. His achievements also include a World Championship gold medal (1983), two golds (1982-86) and a silver (1978) in the European Championships, and 3 golds at the Commonwealth Games (1978-82-86), at which he also won a silver in the 4x100 m relay (1986). He set 4 world records.

THOMPSON JENNIFER ELISABETH “JENNY” (swimming, USA, b. Danvers, Massachusetts, 26/2/1973). Four appearances (1992, 1996, 2000, 2004), 8 gold medals (4x100 m freestyle 1992, 1996 and 2000, 4x100 m medley 1992, 1996 and 2000, 4x200 m freestyle 1996 and 2000), 3 silvers (100 m freestyle 1992, 4x100 m freestyle 2004, 4x100 m medley 2004) and one bronze (100 m freestyle 2000). 1992 2-1-0, 1996 3-0-0, 2000 3-0-1, 2004 0-2-0. She is the swimmer to have won most medals in top-level international events, even when men are included: a total of 85, including 12 in the Olympics (US record for all sports), 14 at the World Championships, 17 at the short course World Championships, and 34 at the Pan-Pacific Championships. Her 12 Olympic medals have been surpassed, amongst women, only by the 18 won by gymnast Latynina (q.v.). At the Games she won 8 gold medals, all in the relays: in 1992 she swam the last leg of the 4x100 freestyle in 54.01, the fastest time ever up until then, pulling back to beat China and giving the USA the world record time of 3.39.46; she set another 3 world records, 3:36.61 in the 4x100 freestyle in 2000, and 4:02.54 and 3:58.30 in the 4x100 medley in 1992 and 2000 respectively; and swimming in the heats only for the medley in 1996. In individual competition, she won 2 Olympic medals: silver in the 100 freestyle in Barcelona, when she was world record holder, having set a time of 54.48 four months before the Games, but was beaten by 20 hundredths by Zhuang Yong, China (amidst some dispute because anti-doping checks were not extended to all the finalists); and bronze in Sydney over the same distance, equal third with the other American swimmer Dara Torres (q.v.). Of her 3 fifth places (50 freestyle in 1992, 100 butterfly in 2000 and 2004), the Sydney result was particularly disappointing, because in 1999, with a time of 57.88, she had beaten the world record that had been set by Mary T. Meagher (q.v.) 18 years previously, but the record was improved on 3 occasions by de Bruijn (q.v., Netherlands), the last of which was the 56.61 in the Olympic final, in which Thompson swam in 58.73 and missed the medals by over half a second. Her 14 World Championship medals were a record, later beaten by Grant Hackett (q.v.) in 2005: 7 gold (100 butterfly 1998-2003, 100 freestyle 1998, 4x100 freestyle 1991-98-2003, 4x100 medley 1998), 5 silver and 2 bronze medals. She also won 26 individual US titles: 10 in the 100 freestyle, 7 in the 100 butterfly, 6 in the 50 freestyle, 2 in the 200 freestyle, and one in the 100 backstroke. After Sydney she retired and began working as a doctor at Columbia University: she was in New York on 11 September 2001, the day of the attack on the World Trade Center, and this experience convinced her to return to competition.

THORPE IAN JAMES (swimming, Australia, b. Sydney 13/10/1982). Two appearances (2000, 2004), 5 gold medals (400 m freestyle 2000 and 2004, 4x100 m freestyle relay 2000, 4x200 m freestyle relay 2000, 200 m freestyle 2004), 3 silvers (200 m freestyle 2000, 4x100 m medley relay 2000, 4x200 m freestyle relay 2004) and one bronze (100 m freestyle 2004). 2000 3-2-0, 2004 2-1- 1. Son of a cricket player, he showed great talent as a swimmer at a very young age: when he was 14 he came second in the 400 freestyle at the Pan-Pacific Championships, at the age of 15 years and 3 months he won gold medal in the 400 freestyle and in the 4x200 freestyle at the World

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Championships, becoming the youngest champion ever, and at 16 he set the first, 3:41.83 in the 400 freestyle, of 13 world records in individual long course events (his 3:40.08, set in the 400 freestyle in 2002, is still standing). 1.96 m in height, 100 kg, shoe size 51 (Aus 17), he was favourite at the Sydney Games: on 16 September, “Thorpedo”, as he is nicknamed, won the 400 freestyle in 3:40.59 (world record); on the same day, swimming the last leg, he won the 4x100 relay after a long duel with American Gary Hall (q.v.), setting another world record at 3:13.67, and inflicting on the USA its first Olympic defeat in this race; on 18 September he came second in the 200 freestyle (1:45.83) behind Pieter van den Hoogenband (q.v., Netherlands) who pulled ahead in the last length; the day after, he won the 4x200 freestyle (7:07.05, world record); his last event in that Olympiad, the 4x100 medley, brought him a silver medal (3:35.27), though he swam only in the heats. He took his revenge on van den Hoogenband by beating him in the 200 freestyle at the 2001 World Championships. By the end of his career, he had collected 13 World Championship titles (400 freestyle 1998-2001-03, 4x200 freestyle relay 1998-2001-03, short course 200 freestyle 1999, short course 4x100 freestyle relay 1999, 200 freestyle 2001-03, 800 freestyle 2001, 4x100 freestyle relay 2001, 4x100 medley relay 2001), plus 2 silvers and a bronze. At Athens 2004 he won the 400 freestyle, which he was able to swim even though he had fallen from the blocks at the Trials, because Craig Stevens gave him his place; then he won the 200 freestyle, beating van den Hoogenband, Michael Phelps (q.v.) and Grant Hackett (q.v.) in the final, at 1:44.71, in what was dubbed the “Race of the century”; he won silver medal in the 4x200 freestyle and bronze in the 100 freestyle. After the Games, he took a break from competition in order to concentrate on advertising and exploiting his image. He recommenced in 2006, moving to Los Angeles, but first a glandular infection and then a fractured hand delayed his comeback, and in November 2007 he announced his retirement, at the age of 25. During his career he also won 9 gold medals at the Pan-Pacific Championships and 10 in the Commonwealth Games.

THORPE JAMES FRANCIS “JIM” (track & field, USA, b. Bellemont, Oklahoma, 28/5/1888, d. Lomita, California, 28/3/1953). One appearance (1912) and 2 gold medals (pentathlon and decathlon). Born on a Native American reserve (the year is uncertain, 1887, or possibly 1888 or 1889) to parents of mixed descent (his father was a half-Indian fur hunter, and his mother was half- French), Wa-tho-huck (“Bright path”), Jim Thorpe’s Indian name, went to the schools on the reserve, then the Indian college at Carlisle in Pennsylvania, where he began playing baseball (outfield and batter) and American football (running back), but he excelled in track & field. In 1908 he took part in the first Olympic trials for the high jump, but he did not pass the trial. 1.80 m in height and weighing 86 kg, he was an all-rounder, and in school competitions he was entered for many events. In 1912 he qualified for the Olympics in the pentathlon, an event that would disappear from the Olympic programme in 1924, and in the decathlon, which at that time was held over three days instead of the two of today. He reached the Stockholm Games after a long sea voyage, during which he did not train and spent most of his time sleeping; he won the pentathlon winning four out of five events (7.07 in the long jump, 22.9 in the 200, 37.75 in the discus, 4:44.8 in the 1500), while in the javelin, for which he had trained for just a few months, he finished third with 46.71. King Gustav of Sweden wanted to award him his medal personally, and his team mates had the difficult task of putting Thorpe, drunk due to celebrations, back onto his feet and bringing him to the reception. On the following days he also won the decathlon (11.2 in the 100, 6.79 in the long jump, 12.89 in the shot put, 1.87 in the high jump, 52.2 in the 400, 36.98 in the discus, 15.6 in the 110 hs, 3.25 in the pole vault, 45.70 in the javelin and 4:40.1 in the 1500), setting the world record with 8413 points (6564 according to today’s scoring tables). The runner-up, Hugo Wieslander (Sweden), was almost 700 points behind. In that Olympiad he also came fourth in the high jump, just 2 cm away from the medals, and seventh in the long jump. In the post-Olympic tour, he beat Fred Kelly, Olympic 110 hs champion, in his speciality, and then he won the national title in the decathlon. In 1913, following an investigation by James Sullivan, president of the AAU (American Athletics Union), the IOC withdrew Thorpe’s amateur status because of the money that he had earned playing

202 The Olympic Dictionary baseball in the summers of 1909 and 1910 (on this question, cf. section II, The Modern , Stockholm 1912) and asked him to return his medals. Of no effect was his letter written to the IOC: “I hope I will be partly excused by the fact that I was simply an Indian schoolboy and did not know all about such things. In fact, I did not know that I was doing wrong, because I was doing what I knew several other college men had done, except that they did not use their own names”. In successive years, he took up a professional career in baseball: he played with the New York Giants from 1913 to 1918, then with the Cincinnati Reds, the Boston Braves, and later in the minor leagues. He also played American football: with the Canton Bulldogs from 1915 to 1919 (winning 3 championships in 1916-17-19), then with the Cleveland Rams, New York Giants and Chicago Cardinals, where he ended his career with 52 matches in the newly-founded NFL, after he himself, in 1920, had been the first president of the original APFA. He retired in 1941 and in just a few years he squandered all his money, and ended up becoming a stuntman and playing minor parts at Hollywood. In the first King Kong film he made a brief appearance as a dancer. In 1950, in a referendum launched by the Associated Press, he was voted best athlete of the first half of the century, while in 1999 he would be nominated American athlete of the century. In 1951 Burt Lancaster starred in a film on his life. In March 1953, while having dinner with his wife, he had a heart attack, and he died the morning after. His widow brought his ashes to a small city in Pennsylvania previously named Mauch Chunk, and from then on the city changed its name to Jim Thorpe.

TIMMONS STEPHEN DENNIS “STEVE” (volleyball, USA, b. Newport Beach, California, 29/11/1958). Three appearances (1984, 1988, 1992), 2 gold medals (1984 and 1988) and one bronze (1992). 1984 1-0-0, 1988 1-0-0, 1992 0-0-1. After three NCAA finals, winning a title with the USC Trojans in 1980, he won his first Olympic gold at Los Angeles, where the USA arrived after an unbeaten run of 24 matches: they lost 3-0 against Brazil in the fourth match, but took their revenge in the final with another 3-0, their opponents winning just 19 points: Timmons was voted MVP of the tournament. After 4 years of spectacular success, winning the World Cup in 1985 and the World Championships in 1986, he won another Olympic gold in Seoul with 7 victories in 7 matches, culminating with a 3-1 against the USSR. Then he played at Ravenna, winning the league championship, the world club championship, and the Italian Cup in 1991. He was in the US team again at the Barcelona Games, where the team was beaten in the semi-final by Brazil, and beat Cuba 3-1 in the match for the bronze medal. He also played beach volley until 1994, taking part in 61 tournaments and winning one, in 1989 in Enoshima, together with Karch Kiraly (q.v.), with whom he had won his 2 Olympic golds and the league championship with Ravenna.

TODD MARK JAMES (equestrian, New Zealand, b. Cambridge 1/3/1956). Four appearances (1984, 1988, 1992, 2000), 2 gold medals (individual 3-day event 1984 and 1988), one silver (team 3 day event 1992) and 2 bronzes (team 3 day event 1988, individual 3 day event 2000). 1984 1-0-0, 1988 1-0-1, 1992 0-1-0, 2000 0-0-1. In 1980 he was virtually unknown at international level when he won at Badminton, the Wimbledon of 3-day eventing, but he could not take part in the Games due to the boycott. To pay his trip for his first Olympics, he sold many of his horses, and in Los Angeles he won his first gold medal when US rider Stives was penalised for a knockdown on the penultimate jump and ended second. In 1988 he won another gold, once again riding Charisma, a 16-year old horse that he called “podge”, who was retired after Seoul, and about whom Todd wrote a 112-page book. In 1992 (both in Seoul and in Barcelona he also competed in show jumping) his horse Welton Greylag was injured during the competition: New Zealand nonetheless won the silver medal by virtue of the other three riders’ scores. In 1996 he did not manage to find the right horse for the Games. In 2000 he won his third individual medal, a bronze, riding Eyespy II, and retired immediately after Sydney. In the same year, a British paper revealed an episode of cocaine and sex with another man. In January 2008 he bought a 10-year horse, Gandalf, and announced his intention to take part in the Beijing Games. He also won 2 World Championship gold medals for team events

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(1990-98), and an individual silver. After his first win at Badminton in 1980, he repeated the feat in 1994 and 1996. In 1999 he was named “rider of the century by the International Equestrian Federation. “Todd could jump three metres on a monkey” (Karen Dixon, one of his rivals). “And he could win at Badminton on a skateboard” (Lucinda Green, another opponent, team event Olympic silver in 1984 for Great Britain).

TOGO (Togolese Republic, Oceania, capital Lomé, area 56.600 km2, population 6.585.146). The Olympic Committee, formed in 1963, received IOC recognition in 1965. Togo took part in the 1972 Games, and then in all Olympics from 1984 on. Yet to win a medal.

TOMKINS JAMES (rowing, Australia, b. Sydney 19/8/1965). Five appearances (1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004), 3 gold medals (coxless four 1992 and 1996, coxless pair 2004) and one bronze (coxless pair 2000). 1992 1-0-0, 1996 1-0-0, 2000 0-0-1, 2004 1-0-0. He missed out on the medals in just his first Olympics, when he came 5th in the eight in Seoul. Then he won the gold medal in the coxless four in Barcelona, with Andrew Cooper, Michael McKay and Nicholas Green, and he did the same in Atlanta, where Cooper was replaced by Drew Ginn, benefiting from the collapse of the Italian crew that had won the last two World Championships and was leading at the 1000 metre mark, but then came last. In Sydney he had planned to race with Ginn, with whom he had won a World Championship gold medal in the coxless pair in 1999, but his companion could not compete because of a back operation; he finished 3rd, with Matthew Long, after they had been in the lead for over half the race. In Athens, rowing with Ginn, he won Olympic gold medal in this event as well. He won 7 World Championship gold medals, and was the first to win titles in five different events: eights 1986, coxless four 1990-91, coxed pair and coxed four 1998, coxless pair 1999-2003. He also won 15 Kings Cups, the last in 2007.

TONGA (Kingdom of Tonga, Oceania, capital Nuku’alofa, area 748 km2, population 100.337). One medal (the silver won by Paea Wolfgramm in boxing, super heavyweight >91 kg, in 1996). The Olympic Committee, formed in 1963, received IOC recognition in 1984. From that year on it has taken part at every Games.

TOP (THE OLYMPIC PROGRAMME) TOP or “The Olympic Programme” is an IOC marketing programme created to gather the necessary funds needed to cover the costs of the Committee itself. Launched in the 1980s, it is based on the research of a small targeted group of sponsors (no more than 12 at any one time) who pay to use Olympic symbols on their products for the period of the Games.

TORCH See Olympic torch.

TORCH-BEARER Introduced from the 1936 Berlin Games onwards, a torch-bearer is a person who carries the Olympic flame. The flame’s journey always begins at Olympia, where it is lit by the sun’s rays magnified via a mirror, and it ends at the location where the Games take place. On its long journey the torch is carried by a relay of thousands (for the 2006 Winter Games in Turin there were 10.001 bearers), who can be sportsmen and women or ordinary people. Usually the flame is carried by a runner, but over the years it has also used other forms of transport of varying degrees of originality, including by ship, aeroplane, train, camel, sled (above the Arctic Circle), horse, Native American canoe, and even by submarine under the Great Barrier Reef. The role of the last torch- bearer, who actually lights the Olympic fire, is particularly important and his or her identity is kept a close secret until the last moment. The flame of the 2008 Beijing Games left Olympia on 24 March (the first bearer was Alexandros Nikolaidis, a Greek taekwondo fighter) and will arrive in Beijing on 8 August, the opening day of the Games. Previous torch-bearers who lit the Olympic fire in the Olympic stadium were: Berlin 1936: Fritz Schilgen (3 times German champion in the 1.500

204 The Olympic Dictionary m, but never a participant in the Games); London 1948: John Mark (a young English athlete); Helsinki 1952: Paavo Nurmi (q.v.) (a Finnish sports legend, he won 9 Olympic gold medals in track and field between 1920 and 1928); Melbourne 1956: Ron Clarke (a young Australian middle distance runner, he went on to win bronze in the 10.000 m at Tokyo); Rome 1960: Giancarlo Peris (Italian middle distance runner of Greek origin); Tokyo 1964: Yoshinori Sakai (a young Japanese athlete born on the day the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima); Mexico City 1968: Norma Enriqueta Basilio de Sotelo (a Mexican sprinter and middle distance runner, the first woman to light the Olympic fire); Munich 1972: Günther Zahn (a young German athlete accompanied by four other athletes representing 5 continents); Montreal 1976: Stéphane Préfontaine and Sandra Henderson (Canadian teenagers of French and English origin, representing the twin identities of Canada); Moscow 1980: Sergey Belov (basketball, Olympic gold at Munich, twice world champion and 4 times European champion); Los Angeles 1984: Rafer Johnson (Olympic winner in the decathlon at Rome); Seoul 1988: Chung Sun-Man, Kim Won-Tak and Sohn Mi-Chung (three young Koreans representing sport, science and art); Barcelona 1992: Antonio Rebollo (an archer who participated at the Paralympics); Atlanta 1996: Muhammad Ali (q.v.) (a sports legend in America and worldwide, he won gold for boxing at the Rome Olympics); Sydney 2000: Cathy Freeman (Aboriginal Australian sprinter and 400 m gold medal winner in that Olympics); Athens 2004: Nikolaos Kaklamanakis (Greek sailor, gold at Atlanta).

TORRENCE GWENDOLYN LENNA “GWEN” (track & field, USA, b. Decatur, Georgia, 12/6/1965). Three appearances (1988, 1992, 1996), 3 gold medals (200 m 1992, 4x100 m relay 1992 and 1996), one silver (4x400 m relay 1992) and one bronze (100 m 1996). 1992 2-1-0, 1996 1-0-1. After a 5th place in the 100 and a 6th in the 200 in Seoul, she won 2 gold medals in Barcelona: in the 200 metres with 21.81, and then in the 4x100 with 42.11, drawing back and then beating Privalova, running the last leg for Russia, by 5 hundredths of a second. In the same Olympics she also came second in the 4x400 (after her leg, USA was 3 metres ahead) and fourth in the 100 metres, saying, “Two of the three medallists aren’t clean”. In Atlanta, she came third in the 100 (2 hundredths behind Devers q.v. and Ottey q.v., first and second in 10.94) and won another gold in the 4x100. In the World Championships she won 3 gold medals (4x400 m 1993, 100 m and 4x100 1995), 4 silvers and a bronze, and missed gold in the 200 in 1995 for stepping out of her lane, plus an indoor silver medal; she won 2 gold medals at the Pan-American Championships, and 11 US titles, of which 7 indoor. After her birth she had spent some days in an incubator: “The only slow time of her life”, said her mother. After she retired, she worked as a hairdresser.

TORRES DARA GRACE (swimming, USA, b. Los Angeles, California, 15/4/1967). Four appearances (1984, 1988, 1992, 2000), 4 gold medals (4x100 m freestyle relay 1984, 1992 and 2000, 4x100 m medley relay 2000), one silver (4x100 m medley relay 1988) and 4 bronzes (4x100 m freestyle relay 1988, 50 m freestyle 2000, 100 m freestyle 2000, 100 m butterfly 2000). 1984 1-0- 0, 1988 0-1-1, 1992 1-0-0, 2000 2-0-3. She is the only woman to have won medals for swimming in 4 Olympics. She won 4 gold medals in relay races, with 3 world records: 3:39.46 in 1992 and 3:36.61 in 2000 in the 4x100 freestyle, and 3:58.30 in 2000 in the 4x100 medley. In 1988 she won a silver in the 4x100 medley, swimming in the heats. In the first part of her career, she also won a silver medal in the World Championships (4x100 freestyle in 1986). After a 7-year break, from 1992 to 1999, when she worked in TV as a reporter and presenter, and was also the first female swimmer to feature in the annual costumes issue of Sports Illustrated, she won her first individual medals in Sydney (bronze in the 100 freestyle, equal third with Jenny Thompson q.v.), making her the oldest swimmer to win a medal, at the age of 33. After another long break, in 2007, when she was 40, 15 months after having had a daughter, she won another 2 US titles in the 50 and 100 freestyle, bringing her total to 15, and qualified on 2008 for Beijing Olympics.

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TORRES HERRERA REGLA (volleyball, Cuba, b. Havana 12/2/1975). Three appearances (1992, 1996, 2000) and 3 gold medals (1992, 1996 and 2000). 1992 1-0-0, 1996 1-0-0, 2000 1-0-0. She made her debut in the national team when she was 14, and at the age of 17 she won her first Olympic gold medal in Barcelona (beating the Soviet team 3-1 in the final), the youngest player ever to do so in volleyball at the Games. In 1996, after 2 defeats against Brazil and Russia in the preliminary rounds, she won another gold medal with another 3-1 score in the final, this time against China. In 2000 she won her third gold medal, after losing 2-3 against Russia in the preliminary round, and pulling back from 1-2 against Brazil in the semi-final and from 0-2 against Russia in the final; she herself scored the winning point for the final 15-7 in the 5th set. She won 2 World Championship gold medals (1994-98, MVP in both tournaments), 2 golds (1993-2000), 3 silvers and 2 bronzes in the Grand Prix, a gold in the World Cup (1995), a gold (1993) and a silver in the Grand Champions Cup, 2 golds (1991-95) and a silver in the Pan-American Championships, and 2 golds (1993-98) in the Central-American Championships. She has also played in Italy: in Modena (1997-98), Perugia (1998-2000, winning the Italian Cup in 1999 and the Cup Winners’ Cup in 2000) and Padova (2005-06). She was voted female player of the 20th century by the International Volleyball Federation.

TRACK & FIELD EVENTS Discipline which has remained ever-present at the Summer Games, under the IAAF (www.iaaf.org). Cf. Sports, Section IV.

TRAMPOLINE Governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG, www.fig- gymnastics.com), trampolining first appeared at the Games in Sydney 2000.

TRIATHLON Governed by the ITU (International Triathlon Union - www.triathlon.org), it first appeared in the Games at Sydney 2000.

TRILLINI GIOVANNA (fencing, Italy, b. Jesi, Ancona, 17/5/1970). Four appearances (1992, 1996, 2000, 2004), 4 gold (individual foil 1992, team foil 1992, 1996 and 2000), one silver (individual foil 2004) and 2 bronze medals (individual foil 1996 and 2000). 1992 2-0-0, 1996 1-0-1, 2000 1-0-1, 2004 0-1-0. The first Italian woman to win 2 gold medals in the same Olympiad, with a record (again for women) 7 medals at the Games. She first took to the piste at the age of 7 at the Club Scherma Jesi, in her city of origin, coached by maestro Ezio Triccoli, who had learnt the sport in a British prisoner-of-war camp in South Africa, fencing with wooden sticks. At the age of 16 she became the youngest outright Italian champion, and won her first international medal, a World Championship team silver. She made her Olympic debut in Barcelona 1992 in precarious conditions, because 5 years earlier she had injured the anterior cruciate ligament of her knee, but she won gold the individual foil even though she suffered 3 defeats out of 6 assaults in the preliminary pool, and was then knocked out (5-1, 5-2) by Romanian Szabo in the 3rd direct elimination round. In the repechage she beat Sobczak (Poland), in the quarter-finals the German Bau (5-3 and 6-4, in both bouts pulling back from 0-3 down), in the semi-final Sadovskaya (Russia, 5-3 in the third bout) and in the final, Wang (China): 5-6, 3-5, and then the decisive 6-5. She was leading 3-1 at 10 seconds from the end, Wang scored 2 hits, according to the rules the 3-3 became 5-5, Giovanna scored the winning hit after 2.06 in extra time. Five days later, she won her second gold medal, in the team competition, fencing in the quarter-finals (9-2 against Hungary, 2 victories for her) and in the semi-final (9-3 against Romania, 1 personal victory), but missing the final due to a pulled muscle in her right thigh. At Atlanta in 1996, where she was flag bearer, she was knocked out in the semi-final by Romanian Laura Badea (14-15 after extra time, wasting leads first of 6-0 and then 13-8), winning the bronze medal, but in the team competition she won another gold medal, an aggregate 45-33 in the final with Romania (18-15 in her assaults). In Sydney 2000 she won bronze in the individual competition, and then her third team gold medal, 45-36 in the final with Poland (her personal score was 15-12 in total). In 2004, team foil was no longer part of the Olympic

206 The Olympic Dictionary programme; in the individual competition she reached the final in which she fenced against Vezzali, who was also her room mate at the Olympic Village. Trillini started well (4-1), Vezzali drew level, and then Trillini returned to the lead reaching 11-9, before succumbing in the final stages (11-15). In 2005 she gave birth to Claudia; six months later, she was already on the piste for the World Cup, and in 2008 in Beijing she will take part in her fifth Olympics. She has won 9 World Championship titles (team foil 1990-91-95-97-98-2001-04, individual foil 1991-97), as well as 5 silver and 5 bronze medals; in the European Championships, 2 gold medals (team 1999-2001), one silver and 2 bronzes; 4 World Cups (1991-94-95-98) and 2 individual Italian titles, 16 years apart (1986-2002).

TRINIDAD and TOBAGO (Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, Caribbean, capital Port of Spain, area 5.128 km2, population 1.333.270). 12 medals: one gold, 3 silvers, 8 bronze. Best Olympics: Montreal 1976, with one gold medal (though it won most medals, 3, in Tokyo, in 1964: a silver and 2 bronze). Best sport: track & field, one gold, 2 silver and 5 bronze medals. Best athlete: the only gold was won by Hasely Crawford in the 100 metres in 1976, but Ato Boldon, track & field, won 4 medals (a silver in the 100 m in 2000; 3 bronzes, in the 100 m in 1996, the 200 m in 1996 and 2000). The Olympic Committee, formed in 1946, received IOC recognition in 1948. From that year on it has taken part in all the Games: as Trinidad in 1948, 1952, 1956 and 1964, and under the name of West Indies in 1960, with Jamaica and Barbados.

TRISSINO GIAN GIORGIO Count (equestrian, Italy, b. Vicenza 22/7/1877, d. Milan 22/12/1963). One appearance (1900), one gold medal (equestrian high jump) and one silver (equestrian long jump). Count Trissino, second lieutenant in the cavalry, won his gold medal in Paris on 2 June 1900, the first Italian gold medal in the history of the Modern Olympics, jumping 1.85 m on Oreste, equalling the height reached by Frenchman Dominique Maximien Gardères; in the same competition he also came fourth on another horse, Melopo, jumping 1.70. Two days before, on 31 May, he had won a silver medal in the equestrian long jump with a 5.70 m leap, the first Italian Olympic medal, wrongly attributed by some authors to Federico Caprilli, who was in fact denied permission to take part in the games. Caprilli was present only as trainer for his horses, lent to his friends Trissino and Uberto Visconti di Modrone, two aristocrats on leave in the French capital: confusion between owner and rider led some writers to include Caprilli amongst the medallists. The silver medal for the equestrian long jump was won riding Oreste (who was, like Melopo, Caprilli’s horse), coming second to Belgian Constant van Langhendonck (who reached 6.10). For his high jump victory, Trissino was awarded an objet d’art worth 7.500 francs.

TSUKAHARA MITSUO (gymnastics, Japan, b. Tokyo 22/12/1947). Three appearances (1968, 1972, 1976), 5 gold medals (team competition 1968, 1972 and 1976, high bar 1972 and 1976), one silver (vault 1976) and 3 bronzes (rings 1972, all-round and parallel bars 1976). 1968 1-0-0, 1972 2- 0-1, 1976 2-1-2. He was one of the stars in 3 of Japan’s 5 consecutive Olympic successes. In 1976 he was pivotal in winning the gold medal, with his last exercise on the high bar: Japan needed 9.50 to finish ahead of the Soviets, and he scored 9.90. He also won 2 individual gold medals in the high bar, the second gymnast to achieve a double in this speciality after Ono (q.v., also Japanese). In the World Championships he won 4 gold medals (team competition 1970-74-78, vault 1970) and 2 silvers. He invented two techniques that were later very widely used, one in the vault (“It took me 3 months to perfect the ‘Tsukahara”) and another, the “moon somersault”, on the high bar: “I was training on the trampoline, a rare piece of equipment in Japan in those days, and I developed my exercise from there over the course of a year’s work”. His wife Chieko (née Oda) came fourth in the team competition at the 1968 Games: his son Naoya won an Olympic gold medal in the team competition in 2004, after having won 2 silvers and 3 bronzes in the World Championships, and 5 consecutive Japanese championship titles (from 1996 to 2000).

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TUG OF WAR Not included at the Athens 1896 Games even though it had been planned, the tug of war appeared at the Olympics from 1900 to 1920, before being dropped. It is governed by TWIF (Tug of War International Federation, www.tugofwar-twif.org).

TULLIN THAMS JAKOB (sailing, Norway, b. Oslo 7/4/1898, d. 27/7/1954). One appearance (1936) and one silver (8 metres); 2 appearances at the Winter Olympics (1924, 1928) and one gold medal (ski-jumping 1924). After winning ski-jumping gold at the first Winter Olympics in Chamonix, and coming close to winning another gold 4 years later in St. Moritz, where he fell after a record 73-metre jump, he won a silver in sailing in Berlin (coming second to the Italian crew), becoming the second man, after Eddie Eagan (q.v.), to win medals in both the Winter and Summer Games. He also won a World Championship gold in ski-jumping in 1926, the same year in which he won the Holmenkollen medal outright, a competition in which he won in the ski-jump 5 times out of 6 between 1922 and 1927. He was a sailor, and was on board a transatlantic liner already at the age of 16: he soon became a helmsman, and travelled throughout Australia, India and South America, spending little time in his native Norway.

TUNISIA (Republic of Tunisia, Africa, capital Tunis, area 164.150 km2, population 10.327.285). 6 medals: one gold, 2 silver, 3 bronze. Best Olympics: Mexico City 1968, one gold and one bronze. Best sport: athletics, one gold, 2 silvers and one bronze. Best athlete: Mohamed Gammoudi, one gold (5000 m 1968), 2 silvers (10.000 m 1964 and 5.000 m 1972) and one bronze (10.000 m 1968). The Olympic Committee, formed in 1957, received IOC recognition that year. From 1960 on it has taken part in all the Games, except in 1980.

TURISHCHEVA LYUDMILA IVANOVNA (gymnastics, USSR, b. Grozny 7/10/1952). Three appearances (1968, 1972, 1976), 4 gold medals (individual all-round 1972, team competition 1968, 1972 and 1976), 3 silvers (floor exercise 1972 and 1976, vault 1976) and 2 bronzes (vault 1972, individual all-round 1976). 1968 1-0-0, 1972 2-1-1, 1976 1-2-1. As well as her three golds in the team competition, the first of which she won when just 16, she won a gold in the individual all- round in Munich, in the Games that launched Olga Korbut (q.v.): but she won, 1.925 points ahead of her rival (who finished only 7th), who was 2.125 behind at the uneven bars due to a series of faults. In the World Championships she won 7 gold medals (individual all-round and team competition 1970-74, floor exercise 1970-74, balance beam 1974), 2 silvers and 2 bronzes; in the European Championships, 8 gold medals (individual all-round, vault and floor exercise in 1971, then 5 out of 5 in 1973, plus balance beam and parallel bars), 2 silvers and 4 bronzes; and in the 1975 World Cup, 5 gold medals, where she won all specialities, and remained unperturbed as the uneven bars collapsed immediately after her exercise; and in the Soviet championships, 9 gold medals (including all-around golds in 1972 and 1974), 5 silvers and 3 bronzes. In 1977 she married Valeri Borzov (q.v.), 2 Olympic gold, one silver and 2 bronze medals in sprint events in 1972 and 1976. For a time she was president of the Ukraine Gymnastics Federation.

TURKEY (Republic of Turkey, Europe/Asia, capital Ankara, area 783.562 km2, population 74.876.697). 74 medals: 36 gold, 19 silver, 19 bronze. Best Olympics: Rome 1960, 7 gold and 2 silver medals (it won more medals, 12 as opposed to 9, at London in 1948, but fewer golds, 6 instead of 7, plus 4 silvers and 2 bronze). Best sport: wrestling, 27 gold, 16 silver and 12 bronze medals. Most decorated athlete: Naim Suleymanoglu (q.v.), 3 gold medals (weightlifting, featherweight 60 kg in 1988 and 1992, featherweight 64 kg in 1996). The Olympic Committee, formed in 1908, received IOC recognition in 1911. Turkey took part in the 1906 Intercalated Games with an Armenian student living in Istanbul; again with two Armenians in 1912; and with a real team from 1924 on, missing just the 1932 and 1980 editions. Istanbul was an unsuccessful candidate city for the 2000, 2004 and 2008 Games.

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TURKMENISTAN (Republic of Turkmenistan, Asia, capital Asgabat, area 488.000 km2, population 4.965.275). From 1952 to 1988 there were athletes from Turkmenistan in the USSR team and, in 1992, in the Unified team: they won just one medal, a bronze in 1960 for Marat Atayevich Niyasov in shooting, small-bore rifle, 3 positions. The Olympic Committee, formed in 1990 (one year before independence), received IOC recognition in 1993. It took part in the 1996, 2000 and 2004 Games. Yet to win a medal.

TUVALU (Oceania, capital Vaiaku, area 25,63 km2, population 10.530). The Olympic Committee, formed in 2004, received IOC recognition in 2007. It will be able to receive its first Olympic invitation from Beijing 2008.

TWINS The first two twins to win Olympic medals were the Swedes Eric and Vilhelm Carlberg; Vilhelm reached success first, bronze medal in the duelling pistol, “au commandement” 25 metres, in 1906; in London, 1908, both were on the podium in the small-bore rifle team event. Four years later in Stockholm, they became the first twins to win Olympic gold medals, in the team duelling pistol, 30 m, bringing their medal record to 5 golds, 7 silvers and one bronze. Also to be reminded the East German rowers Bernd and Jörg Landvoigt, double gold in the coxless pair in 1976 and 1980, after a bronze in 1972. The most successful female twins are the Americans Karen and Sarah Josephson, synchronized swimming silver medallists in 1988 and gold medal winners four years later.

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