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Track & Field -
NEWS
World-renowned athletics journalist out of England, David Powell,
does not believe that Jamaica's Herb McKenley, among others,
should be ranked among the top 50 greatest performers in the
history of the Olympic Games. Look at his list below and then make
comments.
Olympics top 50
By David Powell
www.timesonline.com.uk
To compile my list of the top 50 track and
field athletes in Olympic history, first I needed to set
guidelines. There would be no place, I decided, for athletes with
proven or strong circumstantial links to doping and there would be
little sympathy for those who, no matter how many silver or bronze
medals they had won, had not been winners.
So, on the first count, out went Ben Johnson,
Marion Jones, Florence Griffith-Joyner, Heike Drechsler and Renate
Stecher. Johnson and Jones because they were proven cheats,
Griffith-Joyner because of circumstantial evidence, Stecher and
Drechsler because they competed for East Germany in the age of
that country's systematic state doping.
To my banned list I added Irina and Tamara
Press, the Soviet sisters who won five Olympic gold medals between
them, but whose careers came to an abrupt halt upon the
introduction of sex tests.
My 'gold medallists only' rule I took down as
far as No 48 before giving sympathetic votes to Frankie Fredericks
and Merlene Ottey. While it is true that Ottey failed a drugs test
in 1999, her ban was lifted when the Swiss laboratory that handled
her sample was found to have tested it improperly.
But out completely are Raelene Boyle, the
Australian who won three individual sprint medals, but no gold,
and Herb McKenley, the Jamaican who won three individual medals at
200 metres and 400 metres with gold only in a relay.
The worth of relay medals compared with
individual ones, whether to include results from the 1906 interim
Games, and whether to give credence to discontinued events were
all factors taken into consideration. I chose to load heavily on
individual events, lightly on relays, but included 1906 results
and discontinued events.
I have, however, taken the view that early
Olympic medals are worth less than more recent ones, largely
because of numbers taking part and, therefore, the depth of
competition. From 1900 to 1906, when many of those athletes
featured in this list won a profusion of medals, fewer than 20
countries participated. By Emil Zatopek's day, in 1948 and 1952,
it was over 50 and, through the Carl Lewis era, it rose from 124
in 1984 to191 in 1996. The number of competitors quadrupled from
the years 1912 to 2000.
While I have also placed a value on world
records set in the Olympic arena, a list of this nature should
consider emotion and impact as well as statistics. So I have
permitted myself a strong instinctive input which is why,
subjectivity being what it is, you would probably choose a
different order.
Knowing where to put Bob Beamon and Dick
Fosbury was the hardest part. I have no rational explanation for
placing them 11th and 26th, other than to say that it just felt
right.
David Powell was The Times Athletics Correspondent for 18 years
before becoming a freelance writer, consultant, and lecturer. He
reported on the last five Olympics and ten World Championships and
attended his first major championships, the Commonwealth Games, 38
years ago.
50. Merlene Ottey (Jamaica)
Silver: 100m, 200m, 1996; 4x100m, 2000; Bronze: 100m, 1984; 200m,
1980, 1984, 1992; 4x100m, 1996
As with Frankie Fredericks (see No 49), the
lack of an Olympic gold medal counts heavily against Merlene Ottey
on this list. She came mighty close in the 1996 100 metres when,
recording the same time as Gail Devers, she was judged to have
finished second by 1cm. Her eight Olympic medals are likely to
become nine, with an additional bronze at 100 metres, once the
Marion Jones medals for 2000 are redistributed.
49. Frankie Fredericks (Namibia)
Silver: 100m, 200m, 1992; 100m, 200m, 1996
The best Olympic athlete never to win a gold
medal but, without one, he drops way down the list. Fredericks won
four individual sprint silvers but was beaten by a different
athlete every time Linford Christie (100 metres, 1992), Donovan
Bailey (100 metres, 1996), Mike Marsh (200 metres, 1992) and
Michael Johnson (200 metres, 1996).
48. Gwen Torrence (United States)
Gold: 200, 1992; 4x100m, 1992, 1996; Silver: 4x400m, 1992; Bronze:
100m, 1996
Gwen Torrence won five Olympic medals in four
different events, the best of them her 200 metres gold in 1992.
47. Harry Hillman (United States)
Gold: 400m, 200m hurdles, 400m hurdles, 1904; Silver: 400m
hurdles, 1908
In what seem now to be strange early days for
the sport, Harry Hillman won two hurdles gold medals in 1904 and
the 400 metres in a straight final of 13 runners!
46. Evelyn Ashford (United States)
Gold: 100m, 1984; 4x100, 1984, 1988, 1992; Silver: 100m, 1988
Eight years after her first Olympics in 1976,
Evelyn Ashford won the 100 metres, the first of five medals she
would win between 1984 and 1992.
45. Alain Mimoun (France)
Gold: marathon, 1956; Silver: 10,000m, 1948, 1952; 5,000m, 1952
Sick of the sight of Emil Zatopek's back he
was runner-up to the Czech in three Olympic track finals Alain
Mimoun got the better of him to win the 1956 marathon.
44. Valeriy Borzov (Soviet Union)
Gold: 100m, 200m, 1972; Silver: 4x100m, 1972; Bronze: 100m,
4x100m, 1976
The first athlete from outside north America
to do the sprint double, Valeriy Borzov dominated the opposition.
43. Parry O'Brien (United States)
Gold: shot, 1952, 1956; Silver: shot, 1960
After winning two Olympic shot titles, Parry
O'Brien was on his way to a third, leading after four rounds in
1960. Then William Nieder, who had originally failed to qualify
for the US team but who was brought in as substitute for the
injured Dave Davis, produced a winning effort.
42. Volmari Iso-Hollo (Finland)
Gold: steeplechase, 1932, 1936; Silver: 10,000m, 1932; Bronze:
10,000m, 1936
Volmari Iso-Hollo retained his Olympic
steeplechase title in 1936 with a world record running a minute
and a half slower than in 1932 when the athletes ran one too many
laps.
41. Haile Gebrselassie (Ethiopia)
Gold: 10,000m, 1996, 2000
In the context of his overall career his
marathon world record on Sunday (September 30) was his 24th world
record Haile Gebrselassie's two Olympic gold medals for 10,000
metres seem almost trivial. Yet his two close races with Kenyan
Paul Tergat were epics, especially the 2000 metres final in which
Gebrselassie prevailed by nine-hundredths of a second.
40.
Daley Thompson (Great Britain)
Gold: Decathlon, 1980, 1984
Denied the rivalry of his fiercest
competitors, the West Germans, who supported the US boycott of
Moscow in 1980, Daley Thompson had an unchallenged ride to his
first Olympic gold. Robbed of the world record by rain on the
second day, Thompson denied himself the record four years later
when it was there for the taking but he eased down in the last
event, the 1500 metres. However, the world record became his
anyway in 1985 after new scoring tables were introduced, which
also took into account a revised time for the Briton in the 110
metres hurdles.
39. Mel Sheppard (United States)
Gold: 800m, 1,500m, 1908; medley relay, 1908; 4x400m, 1912
The athlete of the 1908 Olympics even if it
is a Games remembered mainly for Dorando Pietri's dramatic
collapse in the marathon Mel Sheppard did the 800 and 1,500
metres double and anchored the US to gold in the medley relay.
This from a man who had been rejected by the New York police on
the grounds of a weak heart.
38. Volodymyr Golubnichniy (Soviet Union)
Gold: 20k walk, 1960, 1968; Silver: 20k walk, 1972; Bronze, 20k
walk, 1964
Becoming the first athlete to regain an
Olympic title for 40 years, Volodymyr Golubnichniy won the 20
kilometres walk in 1960, finished third in 1964, but won for a
second time in 1968. Still not satisfied, he completed a full set
of medals, taking silver in 1968.
37. Robert Garrett (United States)
Gold: shot, discus, 1896; Silver: long jump, high jump, 1896;
Bronze: shot, standing triple jump, 1900
If the most celebrated athlete of the first
modern Olympics in 1896 was Spiridon Louis, who delivered victory
in the marathon to the host nation, Greece, the most versatile was
Robert Garrett. In addition to winning the shot, and taking silver
in the high jump and long jump, Garrett won the discus with little
experience of the implement stunning the Greeks, for whom the
discipline was an ancient art.
36. Hicham El Guerrouj (Morocco)
Gold: 1,500m, 5,000m, 2004; Silver, 1,500m, 2000
In danger of becoming the greatest middle
distance runner never to win an Olympic gold medal, Hicham El
Guerrouj made glorious amends at Athens 2004, winning the 1,500
metres and 5,000 metres. Thus he became the first man since Paavo
Nurmi, 80 years earlier, to succeed in that double. Prior to
Athens, El Guerrouj had won 84 of his 89 races at 1,500 metres or
a mile since 1996, At Atlanta 1996, he tripped and fell in the
final, finishing 12th. At Sydney 2000, he placed second to Kenya's
Noah Ngeny.
35. Hannes Kolehmainen (Finland)
Gold: 5,000m, 10,000m, cross country, 1912; marathon, 1920;
Silver, team cross country, 1912
The first in the line of great Finnish
distance runners, Hannes Kolehmainen recorded the first sub 15
minute run for 5,000 metres at the 1912 Olympics. He obliterated
the world record with 14min 36.6sec yet was pegged to within a
tenth of a second by Jean Bouin, of France. But Kolehmainen won
the 10,000 metres by 46 seconds. At the 1920 Games, he broke the
marathon world record by three and a half minutes, recording a
time of 2hr 32min 35.8sec.
34. Wilma Rudolph (United States)
Gold: 100m, 200m, 4x100m, 1960; Bronze: 4x100m, 1956
The 20th of 22 children, Wilma Rudolph became
a triple gold medal winner in 1960 two years after the birth of
her first child, having won bronze in the sprint relay in 1956.
Rudolph suffered double pneumonia and scarlet fever at the age of
four and had to wear a leg brace until she was eight.
33. Ralph Rose (United States)
Gold: shot, 1904, 1908; shot both arms, 1912; Silver: discus,
1904; shot, 1912; Bronze: hammer, 1904
In his short life he died of typhoid fever
in 1913, aged 28 Ralph Rose was a double Olympic shot champion
and gold medal winner at the two-handed shot. He also won minor
medals at discus and hammer.
32. Valerie Brisco-Hooks (United States)
Gold: 200m, 400m, 4x400m, 1984; Silver, 4x400m, 1988
Two years after giving birth to a son, and
after being 40lbs overweight, Valerie Brisco-Hooks won triple
Olympic gold in 1984. In both the 200 metres and 400 metres she
set Olympic records, as did her US team in the 4x400 metres. The
first athlete to record a 200 metres and 400 metres double, she
beat Michael Johnson and Marie-Jose Perec by 12 years to the feat.
31. Mal Whitfield (United States)
Gold: 800m, 1948, 1952; 4x400m, 1948; Silver: 4x400m, 1952;
Bronze: 400m, 1948
Inspired to become an Olympic runner by
sneaking in to watch the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics, Mal Whitfield
won the Olympic 800 metres title at London 1948. Then, between
Olympics, he was a tailgunner during the Korean War, flying 27
bomber missions. When he returned to the Olympic stage, at
Helsinki 1952, he retained his title in precisely the time 1min
49.2sec he had won his first.
30. John Flanagan (United States)
Gold: hammer, 1900, 1904, 1908; Silver: 56lb weight, 1904
The Irish-born John Flanagan is regarded as
the pioneer of modern hammer throwing and, his three Olympic gold
medals apart, he is noted for setting a world record at the age of
41.
29. Jim Thorpe (United States)
Gold: pentathlon, decathlon, 1912
Olympic champion in pentathlon and decathlon
in 1912, setting world records in both events, Jim Thorpe's
achievements endured to the point that, 38 years later, he was
named as America's greatest athlete of the first half of the 20th
Century. Yet, in 1913, he had been stripped of the medals for
earning $25 a week playing baseball. But, in 1982, the IOC
reversed the decision.
28. Kip Keino (Kenya)
Gold: 1,500m, 1968; steeplechase, 1972; Silver: 1,500m, 1972;
5,000m, 1968
The father of the Kenyan running tradition,
Kip Keino won the 1968 1,500 metres in remarkable circumstances.
Suffering a gall bladder infection, causing severe stomach pains,
Keino defied medical advice not to run. Up with the leaders two
laps from home in the 10,000 metres, he collapsed onto the infield
in pain. Although disqualified, he went on to finish. Four days
later, he placed second in the 5,000 metres then, caught in
traffic travelling to the 1,500 metres final, he jogged the last
mile to the stadium.
27. Marie-Jose Perec (France)
Gold: 200m, 1996; 400m, 1992, 1996
Had the quote not been used to describe
Muhammad Ali - "he floats like a butterfly, stings like a bee" -
it could have been used on Marie-Jose Perec. Born in the country
shaped like a butterfly Guadeloupe the graceful Perec stung
like a bee at Atlanta 1996. Completing the 200 and 400 metres
double 15 minutes before Michael Johnson, she became the first
athlete male or female to retain an Olympic 400 metres title.
26. Dick Fosbury (United States)
Gold: high jump, 1968
Where do you place a man who changed his
event forever? Almost 40 years after winning high jump gold at 21,
the backwards technique which Dick Fosbury invented and which
carries his name the Fosbury Flop is the one used by the
world's top competitors.
25. Betty Cuthbert (Australia)
Gold: 100m, 200m, 4x100m, 1956; 400m, 1964
Aged 18, Betty Cuthbert was the image of the
blonde, blue-eyed Australian sporting girl. In her home Olympics,
in Melbourne, Cuthbert did the sprint double and helped her
national team to two world records in the 4x100 metres.
24. Sebastian Coe (Great Britain)
Gold: 1,500m, 1980, 1984; Silver: 800m, 1980, 1984
Sebastian Coe's rivalry with Steve Ovett
brought unprecedented hype for the middle distance events. In
1980, Coe was the favourite to win the 800 metres, but was beaten
by his fellow Briton, while Ovett was favourite for the 1,500
metres, but was defeated by Coe. Four years later, Coe became the
first man to retain the 1,500 metres title, having again finished
runner-up at 800 metres, this time to Joaquim Cruz, of Brazil.
23. Meyer Prinstein (United States)
Gold: triple jump, 1900, 1904; long jump, 1904, 1906; Silver: long
jump, 1900
Meyer Prinstein remains the only man to win
the long jump and triple jump at one Olympics, which he succeeded
in doing in 1904. He won both events on the same day.
22. Martin Sheridan (United States)
Gold: discus, 1904, 1906, 1908; shot, 1906; discus Greek style,
1908; Silver: standing long jump, 1906; standing high jump, 1906;
stone throw, 1906; Bronze: standing long jump, 1908
As with Ray Ewry, James Lightbody, Meyer
Prinstein, Eric Lemming and Harry Hillman, for the purpose of this
list Martin Sheridan's performances at the 1906 interim Games are
included. Though many of his events have been discontinued, the
discus and shot, which gained him four gold medals, have not.
Irish-born, Sheridan lived in the US from the age of 16 but died
of pneumonia on the eve of his 37th birthday.
21. Peter Snell (New Zealand)
Gold: 800m, 1960, 1964; 1,500m, 1964
The surprise winner of the Olympic 800 metres
in 1960, Peter Snell won the 800 metres and 1,500 metres in 1964
by handsome margins. Prior to Tokyo, Snell had never run a 1,500
metres race, although he had competed many times over the mile.
20. James Lightbody (United States)
Gold: 1,500m, 1904, 1906; 800m, 1904; steeplechase, 1904; Silver:
team relay, 1904; 800m, 1906
Like Ray Ewry (see No 5), James Lightbody's
place in Olympic history depends on one's view of whether the
interim Games of 1906 should be included. This ranking list does.
In 1904, having won the 800 metres and steeplechase, Lightbody set
a world best at 1,500 metres before records became official in
1912.
19. Alvin Kraenzlein (United States)
Gold: 60m, 110m hurdles, 200m hurdles, long jump, 1900
The relative exclusivity of the 1900 Olympics
only 15 countries and 119 athletes took part makes it
impossible to rank Alvin Kraenzlein any higher. But four gold
medals in individual events, even if two are discontinued,
deserves a top-20 place. How seriously the athletes took the
Olympics in those days can be gauged from Meyer Prinstein, the
long jump runner-up, punching Kraenzlein on the nose over an
alleged breach of agreement.
18. Jan Zelezny (Czech Republic)
Gold: javelin, 1992, 1996, 2000; Silver, javelin 1988
In contrast to Viktor Saneyev (see No 17),
Jan Zelezny's narrow miss at fourth successive Olympic title in
one event, in this case the javelin, came at the start of his
Olympic career. Zelezny had to settle for silver in 1988 after
Tapio Korjus, from Finland, agonisingly beat him with the last
throw of the competition.
17. Viktor Saneyev (Soviet Union)
Gold: triple jump, 1968, 1972, 1976; Silver, triple jump, 1980
Winner of three successive Olympic triple
jump titles, Viktor Saneyev made a valiant last-round attempt at a
fourth in 1980. But he fell 11 centimetres short and had to be
content with the silver medal. Hit by a drunken driver in 1991,
his right leg was amputated below the knee.
16. Robert Korzeniowski (Poland)
Gold: 50k walk, 1996, 2000, 2004; 20k walk, 2000
The greatest racewalker in history, Robert
Korzeniowski won three successive Olympic 50 kilometres walks, an
event in which no other athlete has successfully defended the
title. Furthermore, he is the only man to win both walks, 20
kilometres and 50 kilometres, at one Olympics.
15. Al Oerter (United States)
Gold: discus, 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968
One of only three men to win the same event
at four successive Olympics Carl Lewis and Ray Ewry are the
others Al Oerter broke the Olympic discus record on each
occasion. In other words, he kept getting better. And, just to
prove the point, after a decade out of competition, Oerter made a
comeback in 1980, aged 43, with a lifetime best distance.
14. Abebe Bikila (Ethiopia)
Gold: marathon, 1960, 1964
In a tale of triumph before tragedy, Abebe
Bikila won the 1960 Olympic marathon in a world record time as a
barefoot outsider, and became the first man to retain the title in
1964, but was paralysed in a car accident five years later.
Suffering a broken neck and spinal cord injury, Bikila died of a
brain haemorrhage in 1973, aged 41.
13. Fanny Blankers-Koen (Netherlands)
Gold: 100m, 200m, 80m hurdles, 4x100m, 1948
Named IAAF world woman athlete of the 20th
Century, Blankers-Koen is the only woman to win four gold medals
at one Olympics. How many more she was denied one can only guess
as the Second World War robbed her of two Games. At 18, she did
not win a medal at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, where her
highlight was collecting Jesse Owens's autograph. By the time the
Olympics resumed after a 12-year-break, she held six world
records.
12. Jesse Owens (United States)
Gold: 100m, 200m, long jump, 4x100m, 1936
Unimaginable as it may seem now, Jesse Owens
set six world records in 45 minutes on one May afternoon in 1935.
Yet he is better known for his four Olympic gold medals in 1936.
Owens, an African-American sprinter/jumper, embarrassed Hitler's
attempt to use the Games in Berlin to prove his theories of Aryan
racial superiority. Aged 22, it was his only Olympics, as he
turned professional soon afterwards.
11. Bob Beamon (United States)
Gold, long jump, 1968
One Olympics, one medal, one giant leap into
the Olympic hall of fame. Only Michael Johnson's world record 200
metres at the 1996 Olympics (see No 7) can be spoken of in the
same breath as Beamon's extraordinary first-round leap in Mexico
City. Beamon bypassed 28 feet on the way to taking the world
record from 27ft 5in to 29ft 2½in. "You've destroyed this event,"
Lynn Davies, the defending champion, said of Beamon's winning jump
in his only Olympic appearance.
10. Shirley Strickland (Australia)
Gold: 80m hurdles, 1952, 1956; 4x100m, 1956; Silver: 4x100m, 1948;
Bronze: 100m, 1948, 1952; 80m hurdles, 1948
Second only to Merlene Ottey (see No 49) in
Olympic medals won by a woman, Shirley Strickland should be top of
that particular list pending any decision to redistribute medals
in the wake of Marion Jones's drugs disqualification and which
might add to Ottey's total. While Ottey won eight, but none of
them gold, Strickland gained seven, including three gold, but was
unfairly denied an eighth. Photo-finish evidence from London 1948,
discovered in 1975, confirmed that Strickland finished third at
200m but she was placed fourth and the result was never amended.
9.
Irena Szewinska (Poland)
Gold: 200m, 1968; 400m, 1976; 4x100m, 1964; Silver: 200, long jump
1964; Bronze: 100m, 1968; 200m, 1972
Irina Szewinska had the happy knack of
producing world records to go with her Olympic titles at 200
metres, in 1968, and 400 metres, in 1976. She shares with Shirley
Strickland (see No 10) the distinction of winning seven Olympic
medals but her world records, versatility and longevity, gives her
the edge over the Australian. Szewinska won medals in five
different events at four Olympics.
8.
Ville Ritola (Finland)
Gold: 10,000m, 1924; 3,000m steeplechase, 1924; cross country team
race, 1924; 3,000m team race, 1924; 5,000m, 1928; Silver: 5,000m,
1924; cross country, 1924; 10,000m, 1928
Ville Ritola was never going to win an
Olympic medal for each of his siblings he was the 14th of 20
children but he did collect five golds and three silvers. In
eight races in eight days in 1924, he won the steeplechase in his
first go at the event, the 10,000 metres with a world record, and
team golds at 3,000 metres and cross country. Beaten by his fellow
Finn, Paavo Nurmi, in the 5,000 metres and individual cross
country in 1924, and again at 10,000 metres in 1928, he got the
better of his rival at 5,000 metres in 1928.
7.
Michael Johnson (United States)
Gold: 200m, 1996; 400m, 1996, 2000; 4x400m, 1992, 2000
Based on his three individual Olympic gold
medals alone, Michael Johnson would not make the top ten. But his
200 metres world record of 19.32sec in Atlanta in 1996 elevated
him alongside Bob Beamon at the top of the Olympic 'single
greatest performance' tree. Not since Beamon's historic long jump
(see No 11) had there been such a stunning Olympic effort as
Johnson lowered the world record by 0.34sec. At an average speed
of two 100 metres in 9.66sec each, he likened the feeling to going
downhill in a go-kart.
6.
Lasse Viren (Finland)
Gold: 5,000m, 1972, 1976; 10,000m, 1972, 1976
As if doing the 5,000 metres and 10,000
metres double twice was not enough, Lasse Viren wrote his place in
Olympic history in dramatic fashion. During his first final, the
10,000 metres in 1972, he stumbled and fell just before halfway
but got up to win in a world record time. After defending this
title four years later, Viren was grilled by the media over the
practice of blood boosting.
He always denied it and, in the absence of
proof, or even strong circumstantial evidence, he is included
here.
5.
Ray Ewry (United States)
Gold: standing high jump, 1900, 1904, 1906, 1908; standing long
jump, 1900, 1904, 1906, 1908; standing triple jump, 1900, 1904
Opinion is divided on whether to include Ray
Ewry in Olympic lists. On the one hand we have an athlete who won
a record ten Olympic gold medals. On the other, he did so in now
discontinued events while two of them came in the unofficial Games
of 1906. But Ewry is included here on the grounds that Baron
Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the Games, endorsed Athens
1906 and because the Games were the first to limit entries to
athletes chosen by National Olympic Committees. Furthermore,
Ewry's story is special. He began exercising after being confined
to wheelchair through polio as a child.
4.
Emil Zatopek (Czech Republic)
Gold: 10,000m, 1948, 1952; 5,000m, 1952; marathon, 1952; Silver:
5,000m, 1948
A story almost too good to be true, but true
it is. Emil Zatopek was born on the same day as his wife, Dana, on
September 19, 1922, and the couple won Olympic gold medals on the
same day, July 24, 1952. Emil had won the 5,000 metres and,
following the presentation ceremony, Dana put his medal in her bag
for good luck in the javelin, throwing an Olympic record in the
first round. Three days later, Emil ran his first marathon,
winning the fourth Olympic gold of his career and becoming the
first athlete to triumph in the 5,000 metres, 10,000 metres and
marathon at one Games.
3.
Jackie Joyner-Kersee (United States)
Gold: long jump, 1988; heptathlon, 1988, 1992; Silver: heptathlon,
1984; Bronze: long jump, 1992, 1996
Even the greatest woman athlete of today,
Sweden's Carolina Kluft, cannot get near the world record of 7291
points scored by Jackie Joyner-Kersee in winning the first of her
two Olympic heptathlon titles in 1988. Neither has Kluft won a
medal in an individual event, whereas Kersee won one Olympic gold
and two bronzes in the long jump. Named Jacqueline after the wife
of President Kennedy because so said her grandmother - "someday
this girl will be the First Lady of something".
2.
Paavo Nurmi (Finland)
Gold: 10,000m, 1920, 1928; 1,500m, 1924; 5,000m, 1924; cross
country, 1920, 1924; cross country team, 1920, 1924; 3,000m team
race, 1924; Silver: 5,000m, 1920, 1928; 3,000m steeplechase, 1928
Like Carl Lewis, Paavo Nurmi won nine Olympic
gold medals. But, while Lewis won seven in individual events as a
runner-jumper, Nurmi took six, all from running. Nurmi, though, is
the only athlete to win five golds in one Games, which he achieved
in 1924, and he holds the record for number of medals won (12).
Known as the "Flying Finn", he revolutionised distance running
with his hard training methods. Declared a professional by the
IAAF, by a 13-12 vote, he was banned from the 1932 Olympics.
1.
Carl Lewis (United States)
Gold: 100m: 1984, 1988; 200m, 1984; long jump, 1984, 1988, 1992,
1996; 4x100m, 1984, 1992; Silver: 200m, 1988
King Carl to use the popular headline - was
officially named IAAF world male athlete of the 20th Century and
deservedly so. Although his fame was driven largely by his
position as the world's fastest man, it was as a long jumper that
Lewis delivered his greatest Olympic feat. One of only three
athletes Ray Ewry and Al Oerter were the others to win the
same individual event at four Olympics, Lewis claimed his last
long jump gold against all odds. His best days over, he scraped
the last place in the US team, was 15th after two of the three
qualifying rounds, with only the top 12 making the final, then
produced his best jump for four years to retain the title. Lewis
was cleared of drug-taking before the 1988 Olympics when he was
one of eight athletes found to have low stimulant levels in his
system.
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