The Olympics for All

THE OLYMPICS FOR ALL

The Olympic Spirit Reclaimed

After the end of World War II the International Olympic Committee (IOC) consciously attempted to return to the principles upon which the modern Olympic Games were based: "To the Glory and Honor of Youth"; "Higher, Faster, Stronger"; "It's not the winning, but the taking part." The IOC entered the 1950s with genuine eagerness to celebrate the spirit of amateurism.

A Self-Made Leader

Avery Brundage, long-time leader of the Olympic movement in America, became president of the IOC in 1952. Brundage had himself been on the 1912 U.S. Olympic team and participated in Stockholm in the decathlon and pentathlon, only to be overshadowed by Jim Thorpe. Later in life, having earned a fortune in construction, Brundage had the resources to retire from his business and lead the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) from 1928 to 1935 and the U. S. Olympic Committee from 1929 to 1953. Brundage always approached sports as he had his business career, with a firm belief in self-determination and the positive effect of hard work. The success of the Olympic Games of the 1950s allowed him to lead the movement into the age of television and worldwide audiences in the billions.

1952 Winter Games—Oslo, Norway

An unheralded American, Andrea Mead Lawrence, surprised observers by winning two gold medals in the slalom and giant slalom. She was the first American athlete to win a medal of any kind in Alpine events. Less surprising but no less pleasant was the performance of the U.S. figure skaters. Dick Button, five-time world men's figure-skating champion (1948-1952) and winner in 1948 at Saint Moritz, capped a four-year period of domination by winning the Olympic gold medal for the second time and then announcing his immediate retirement. Figure skater Tenley Albright, on the other hand, was at the beginning of her run to world championship status. At Oslo, Albright achieved a silver medal. A surprising performance by Ken Henry earned him a gold medal in the 500-meter speed skating. The U.S. men's ice-hockey team finished second to Canada. It was the fifth ice hockey medal for America in seven Olympics (four silvers, one bronze).

1952 Summer Games—Helsinki, Finland

Among all the modern Games before or since, Helsinki remains among the most successful sporting festivals of all. The amazing three-gold-medal performance by Czechoslovakian distance runner Emil Zatopek in the 5,000 meters, 10,000 meters, and marathon overshadowed every other achievement. Among the outstanding American performances were the five gold medals earned by the boxing team; future heavyweight champion of the world Floyd Patterson won the gold medal in the middleweight division. David Browning and Sammy Lee swept the diving events and Americans won four more golds in swimming. American sprinters once again dominated, but it was Mal Whittfield's Olympic record (1:49.2) repeat gold-medal performance in the 800 meter that was most impressive. Walt Davis (high jump), Bob Richards (pole vault), Parry O'Brien (shot put), Sam Iness (discus), and Cy Young (javelin) won their gold medals with Olympic record performances. In their first significant basketball show-down the U.S. team beat the Soviet Union for the gold, 36-25. The outstanding American performance of the games, however, was Bob Mathias'srepeat gold medal in the decathlon—this time a world record. In 1948, at the age of seventeen, Mathias had become the youngest gold-medal winner of the decathlon; in 1952 he became the first athlete to lay claim to the title "world's greatest athlete" in two Olympiads. American women won three gold medals; Pat MacCormick won both the springboard and platform diving events; and the 4x100-meter relay team also finished first.

1956 Winter Games—Cortina, Italy

The 1956 games were an Olympics of few surprises and fewer successes for the United States. The men's ice-hockey team finished second again, this time to the Soviet Union. Tenley Albright had won the women's world title in figure skating in 1953 and 1955 and easily won the gold medal. Dick Button had retired, and Hayes Alan Jenkins had won the men's figure skating title for four straight years. He glided to an overwhelming victory to earn the gold medal in the Olympics.

1956 Summer Games—Melbourne, Australia

Even though the American team was larger than ever and there were far fewer participants from throughout the world in this Olympics down under, the American medal count was not impressive. The boxing team won just two gold medals; the divers won the springboard (Bob Clotworthy) but lost the platform for the first time since 1912; and Bill Yorzyk's 200-meter butterfly gold was the only win for the swimmers. In track and field the U.S. athletes continued their domination in sprinting and field events. On the track Bobby Morrow swept to victory in both the 100 and 200 meters; Charley Jenkins won the 400 meters; and Tom Courtney set an Olympic record in the 800 meters. Lee Calhoun (100 meters) and Glenn Davis (400 meters) dominated the hurdles with Olympic records, and the U.S. relay teams won both races, setting a world record by smashing the forty-second barrier with a time of 39.5 seconds in the 4x100-meter race. In the field Charley Dumas won the high jump, and Bob Richards, for the second time, won the pole vault, both at Olympic record heights. Greg Bell won the long jump and Parry O'Brien won his second straight shot-put gold, setting an Olympic record and smashing the sixty-foot barrier.

Al Oerter

In retrospect, however, Al Oerter's Olympic record toss of 184 feet 11 inches in the discus was most remarkable because it was just a hint of what was to come. Oerter proceeded to dominate his event in a way never seen before or since in the Olympic Games. For the next four Olympic Games, Oerter won the gold and set Olympic records. In 1968 his toss was 212 feet 6 inches. Even in 1984, after over a decade in retirement, Oerter was trying to make the U.S. Olympic team and failed only because of an injury.

Women's Gold

American women won three gold medals. For the second consecutive games Pat MacCormick won both the springboard and platform diving events, and Mildred McDaniel set a world record (5 feet 9 1/4 inches) in the high jump. The relatively poor performances of American women in the Olympics during the decade can largely be attributed to social conditions that discouraged women from active participation in sports.

Source:

Allen Guttman, The Olympics, a History of the Modern Games (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1992).