Robin Widdows

Bobsleds, Royal Air Force, Le Mans, Formula 1

[table]

Category,Data

Full Name,Robin Michael Widdows

Used Name,Robin Widdows

Born,27 May 1942; Cowley; Hillingdon; Greater London; England

Measurements,178 cm / 80 kg

[/table]

[table]

Year-Season,Sport,Event,Finish

1964 Winter,Bobsleigh,Four-man,13

1968 Winter,Bobsleigh,Four-man,8

[/table]

Robin Widdows’ father, Commodore Charles Widdows, flew for the RAF during the war, and was a test pilot afterwards. Like Alfonso de Portago, Widdows also competed in bobsleigh, although the Spaniard had been the driver, while Widdows formed part of the crew.

Widdows was part of the second British four-man sled in 1964. Steered by Bill McCowen, they ended up in 13th place, just behind the first British sleigh. A week before, two of the crewman of Britain I – Tony Nash and Robin Dixon – had won the gold medal in the two-man bob. Widdows remained on the British team until 1968, taking part in his second Olympics in Grenoble. This time as a member of the first four-man sleigh, which was taken to 8th place by driver Tony Nash.

In the same year Widdows made his first appearance at the Olympics, he also made his racing début. He proved successful, and by 1966 he was racing in Formula 3, and winning races as well, although he was also active in sportscar racing. In 1967, he entered a Brabham in Formula 2 races, racing for his own team, Witley. A win at Hockenheim (Germany) was his best result that year.

More minor successes in Formula 2 the next year – now driving a McLaren – meant he was asked by the Cooper team to drive their second car at the British GP at Brands Hatch. Widdows qualified as 18th of the 20 cars for what would turn out to be his only Formula 1 GP. After 34 laps, his ignition failed, and he had to abandon the race.

His Formula 1 career was over after that race, but Widdows continued to race in other classes. In 1969, he achieved one of his biggest successes when he placed 7th in the 24 hours of Le Mans, with Nanni Galli (ITA). Halfway through the 1970 season however, while still racing Formula 2, Widdows quit racing.

Longest Lived Olympic Athletics Records

What are the longest lived Olympic records? Well, Olympic records can only be set in certain sports. At the Summer Games, this includes athletics (track & field), swimming, shooting, weightlifting, archery, and Olympic bests are usually considered now in rowing and canoeing. At the Winter Games, the measured sports are speed skating and short-track speed skating, with the best jumps measured in ski jumping.

Let’s consider only athletics at the Summer Olympics for starters. And we have to make some assumptions, as we commonly do. We’re going to consider marks that have lasted the most Olympics, because the gap from 1936-48 and 1912-20 artificially made records last longer that were set in 1912 or 1932-36. So we’ll consider Olympics Between (OlyBT below) and Years Between (YrsBT below). Also, some marks were set a number of Olympics ago but are still the best on record. We’ll consider all of those to last until 2016 (at a minimum, that is true).

Given that, here are all the athletics Olympic records that have lasted 20+ years or 5 or more Olympics.

[table]

OlyBT,YrBT,Event,Mark,Athlete(s),NOC,Year,City

12,48,LJ,8.90A,Bob Beamon,USA,1968,Mexico City

7,28,Steeplechase,8:05.51,Julius Kariuki,KEN,1988,Seoul

7,28,SP,22.47,Ulf Timmermann,GDR,1988,Seoul

7,28,HT,84.80,Sergey Litvinov,URS,1988,Seoul

6,24,400,43.86A,Lee Evans,USA,1968,Mexico City

6,24,5K,13:05.59,Saïd Aouita,MAR,1984,Los Angeles

6,24,Marathon,2-09:21.0,Carlos Lopes,POR,1984,Los Angeles

6,24,400IH,46.78,Kevin Young,USA,1992,Barcelona

6,24,4×400,2:56.16A,Matthews/Freeman/James/Evans,USA,1968,Mexico City

6,24,LJ,7.765,Bob LeGendre,USA,1924,Paris

5,24,HT,54.74,Matt McGrath,USA,1912,Stockholm

5,20,100,9.95A,Jim Hines,USA,1968,Mexico City

5,20,200,[21.6],Archie Hahn,USA,1904,St. Louis

5,20,400,43.49,Michael Johnson,USA,1996,Atlanta

5,20,50KM Wk,3-38:29,Vyacheslav Ivanenko,URS,1988,Seoul

5,20,HJ,2.39,Charles Austin,USA,1996,Atlanta

5,20,TJ,17.39A,Viktor Saneyev,URS,1968,Mexico City

5,20,TJ,18.09,Kenny Harrison,USA,1996,Atlanta

5,20,Deca,8847,Daley Thompson,GBR,1984,Los Angeles

3,20,4×400,3:08.2,Fuqua/Ablowich/Warner/Carr,USA,1932,Los Angeles

3,20,JT,72.71,Matti Järvinen,FIN,1932,Los Angeles

,,,,,,

9,36,800,1:53.43,Nadezhda Olizarenko,URS,1980,Moscow

9,36,SP,22.41,Ilona Schoknecht-Slupianek,GDR,1980,Moscow

8,32,4×100,41.60,Müller/Eckert-Wöckel/Auerswald-Lange/Oelsner-Göhr,GDR,1980,Moscow

7,28,100,10.62,Florence Griffith Joyner,USA,1988,Seoul

7,28,200,21.34,Florence Griffith Joyner,USA,1988,Seoul

7,28,1500,3:54.0,Paula Ivan,ROU,1988,Seoul

7,28,4×400,3:15.18,Ledovskaya/Nazarova/Pinigina/Bryzgina,URS,1988,Seoul

7,28,LJ,7.40,Jackie Joyner-Kersee,USA,1988,Seoul

7,28,DT,72.30,Martina Hellmann,GDR,1988,Seoul

7,28,Hept,7291,Jackie Joyner-Kersee,USA,1988,Seoul

5,20,400,48.25,Marie-José Pérec,FRA,1996,Atlanta

1,32,800,2:16.8,Lina Radke-Batschauer,GER,1928,Amsterdam

[/table]

Now there are caveats, as there usually are. Beamon’s miracle long jump in Mexico City will last at least 48 years, through 2016, and likely longer, as there is nobody on the horizon about to better 8.90 metres. But the mark was altitude-aided, and the Association of Track & Field Statisticians (ATFS), of which I am a member, usually considers altitude-aided marks in the sprints and horizontal jumps differently. The next best among men, and the top two marks for women, were both set in the 1980s, and shall we say, there are a number of rumors about marks set in that era. If you look at the women’s marks, unfortunately, everything was set from 1980-88 until we get to Marie-José Péréc’s 400 metre mark of 48.25 set in Atlanta in 1996. Please also note Lina Radke-Batschauer’s 800 metre mark from Amsterdam. While it lasted until 1960, it only lasted 1 Olympics, because women did not run the 800 metres from 1932-56.

Of the remaining men’s marks, the one that looks to me to have the best chance to continue to rule is Kevin Young’s 400 hurdles mark of 46.78, set in Barcelona. He remains the only hurdler to better 47 seconds, and nobody is threatening that mark these days. Among the women, nobody is approaching all those Olympic records from the 1980s.

What about the best marks by event. Here they are, for men and women, with a few extras thrown in to cover the various “yeah, buts …”:

Men

[table]

OlyBT,YrBT,Event,Mark,Athlete(s),NOC,Year,City

5,20,100,9.95A,Jim Hines,USA,1968,Mexico City

5,20,200,21.6,Archie Hahn,USA,1904,St. Louis

6,24,400,43.86A,Lee Evans,USA,1968,Mexico City

5,20,400,43.49,Michael Johnson,USA,1996,Atlanta

4,16,800,1:42.58,Vebjørn Rodal,NOR,1996,Atlanta

3,16,800,1:51.9,Ted Meredith,USA,1912,Stockholm

2,16,800,1:49.7,Tommy Hampson,GBR,1932,Los Angeles

4,16,1500,3:34.91,Kip Keino,KEN,1968,Mexico City

4,16,1500,3:32.53,Sebastian Coe,GBR,1984,Los Angeles

4,16,1500,3:32.07,Noah Ngeny,KEN,2000,Sydney

2,16,1500,3:47.8,Jack Lovelock,NZL,1936,Berlin

6,24,5K,13:05.59,Saïd Aouita,MAR,1984,Los Angeles

4,16,10K,27:38.34,Lasse Virén,FIN,1972,Munich

2,16,10K,30:11.4,Janusz Kusociński,POL,1932,Los Angeles

6,24,Marathon,2-09:21.0,Carlos Lopes,POR,1984,Los Angeles

7,28,Steeplechase,8:05.51,Julius Kariuki,KEN,1988,Seoul

3,12,110HH,13.24,Rod Milburn,USA,1972,Munich

3,12,110HH,12.91,Liu Xiang,CHN,2004,Athens

2,12,110HH,15.0,Forrest Smithson,USA,1908,London

1,12,110HH,14.1,Forrest Towns,USA,1936,Berlin

6,24,400IH,46.78,Kevin Young,USA,1992,Barcelona

3,12,20K Wk,1-19:57,Jozef Pribilinec,TCH,1988,Seoul

3,12,20K Wk,1-18:59,Robert Korzeniowski,POL,2000,Sydney

5,20,50K Wk,3-38:29,Vyacheslav Ivanenko,URS,1988,Seoul

4,16,4×100,37.40,Marsh/Burrell/Mitchell/Lewis,USA,1992,Barcelona

6,24,4×400,2:56.16A,Matthews/Freeman/James/Evans,USA,1968,Mexico City

5,20,HJ,2.39,Charles Austin,USA,1996,Atlanta

2,16,PV,4.35,Earle Meadows,USA,1936,Berlin

2,8,PV,4.09,Frank Foss,USA,1920,Antwerp

2,8,PV,5.78,Władysław Kozakiewicz,POL,1980,Moscow

2,8,PV,5.90,Sergey Bubka,URS,1988,Seoul

2,8,PV,5.92,Jean Galfione,FRA,1996,Atlanta

2,8,PV,5.92,Igor Trandenkov,RUS,1996,Atlanta

2,8,PV,5.92,Andrej Tiwontschik,GER,1996,Atlanta

12,48,LJ,8.90A,Bob Beamon,USA,1968,Mexico City

6,24,LJ,7.765,Bob LeGendre,USA,1924,Paris

5,20,TJ,17.39A,Viktor Saneyev,URS,1968,Mexico City

5,20,TJ,18.09,Kenny Harrison,USA,1996,Atlanta

7,28,SP,22.47,Ulf Timmermann,GDR,1988,Seoul

3,12,DT,68.28,Mac Wilkins,USA,1976,Montreal

3,12,DT,69.89,Virgilijus Alekna,LTU,2004,Athens

2,12,DT,45.21,Armas Taipale,FIN,1912,Stockholm

1,12,DT,50.48,Ken Carpenter,USA,1936,Berlin

7,28,HT,84.80,Sergey Litvinov,URS,1988,Seoul

3,20,JT,72.71,Matti Järvinen,FIN,1932,Los Angeles

3,12,JT,85.71,Egil Danielsen,NOR,1956,Melbourne

3,12,JT,94.58,Miklós Németh,HUN,1976,Montreal

5,20,Deca,8847,Daley Thompson,GBR,1984,Los Angeles

[/table]

Women

[table]

OlyBT,YrBT,Event,Mark,Athlete(s),NOC,Year,City

7,28,100,10.62,Florence Griffith Joyner,USA,1988,Seoul

7,28,200,21.34,Florence Griffith Joyner,USA,1988,Seoul

5,20,400,48.25,Marie-José Pérec,FRA,1996,Atlanta

9,36,800,1:53.43,Nadezhda Olizarenko,URS,1980,Moscow

7,28,1500,3:54.0,Paula Ivan,ROU,1988,Seoul

4,16,5K,14:40.79,Gabriela Szabo,ROU,2000,Sydney

2,8,10K,31:05.21,Olga Bondarenko,URS,1988,Seoul

2,8,10K,30:17.49,Derartu Tulu,ETH,2000,Sydney

2,8,10K,29:54.66,Tirunesh Dibaba,ETH,2008,Beijing

4,16,Marathon,2-24:52,Joan Benoit,USA,1984,Los Angeles

4,16,100HH,12.38,Yordanka Donkova,BUL,1988,Seoul

2,8,400IH,53.17,Debbie Flintoff-King,AUS,1988,Seoul

2,8,400IH,52.82,Deon Hemmings,JAM,1996,Atlanta

2,8,400IH,52.64,Melaine Walker,JAM,2008,Beijing

2,8,Steeplechase,8:58.81,Gulnara Galkina-Samytova,RUS,2008,Beijing

2,8,20KM Wk,1-29:05,Wang Liping,CHN,2000,Sydney

8,32,4×100,41.60,Müller/Eckert-Wöckel/Auerswald-Lange/Oelsner-Göhr,GDR,1980,Moscow

7,28,4×400,3:15.18,Ledovskaya/Nazarova/Pinigina/Bryzgina,URS,1988,Seoul

3,12,HJ,2.06,Yelena Slesarenko,RUS,2004,Athens

2,16,HJ,1.67,Jean Shiley,USA,1932,Los Angeles

2,8,PV,5.05,Yelena Isinbayeva,RUS,2008,Beijing

7,28,LJ,7.40,Jackie Joyner-Kersee,USA,1988,Seoul

3,12,TJ,15.33,Inessa Kravets,UKR,1996,Atlanta

9,36,SP,22.41,Ilona Schoknecht-Slupianek,GDR,1980,Moscow

7,28,DT,72.30,Martina Hellmann,GDR,1988,Seoul

1,4,HT,71.16,Kamila Skolimowska,POL,2000,Sydney

1,4,HT,75.02,Olga Kuzenkova,RUS,2004,Athens

1,4,HT,76.34,Aksana Miankova,BLR,2008,Beijing

1,4,HT,78.18,Tatyana Lysenko,RUS,2012,London

3,12,JT,74.68,Petra Felke-Meier,GDR,1988,Seoul

3,12,JT,71.53,Osleidys Menéndez,CUB,2004,Athens

2,8,Pent,5246,Irina Press,URS,1964,Tokyo

2,8,Pent,4801,Mary Peters,GBR,1972,Munich

7,28,Hept,7291,Jackie Joyner-Kersee,USA,1988,Seoul

[/table]

We’ll look at a similar analysis for the swimming Olympic records in a few weeks.

Women in Olympic Equestrianism

The FEI World Equestrian Games are currently being held in Normandy, France. The events are mixed but there are many women competing, especially in dressage.

Olympic equestrian was male-only until 1952, in fact, until that year, it was only open to military officers – non-coms need not apply (note: there were some women in 1900 but that Olympics was very odd in many respects). In 1952 women were allowed to compete in dressage, and Lis Hartel inspirationally won a silver medal in individual dressage, despite still not being able to walk normally from the effects of polio. In 1956 jumping was opened to women, but it was not until 1964 that women could compete in three-day eventing.

Since 1964, more and more women have competed in Olympic equestrian, especially in dressage, which is now dominated by women. Let’s look at how the proportion of female equestrian competitors has changed since 1964, and also what percentage of medals have been won by women.

Here are the overall percentages of competitors in the 6 equestrian events from 1964-2012.

EQU CompStats

As you can see, all three disciplines show increasing numbers of women, although strangely, it is relatively flat for show jumping, and the percentage of women in show jumping is oddly low at about 20% from 2000-12. Dressage is dominated by female competitors now, and females have made up more than 50% of dressage riders since 1972, save for the anomalous 1980 Olympics (there were very few women riders that year in any event). Eventing is intermediate between dressage and show jumping, but those curves show definite increasing slope, meaning more and more women competitors at each Olympics in each discipline.

How about medals and gold medals? First, we’ll show charts for dressage, but remember, in all of these, for individual gold medals, its all or nothing – 0% or 100%.

DreIndMeds

DreTeamMeds

Once again, women are picking up more and more medals in dressage, in both events. There has not been a male medalist in individual dressage since 1996, and since 1988, men have won only 2 of 21 medals in that event. In team dressage, women have won over 50% of the medals at each Olympics since 1972, save for 1980, and also 2004. They have also won 50%+ gold medals since 1988, with all-female teams in 2000 and 2008.

Now on to eventing, with charts for both individual and team events.

EventIndMeds

EventTeamMeds

A few things are noteworthy. A woman has not yet won an individual eventing gold medal, but they won 2 of 3 medals individually in 1984, 1996, and 2004-12. In team eventing, the medalists have been about 50% women since 1996. The gold medal stats for team eventing are all over the place.

And finally, the anomalous discipline of show jumping, with both individual and team event charts.

JumpIndMeds

JumpTeamMeds

As in eventing, a woman has yet to win individual gold in show jumping. In fact, women have individually won only 1 medal in 1968-72, 1984, 1996, and 2008. In team jumping, its not much better with women winning only 50% of the team medals in 1984 and 2008, and 0 medals in 1964-76, 1988-2000, and 2012.

It is difficult for us to explain why women are so relatively under-represented in jumping, especially in comparison to eventing, which would seem to be the event which might have fewer women. We have no good explanation.

Roberto Mieres

Sailor, race-car driver, Ferraris, Maseratis

[table]

Category,Data

Full Name,Roberto Casimiro Mieres

Used Name,Roberto Mieres

Nickname,Bitito

Born,3 December 1924; Mar del Plata (ARG)

Died,26 January 2012; Punta del Este (URU)

Measurements,165 cm / 64 kg

[/table]

[table]

Year,Sport,Event,Crew,Finish

1960,Sailing,2-Person Keelboat (Star),Víctor Fragola,17

[/table]

Roberto C. Mieres, colloquially known as “Bitito”, was born in Mar de Plata, on 3 December 1924. He belonged to a wealthy family, and was active in many sports, including tennis, rugby, rowing and yachting. In 1948, he drove his first racing car, a Mercedes.
Mieres
In 1950, after having won the Argentine sportscar championship, he was invited to join his fellow countrymen, Juan Manuel Fangio and Froilán González, for some races in Europe. Driving a Ferrari, he placed fourth in the Geneva GP, a non-championship race. After that, Mieres was absent from the European circuits for several years, until Gordini offered him a ride for the 1953 season. Mieres drove three races, placing sixth in the Italian GP. For the next season, he entered the first five races of the season as a privateer, racing his own Maserati. Following the death of the Argentine Maserati driver Onofre Marimón at the German GP, Mieres was invited to join the Maserati factory team. This move immediately proved successful, with Mieres scoring fourth places in both Switzerland and Spain, and eventually sharing eighth place in the championship.

He stayed with the Maserati team for 1955. During the season opener, in front of his home crowd in Buenos Aires, Mieres briefly lead the race, but eventually finished fifth . But Maserati was no match to the strong Mercedes-Benz cars, and Mieres again placed eighth in the championship. The Dutch GP at Zandvoort was his best race, placing fourth, but recording the fastest lap. After the season, Mieres went back to Argentina, not to appear in the European racing scene again, although he would make appearances in the Buenos Aires 1000 km sportscar race in 1957 and 1958.

Mieres switched his focus from racing to sailing, and this resulted in qualification for the Olympic Games of Rome, 1960. Together with Víctor Fragola, he entered the Star class. His final classification was 17th, two spots before Prince Bira, who had also raced a Maserati in the 1954 season. Mieres later settled in the Uruguayan city of Punta del Este, where he lived until his death.

Posthumous Olympians

OK, we know, you read the title of the post and thought we had lost our minds. And “competing” in the Olympics is probably a bit of a misnomer. But the title is correct and there have been Olympians who were deceased at the time of their Olympic participation or when they were honored at the Olympics.

Not well known is that from 1912-48 there were Arts Competitions held at the Olympic Games. Artists, musicians, and writers entered their works into competitions and received medals for their work. In a number of cases the artists entered their works, but died before the Olympics and the Arts Competitions started. So effectively they competed posthumously.

Also in 1924 and 1936 the IOC awarded Alpinism Medals for the best feats of Alpinism since the previous Olympics. This is also not well-known but it is interesting that this concept was set forth by Pierre, Baron de Coubertin in his original list of events for the Olympics at the Sorbonne Congress in 1894. In several cases, some of the climbers were killed during their Olympian climbing feats, notably several members of George Mallory’s Everest expeditions in the early 1920s (see our previous post on Olympstats about Olympians Atop Everest).

So, yes, there have been posthumous Olympians. Here is the complete list:

[table]

Athlete,Nation(s),Sport(s),Era

George Bellows,USA,ART,1932

Karl Borschke,AUT,ART,1936-48

Glenn Coleman,USA,ART,1932

Alois Dryák,TCH,ART,1932

Jozuë Dupon,BEL,ART,1936

Thomas Eakins,USA,ART,1932

Frank Gillett,GBR,ART,1928

Philip Hale,USA,ART,1932

Otto Hofner,AUT,ART,1932-48

Ulrich Hübner,GER,ART,1932

Tait McKenzie,CAN,ART,1912-48

Luc Albert Moreau,FRA,ART,1948

Charles Rumsey,USA,ART,1928

Ladislav Toman,TCH,ART,1936

,,,

George Mallory,GBR,ALP,1924

Toni Schmid,GER,ALP,1932

Antarge Sherpa,IND,ALP,1924

Lhakpa Sherpa,IND,ALP,1924

Narbu Sherpa,IND,ALP,1924

Pasang Sherpa,IND,ALP,1924

Pembra Sherpa,IND,ALP,1924

Sange Sherpa,IND,ALP,1924

Temba Sherpa,IND,ALP,1924

[/table]

Nations With Most Olympic Medals But No Golds

So which nations have won the most Olympic medals but never managed a gold medal? For many years, the answer to this question was Mongolia, which had won 15 medals through the 2000 Olympics, before breaking thru with 2 gold medals at Athens in 2004.

But the answer is now The Philippines, which has won 9 medals – 2 silvers and 7 bronzes, but has never won a gold medal. Well, in a sense. If we include demonstration sports, in 1988, Arianne Cerdena won the women’s bowling demonstration event at Seoul. But in full medal events, no Filipino has ever mounted the top step of the podium.

Here are all the nations that have won 2 or more Olympic medals without winning a gold medal:

[table]

NOC,Gold,Silver,Bronze,Medals

The Philippines,-,2,7,9

Puerto Rico,-,2,6,8

Moldova,-,2,5,7

Malaysia,-,3,3,6

Namibia,-,4,-,4

Iceland,-,2,2,4

Lebanon,-,2,2,4

Singapore,-,2,2,4

Bohemia,-,1,3,4

Ghana,-,1,3,4

Qatar,-,-,4,4

Independent Olympic Athletes,-,1,2,3

Kyrgyzstan,-,1,2,3

Saudi Arabia,-,1,2,3

Tajikistan,-,1,2,3

Sri Lanka,-,2,-,2

Tanzania,-,2,-,2

Vietnam,-,2,-,2

Haiti,-,1,1,2

United Arab Republic,-,1,1,2

Zambia,-,1,1,2

Afghanistan,-,-,2,2

Kuwait,-,-,2,2

West Indies Federation,-,-,2,2

[/table]

Two “nations” above no longer exist and will not be moving off the list. The United Arab Republic was a team formed from Egypt and Syria in 1960. Syria left the alliance in 1961, but Egypt continued to use the name at the 1964 and 1968 Olympics. The West Indies Federation competed only in 1960, with athletes from Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, and Barbados.

If we limit ourselves only to the Summer Olympics, the above list still holds – none of those nations have won a Winter Olympic medal. If we look at only the Winter Olympics, the leader is Latvia, which has won 7 Winter Olympic medals – 4 silver and 3 bronze – without winning gold. The Winter list of those winning 2 or more medals without a gold is as follows:

[table]

NOC,Gold,Silver,Bronze,Medals

Latvia,-,4,3,7

Hungary,-,2,4,6

Yugoslavia,-,3,1,4

Luxembourg,-,2,-,2

Korea DPR (North),-,1,1,2

[/table]

Now breaking this down by gender, the following nations have won the most medals in men’s event without winning gold, which is again very similar to the overall and summer lists given above, although now Colombia is tied with The Philippines:

[table]

NOC,Gold,Silver,Bronze,Medals

Colombia,-,4,5,9

The Philippines,-,2,7,9

Puerto Rico,-,2,6,8

Moldova,-,2,4,6

Malaysia,-,3,2,5

Serbia,-,1,4,5

Namibia,-,4,-,4

Lebanon,-,2,2,4

Ghana,-,1,3,4

Liechtenstein,-,1,3,4

Qatar,-,-,4,4

Iceland,-,2,1,3

Bohemia,-,1,2,3

Kyrgyzstan,-,1,2,3

Tanzania,-,2,-,2

Haiti,-,1,1,2

Syria,-,1,1,2

Tajikistan,-,1,1,2

United Arab Republic,-,1,1,2

Zambia,-,1,1,2

Afghanistan,-,-,2,2

Kuwait,-,-,2,2

West Indies Federation,-,-,2,2

[/table]

Among women, Argentina is a big leader, with 11 female medals, but no golds. The full list is as follows:

[table]

NOC,Gold,Silver,Bronze,Medals

Argentina,-,5,6,11

Mongolia,-,1,2,3

Singapore,-,1,2,3

India,-,-,3,3

Independent Olympic Athletes,-,1,1,2

Venezuela,-,-,2,2

[/table]

And just to be fully anal about this, we’ll look at medals won in mixed events without a gold. Once again, Argentina leads this list with 5:

[table]

NOC,Gold,Silver,Bronze,Medals

Argentina,-,3,2,5

Portugal,-,3,1,4

Bulgaria,-,1,2,3

Mexico,-,-,3,3

Indonesia,-,2,-,2

Peru,-,2,-,2

Cuba,-,1,1,2

Ireland,-,1,1,2

The Ukraine,-,1,1,2

Saudi Arabia,-,-,2,2

[/table]

Will be fun to see which of these nations come off these lists in Rio and Pyeongchang.

Peter Camejo

Venezuelan Sailor, US Presidential Candidate, Social Activist

Full Name       Pedro Miguel “Peter” Camejo Guanche

Used Name    Peter Camejo

Born                   31 December 1939; Queens, New York (USA)

Died                   13 September 2008; Folsom, California (USA)

Vitals                179 cm / 65 kg

[table]

Games,Sport,Event,Place

1960 Summer,Sailing,Two-Person Keelboat (Star),21

[/table]

Although he competed in sailing for Venezuela (with his father Daniel Camejo) at the 1960 Rome Olympics, Peter Camejo is one of only four Olympians to have run for President of the United States (along with Bob Richards, Bill Bradley, and Benjamin Spock). Born to a wealthy Venezuelan family, his mother had Peter born in New York, because of the better health care, and he thus earned dual citizenship. He later attended MIT but dropped out to pursue civil rights work in the American south, and participated in civil rights marches in Selma, Alabama. He returned to school at U Cal Berkeley but was expelled in the 1960s, amazingly for Berkeley, for his vocal criticism of the Vietnam War, although ostensibly it was for “using an unauthorized microphone.” In 1968, while still a student he was placed on Governor Ronald Reagan’s list of the 10 most dangerous Californians because of his anti-war protests.

In 1976, Camejo ran for President as a member of the Socialist Workers’ Party, a Trotskyist organization. On the ballot in 18 states, he received 90,986 votes nationwide. He later was tossed from the party after he alleged corruption among the leadership. In 1991 he helped establish the Californian Green Party, and he ran for Governor of California in both 2002 and 2003 as a member of that party. In 2002 he received 393,000 votes, or 5.3% of the electorate, the largest total vote by a third-party candidate for California governor since 1946. In 2004, Ralph Nader had Camejo on his ticket as a Vice-Presidential candidate. Nader and Camejo came in third in the Presidential election, after the Republican and Democratic candidates, receiving 460,000 votes, or 0.4% of the national vote.

In the last decade of his life Camejo served as the CEO of a financial investment firm that focused on socially responsible investments. He died in 2008 after a two-year struggle with lymphoma.

Olympian Suicides

Olympians have usually achieved great success in sports, but such success does not always translate to other fields, nor does it guarantee happiness in one’s life. Unfortunately a number of Olympians were unable to deal with the realities of everyday life and chose to end their own. Here is the list of Olympians who have committed suicide.

[table]

Athlete,Nation(s),Sport(s),Era,Notes

Bill Agee,USA,ATH,1928,Committed suicide by slashing his wrist.

John Albrechtson,SWE,SAI,1968-76,

Percy Almstedt,SWE,SAI,1920,Committed suicide by shooting himself.

Charles Aman,USA,ROW,1904,

Alfred Annan,USA,GOL,1904,

Yevgeny Babich,URS,ICH,1956,Committed suicide by hanging himself.

Eugène Balme,FRA,SHO,1908,

Heidi Becker-Ramlow,GDR,DIV,1972-76,

Yevgeny Belosheykin (DNS),URS,ICH,1988,

Ahmet Bilek,TUR,WRE,1960,

Edith Bonlieu,FRA,ASK,1956,Committed suicide as member of the Order of the Solar Temple.

Franco Bontadini,ITA,FTB,1912,Committed suicide after a disappointment in love.

Erich Borchmeyer,GER,ATH,1932-36,

Hugo Borja,MEX,BAS,1936,Committed suicide after his daughter died of an infection; date unknown

Günter Böttcher,FRG,HAN,1976,Committed suicide in a hospital.

Enrico Bovone,ITA,BAS,1968,

Walter Brödel,SAA,FEN,1952,

Jürgen Brümmer,FRG,GYM,1988,Committed suicide by jumping from a bridge after having killed his son.

Ricardo Cardoso,BRA,JUD,1988,Committed suicide in 1991 after a love disappointment.

Edwin Everett Codman,USA,ART,1932,

Richard Corts,GER,ATH,1928,

Ivan Viscount d’Oyley,USA,FEN,1900,Died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Sigi Denk,AUT,CYC,1972,Committed suicide by hanging.

Jacques Dimont,FRA,FEN,1968,

Christophe Dupouey,FRA,CYC,1996-00,

Knut Torbjørn Eggen,NOR,FTB,1984,Committed suicide. Noted of him that he “had come to the point of life where he was more afraid to live than to die”

István Énekes,HUN,BOX,1932,

Jackson Fear,AUS,ARC,1996,

Ragnar Fogelmark,SWE,WRE,1912,

Lucien Gaudin,FRA,FEN,1920-28,

Oskar Gloeckler,GER,ART,1928-32,

Daan de Groot,Ned NED,CYC,1952,

David Guttman,SWE,ATH,1912,Committed suicide by hanging himself.

Jerry Heidenreich,USA,SWI,1972,

Claudia Heill,AUT,JUD,2004-08,Fell from the sixth floor of her flat. It is possible that she committed suicide per original press reports.

Gabriel Hernández,DOM,BOX,1996,He committed suicide by hanging (aged 27) nine days after his last bout against Ralph Monday.

Lutz Hoffmann,GDR,GYM,1980,

Robert Howard,USA,ATH,1996-00,Committed suicide after murdering his wife.

Herbert Huber,AUT,ASK,1968,Committed suicide by hanging.

Yelena Ivashchenko,RUS,JUD,2012,Jumped from her apartment window which was on the 15th floor.

Peter Jaks,SUI,ICH,1988-92,Committed suicide by train.

Hamilton Jukes,GBR,ICH,1924,

Jo Kaiser,GER,ATH,1960,

Anneliese Kapp,GER,DIV,1936,

Kentaro Kawatsu,JPN,SWI,1932,

Per Kinde,SWE,SHO,1920,Committed suicide by hanging himself.

František Kobzík,TCH,ROW,1936,Committed suicide to avoid capture during World War II.

Yoshio Kojima,JPN,ATH,1956,

Clive Longe,GBR,ATH,1968,Committed suicide after murdering his girlfriend.

Frank Mackey,USA,POL,1900,Committed suicide – shot himself while suffering from a terminal illness.

Kersten Meier,FRG,SWI,1972,Committed suicide by jumping from a bridge.

Eugenio Monti,ITA,BOB,1956-68,

Mika Myllylä,FIN,CCS,1992-98,

Takeichi Baron Nishi,JPN,EQU,1932-36,Possibly committed suicide during the Battle of Iwo Jima.

Marco Pantani,ITA,CYC,2000,

Dušan Pašek,TCH,ICH,1984-88,Committed suicide by shooting himself.

Víctor Peralta,ARG,BOX,1928,Committed suicide; shot himself while suffering from terminal prostate cancer

Nils Persson,SWE,SAI,1912,Committed suicide by hanging himself.

Jeret Peterson,USA,FRS,2002-10,Died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head; found in Lambs Canyon (Utah).

Antonio Pettigrew,USA,ATH,2000,Committed suicide by an overdose of pills containing diphenhydramine.

Dan Pippin,USA,BAS,1952,

Vladimír Podzimek,Tch TCH,SKJ,1984,Committed suicide by hanging himself.

Andrey Prokofyev,URS,ATH,1980,Committed suicide by hanging himself.

Pierre Quinon,FRA,ATH,1984,

Fausto Radici,ITA,ASK,1976,Committed suicide by shooting himself with a handgun.

Rhoda Rennie,RSA,SWI,1928,

Guy Revell,CAN,FSK,1964,

Jesús Miguel Rollán,ESP,WAP,1988-04,Died after a fall from a balcony of a rehabilitation clinic where he was treated for depression – possibly he committed suicide.

Ludwig Count von Salm-Hoogstraeten,AUT,TEN,1912,Committed suicide by jumping to avoid capture by Nazis.

Stephen Scherer,USA,SHO,2008,Committed suicide by shooting himself.

Thomas Schleicher,AUT,JUD,1996,Committed suicide while in prison.

Shamil Serikov,URS,WRE,1980,

Christine Smith,AUS,ASK,1964,

Boris Strel,YUG,ASK,1980-84,

Doc Strong,USA,WRE,1936,Committed suicide in a jail cell where he sat for public drunkenness.

Willy Sulzbacher,FRA,FEN,1900,Committed suicide by shooting himself.

Darren Sutherland,IRL,BOX,2008,

Gholam Reza Takhti,IRI,WRE,1952-64,Officially he committed suicide but a lot of sources mention theories about being murdered for his political activities.

Hidemitsu Tanaka,JPN,ROW,1932,

Harold Thomas,NZL,BOX,1932,Committed suicide by jumping from a train few hours after his fiancee’s death.

Adán Torres,ARG,ATH,1948,Committed suicide upon becoming disabled after being struck by a vehicle – date unknown.

Fritz Traun,GER,ATH/TEN,1896,

Kokichi Tsuburaya,JPN,ATH,1964,

Ernst Udet,GER,ART,1936,Committed suicide –  shot himself after years of alcoholism and drugs

Vladimír Vávra,TCH,WRE,1928,

Sammy Wanjiru,KEN,ATH,2008,Committed suicide after being found in love triangle by his wife.

Billy Ward,AUS,BOX,2012,

Mike Whitmarsh,USA,BVO,1996,

Percy Williams,CAN,ATH,1928-32,

John Wood,CAN,CAN,1968-76,

Hiromi Yamafuji,JPN,CYC,1964,

Ikuko Yoda,JPN,ATH,1964,

Masami Yoshida,JPN,ATH,1984-92,

[/table]

TOP Sponsorship

It was announced recently that Bridgestone has signed with the IOC through 2024, renewing their commitment as a TOP Sponsor. TOP originally stood for The Olympic Programme, but was changed a few years ago to stand for The Olympic Partners. TOP was a program started in the early 1980s by Dick Pound and Juan Antonio Samaranch as a way to help make the IOC less dependent on the largesse of American television networks, which through the 1970s provided almost all the income received by the IOC and the Olympic Family. The principle of TOP was to have only a few sponsors who would pay high rights fees to be exclusive Olympic Sponsors within their category. Thus Coca-Cola could be a sponsor, but TOP exclusivity would prevent Pepsi-Cola from also joining the group.

Bridgestone TOP Sponsor

Over the years the IOC has had 29 different TOP Sponsors, starting with TOP I from 1985-1988. There have been a maximum of 12 companies in any Olympiad, after having 8 companies involved with TOP I. Below we provide a table of all the TOP Sponsors and the years they have been part of the program, along with numbers and estimates of the moneys generated by TOP. Originally the IOC announced how much money was generated by TOP, but the contracts have become somewhat more secretive so for the more recent years (and coming years), the numbers are estimates.

There have been commitments for TOP IX and TOP X through 2024 from both Panasonic and Bridgestone. Panasonic has been a TOP Sponsor for all 10 versions of the program, the only company to date with that distinction, although I suspect it is highly likely that both Coca-Cola and VISA will renew their sponsorship and join Panasonic as TOP Sponsors for every version of the program. Other long-running sponsors are McDonalds, now committed thru 6 TOP programs, and Samsung, committed thru 5 TOP programs. Of note, Coca-Cola’s Olympic sponsorship dates back thru 1928, as the longest running Olympic sponsor, well predating TOP.

A few companies have opted in for one Olympiad and never renewed. Included in this group are Acer, FedEx (then Federal Express), Johnson & Johnson, Lenovo, Manulife, Mars, Ricoh, and Schlumberger/SEMA.

[table]

Company / TOP,I,II,III,IV,V,VI,VII,VIII,IX,X,###

3M,x,x,,,,,,,,,2

Acer,,,,,,,x,,,,1

Atos Origin,,,,,,x,x,x,x,,4

Bausch & Lomb,,x,x,,,,,,,,2

Bridgestone,,,,,,,,x,x,x,3

Brother,x,x,,,,,,,,,2

Coca-Cola,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,,9

Dow Chemical,,,,,,,x,x,x,,3

Federal Express,x,,,,,,,,,,1

General Electric,,,,,,x,x,x,x,,4

IBM,,,x,x,,,,,,,2

John Hancock,,,x,x,x,,,,,,3

Johnson & Johnson,,,,,,x,,,,,1

Kodak,x,x,x,x,x,x,,,,,6

Lenovo,,,,,,x,,,,,1

Manulife,,,,,,x,,,,,1

Mars,,x,,,,,,,,,1

McDonalds,,,,x,x,x,x,x,x,,6

Omega,,,,,,x,x,x,x,,4

Panasonic (Matsushita),x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,10

Philips,x,x,,,,,,,,,2

Proctor & Gamble,,,,,,,x,x,x,,3

Ricoh,,x,,,,,,,,,1

Samsung,,,,x,x,x,x,x,,,5

Schlumberger SEMA,,,,,x,,,,,,1

Time/Sports Illustrated,,x,x,x,x,,,,,,4

UPS,,x,x,x,,,,,,,3

VISA,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,x,,9

Xerox,,,x,x,x,,,,,,3

Number of Sponsors,8,12,10,11,10,12,11,11,10,2,29

Money (millions $US),$96,$172,$279,$579,$663,$866,$958,$1155,$1150,$250,$6168

Begin,1985,1989,1993,1997,2001,2005,2009,2013,2017,2021,

End,1988,1992,1996,2000,2004,2008,2012,2016,2020,2024,

[/table]

 

Did an eight year old compete and win a medal at the Olympics?

When it comes to tracking down missing biographical details for Olympians who competed over a hundred years ago you might expect the trail to be pretty cold by now – and you’d be right. Without divulging too much of our methods, I’ll just say that it can be done if you’re willing to put in the hard yardage cross referencing known information with newspaper reports, censuses, birth records and even ships’ manifests. The best person I know at this is my Estonian colleague Taavi Kalju and it was while researching some French and Belgian Olympians from the early part of the last century that he found a surprising piece of information. The star of this story is about as obscure an Olympian as you could possibly find, a Belgian coxswain who steered the Royal Club Nautique de Gand (Dutch Koninklijke Roeivereniging Club Gent) rowing eight in the Olympic Games of 1900 and 1908 by the name of Alfred Van Landeghem.

Taavi searched the birth registers of Ghent for a possible match and found only one. Now this is where things get interesting because this Alfred Van Landeghem was born on the 26th October 1891 which would make him 8 years and 316 days old when he competed at the Paris Olympic Games of 1900. Not surprisingly that would make him the youngest known Olympian ever and, since his team placed second in the final, the youngest known Olympic medallist ever as well. The 1900 Olympic rowing events were notable for the use of very young coxswain. Some, like the mysterious young French boy picked out of the crowd as a replacement cox for the Dutch pair, have vanished into history without their name or age being recorded for posterity. (There is a name we have seen but we don’t trust it, and won’t even publish it here.) A picture of the late substitute exists which suggests he may be in his early teens or possible as young as 10.

So what of Van Landeghem? Was he really an 8-year-old Olympic medallist? No pictures seem to exist of his Olympic exploits but a postcard was published of the Belgian crew at the 1909 Henley Regatta.

Offical result of the final 1909
Van Landeghem is sitting directly in front of the trophy.

The Van Landeghem born in 1891 would be 17 in 1909 and this appears to tally with the appearance of the man in the picture. Van Landeghem was a cox of Royal Club Nautique de Gand from 1900-1903 winning multiple European titles in coxed pairs, fours and eights.
In the following years Royal Club Nautique de Gand used other coxes (Raphael Van der Waerden & Rodolphe Colpaert), but in 1908 and1909 again Van Landeghem was against used as cox for his club, including at the 1909 Henley Regatta. Ghent crews were very prominent in European rowing circles in early 1900s, winning multiple European titles and the Henley Regatta Grand Challenge Cup in 1906, 1907 and 1909.

Sadly there is a tragic postscript to this story as he died on 19 October 1914, a week shy of his 23rd birthday. It may well be that he was killed in action, as 19 October was the first day of the Battle of Ypres although his name does not appear on the lists of Belgian war dead that we have so far found.

We have been in touch with his club who are helping us with our enquiries but, at the moment, all we can say it that seems likely that we have the right man though we don’t have that final piece of conclusive evidence.
If anyone can help on this matter feel free to contact us via this blog or by contacting http://www.sports-reference.com/feedback/

All the Olympic Stats You'll Ever Need