This week the film “Foxcatcher” will be released in the United States and already the word is that it may figure prominently in the nominations for the 2015 Academy Awards. The story surrounding the death of US Olympic wrestling champion Dave Schultz at the hands of paranoid-schizophrenic millionaire coach John du Pont has already gained critical plaudits especially for the performance of Steve Carrell as Du Pont.

There is a long history based on films based on the Olympic Games, or featuring Olympians, that goes way back into the mists of time. A few are regarded as classics of the silver screen; others are barely remembered at all. Let’s take a look at a selection of some of the more memorable movies based around the Olympic Games. These don’t include appearances by Olympians in acting roles in films without the Games as a central subject or documentaries. Those will be subjects of further posts in the near future.

The Ancient Olympics
Asterix at the Olympics (2008)
Live action version of the famous French cartoon book starring Gérard Depardieu which was released to coincide with the Beijing Olympics. Partly a sly parody of real life, much of the plot revolves around the use of a magic potion that is banned for the Olympic competitions.
It was badly received by critics and public alike.

1896 Athens
It Happened in Athens (1962)

Based extremely loosely around the events of the inaugural Olympic marathon, Jayne Mansfield plays an actress who announces that she will marry the winner of the race whilst safe in the knowledge that her lover, an army officer, is the clear favourite. The natural running talent of a young shepherd called Spyridon Louis complicates the matter. The film was a flop when it came out and did irreparable damage to the careers of the lead actors. It featured a cameo from two time decathlon champion Bob Mathias.

1912 Stockholm
Jim Thorpe All-American (1951)
Burt Lancaster stars in the title role as the Native American who, apart from being the greatest all-round athlete on the planet, played professional American football and baseball. Thorpe himself appears in a cameo role as a coach. The film covers his exploits in Stockholm but also the triumphs and tragedies in his life and sporting career from high school to the year of the movie’s release.
It was a box office success at the time of its release.

1924 Paris
Chariots of Fire (1981)

Probably the benchmark in Olympic movies, the movie tells the tale of British sprinters Eric Liddell and Harold Abrahams. Liddell was the 400 metre champion in Paris before becoming a Christian missionary in China whilst the story of Abrahams, the 100 metre champion at the same Games, is set across a background of anti-Semitism and the British class system. A winner of 3 Oscars including best picture, it is also memorable for the score by Greek composer Vangelis.

1936 Berlin
Race (2016)
This is the one film in this list that has yet to be released. Filming began on this telling of the Jesse Owens story earlier this year. Starring Canadian actor Stephan James as Owens with Jeremy Irons as future IOC President Avery Brundage, the film is due for release in April 2016.

Berlin 1936 (2009)
“Berlin 1936” takes the story of Gretel Bergman and Dora Ratjen at the Berlin Olympics as a starting point even if most of the story bares little relation to the true events of 1936. In the film Marie Ketteler, a fictionalized version of Ratjen, is a man used by the Nazis to challenge Bergman, the Jewish athlete, for a place on the German team in the high jump. In real life, whether the authorities knew that Ratjen had an intersex condition is still a matter for conjecture.
The film was a modest success in financial terms.

1952 Oslo
Schwere Jungs 2006 (Heavyweights)

A low budget film based, if very loosely, on the story of the heavyweight German bobsleigh crew that won two gold medals at the Oslo Olympics.

1956 Melbourne
Geordie (1955)
A gentle British romantic comedy about a skinny young Scots boy who, with a help of a Charles Atlas type bodybuilding course, turns himself into a champion hammer thrower. He’s unable to perform well until he wears his father’s kilt in competition. This trick turns him from an also ran into the Olympic champion.

Szabadság, Szerelem (Children of Glory) (2006)
Using fictional lead characters and including a romantic subplot, the film weaves in the Soviet Union’s invasion of Hungary in 1956 with the Hungarian water polo’s Olympic campaign and, in particular, “The Blood in the Water Match” between Hungary and the USSR in Melbourne.

1964 Tokyo
Walk Don’t Run (1966)

You can just imagine the conversation that led to the making of this film.
“O.K. Whatcha got?”
“Well, it’s a romantic comedy based on the accommodation shortage at the Tokyo Olympics”
“Yeah…”
“And the romantic lead is a race walker”
“This isn’t promising”
“But we got Cary Grant”
“Better”
“And there’s a cameo from the guy who plays Sulu in Star Trek”
“What’s Star Trek?”
“Ah well, it hasn’t been made yet but, trust me, it’s going to be big”
“That settles it, go ahead and make the film”
The story concerns a secretary at the British Embassy who lets out half her apartment to a British businessman, played by Grant, who sublets to the American walker. The rest of the film revolves around Grant’s attempt to get the pair together romantically.

1968 Grenoble
Downhill Racer 1969
Robert Redford stars as an egotistic American skier who clashes with team mates and official alike.
Of course he gets things together to win the Olympic title.

1972 Munich
Prefontaine (1997)
Without Limits (1998)
Two biopics of American distance runner Steve Prefontaine were released within a year of each other. Both portray Prefontaine as a maverick, headstrong but naturally gifted runner though they are told from different viewpoints. “Prefontaine” was told through the eyes of assistant coach Bill Dellinger whilst “Without Limits” has legendary coach Bill Bowerman as the focus of the film.
“Without Limits” was generally the better reviewed of the pair though both were major box office flops.

Munich (2005)
Stephen Spielberg directed and produced this film which dealt with the aftermath of the murder of members of the Israeli team in 1972. It traces the attempts of a group of Israeli agents to track down and assassinate members of the Black September terrorist group responsible for the massacre.
Although nominated for five Academy Awards, it failed to win in any category.

1980 Lake Placid
Miracle (2004)

This is a retelling of the story of the unlikely victory of the US ice hockey team at the Lake Placid Olympics with Kurt Russell in the lead role of coach Herb Brooks. It’s basically another mismatched band of individuals fashioned into a team by an inspirational coach story but, in this case, done with more than usual style and attention to detail. It made $64,000,000 at the box office which was more than twice the production costs.

1988 Calgary
Cool Runnings (1993)

A heavily fictionalized version of the story of the 1988 Jamaican bobsleigh team starring Canadian comedian John Candy as a coach very loosely based on US champion Howard Siler. Played heavily for comedy, it became a smash hit and the most successful in box office terms of any film on this list.
The profits from the film now approach $200,000,000.

1988 Seoul
Jappeloup (2013)
This is a French film which traces the story of Pierre Durand, the lawyer who gave up his career to aim for Olympic glory, and his partnership with the horse Jappeloup which took him to the Olympic Games of 1984 and 1988.
It traces his disappointments in Los Angeles and gold medal success in Seoul.
Amongst the cast are the well-known French actor Daniel Auteuil and Canada’s Donald Sutherland.
The film was a critical and commercial success in France.

1992 Albertville
The Cutting Edge 1992
A romantic comedy about a rich and spoilt female skater forced to team up with an ice hockey player in their quest for Olympic glory. A moderate success in cinemas, it gained a new round of popularity when shown on TV and spawned 3 sequels.

1998 Nagano
Take Off (2009)
Yet another film to be based on a true story but which includes plot lines which are completely fictitious.
The story of the founding of a South Korean ski jumping team to compete at the Nagano Olympics soared to success in Korea although it made little progress outside its own country.

2004 Athens
Forever the Moment (2008)
Probably the only major film to centre on women’s handball, the film traces the Korean team on the way to the final of the 2004 Athens Olympics. A relatively formulaic adaptation of a familiar theme of a team of individuals bonding together under an inspirational coach, it was a big success in Korea

On the 30th of October 1974 George Foreman, the reigning professional heavyweight boxing champion of the world, stepped into a ring in Kinshasa, Zaire to defend his title against former champion Muhammad Ali. What happened next has entered sporting folklore as arguably the most famous fight of all time, the Rumble in the Jungle.

Ali-Foreman

But of course as this is a blog concerning the Olympic Games we’ll choose to dwell on another aspect of the match – that of it being one of the rare instances where two Olympic champions have fought each other for the World Heavyweight title. Boxing became an Olympic sport in 1904 and, with the exception of 1912, has remained in the Games ever since but in that span of 110 years only eleven times have two Olympic champions met for what is regularly described as “the greatest prize in professional sport”.

So when exactly has this happened? The answer is below. The list is restricted to generally accepted versions of the titles. Of the 11 instances documented, 6 involve Muhammad Ali.

#1 22/8/1957 Floyd Patterson KO 6 Pete Rademacher
Floyd Patterson, the champion at middleweight in Helsinki in 1952 at just 17, became the youngest ever heavyweight champion whilst still only 21. As many of the leading contenders for the title were under the control of the International Boxing Club of New York (which had links to organised crime) Patterson’s handlers shied from fighting them and were inventive in choosing opponents.
Pete Rademacher had won the heavyweight gold medal at the Melbourne Games nine months before he faced Patterson for the title and, amazingly, this was to be his professional debut. Rademacher started well, winning the first round then putting Patterson on the canvas in the second but Patterson recovered and battered his way to an emphatic six round victory.

#2 22/11/1965 Muhammad Ali TKO 12 Floyd Patterson
Patterson, having lost his world title via a crushing defeat to Sonny Liston had rebounded well enough to earn a shot at Muhammad Ali, who as Cassius Clay, had won the Olympic light-heavyweight title in 1960. Patterson injured his back in training but refused to pull out of the fight. Accepted history records that Ali “mocked, humiliated and punished Patterson throughout before knocking him out in the 12th round” but an interview with Ali conducted post-fight revealed that Ali, knowing Floyd was in serious pain through his injury, backed off and waited for the fight to be stopped or for Patterson to retire.

#3 8/3/1971 Joe Frazier Pts 15 Muhammad Ali
“The Fight of the Century”, as it was called, pitted Ali, who was back in the ring after being stripped of his belt and suspended after refusing the draft, with the 1964 Olympic heavyweight champion, “Smokin’” Joe Frazier. It was a fight that lived up to the hype as the two men traded blow for blow before a celebrity studded Madison Square Garden crowd. Frazier scored a knockdown in the final round to seal victory.

Ali-Frazier I

#4 22/1/1973 George Foreman TKO 2 Joe Frazier
Kingston, Jamaica saw the “Immovable Object”, reigning heavyweight champion Joe Frazier, go head to head with the “Irresistible Force” in the shape of 1968 Olympic heavyweight champion George Foreman. Unfortunately for him, Frazier proved all too movable and mostly in the downwards direction. The champion was sent to the canvas six times before the referee proclaimed Foreman the winner. In American television this fight was famous for Howard Cosell, announcing it, who kept proclaiming, after each knockdown, “Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier!”. This was the 1st time two Olympic heavyweight champions had met for the professional heavyweight title.

#5 30/10/1974 Muhammad Ali KO 8 George Foreman
This is where we came in. In the unlikely setting of a football stadium in downtown Kinshasa, Zaire, one of the famous events not just in boxing but in all sports, took place. Foreman, considered a monster of the ring, was the clear favourite against the older Ali but after dominating the early exchanges he ran out of steam and Ali took advantage to record a stunning knockout victory. 40 years later it remains a landmark in sporting history.

#6 1/10/1975 Muhammad Ali TKO 14 Joe Frazier
Ali and Frazier had fought a rematch in 1974 with Ali gaining revenge via a unanimous points decision. After Ali regained the heavyweight title later that year it became inevitable that a third match between the two would take place. The fight would take place in Manila in October 1975 and is widely considered to be one of the best, and certainly most brutal, bouts in history. In the 14th round, with both men nearing the point of total exhaustion, Ali unleashed a devastating series of punches which led to Frazier retiring in his corner between rounds. Neither man was ever the same again. The two men had been mutually antagonistic throughout their careers but after the fight Ali commented – “Fighting Joe Frazier is the closest to death I can ever imagine. If I’m ever called to a Holy War I want Joe Frazier fighting besides me.”

#7 15/2/1978 Leon Spinks Pts 15 Muhammad Ali
#8 15/9/1978 Muhammad Ali Pts 15 Leon Spinks
Now in the twilight of his career, Ali arranged what seemed like a routine defence against the 1976 Olympic light-heavyweight champion Leon Spinks. In the first meeting Spinks turned up fit and hungry and in only his 8th professional fight used his youth and fitness to finish strongly and win a split decision victory over a subdued and listless Ali. Seven months later and the tide had turned in the favour of the old champion. Spinks, by then in the early stages of drink and drug dependency, was easily outpointed by a better prepared Ali.

Ali-Spinks II

#9 16/3/2002 Wladimir Klitschko TKO 6 Ray Mercer
After a gap of 23 years two Olympic champions stepped into the ring to battle for the heavyweight title once again in 2002. The occasion was a defence of the WBO title by Ukrainian Wladimir Klitschko, the 1996 Olympic super-heavyweight gold medal winner, against Ray Mercer, winner of the Olympic title at heavyweight back in 1988. The 41 year old Mercer was expected to be little more than a sacrificial victim for the younger man and that’s exactly how it turned out. The referee stepped in to protect Mercer from further punishment in round 6.

#10 5/10/2013 Wladimir Klitschko Pts 12 Aleksandr Povetkin
The bout matched Wladimir Klitschko, who held the IBF and WBO world titles as well as the WBA “Super-World” title with Alexander Povetkin of Russia who merely held the WBA “regular” World Heavyweight title (confusing, but that’s modern professional boxing…). Anyone who’s ever read a comic book will tell you that Superman always beat Regularman and that is exactly what happened in their bout in Moscow. Klitschko won every round and knocked his opponent down four times on his way to a totally one sided victory. He continued to be the best heavyweight in the world for another few years

Klitschko-Povetkin

#11 29/4/2017 Anthony Joshua TKO 11 Wladimir Klitschko
Klitschko, after losing his world titles to Tyson Fury in 2015, returned to the ring to challenge 2012 Olympic super-heavyweight champion Joshua for the IBF and WBA titles.
For the first time in this list the venue, Wembley Stadium, had itself hosted Olympic Games events five years earlier. After a cautious opening Joshua sent the Ukrainian to the canvas in round 5 but, despite being the younger man by more than a decade, he exhausted himself in the process and was knocked down by Klitschko in the following round. The British fighter recovered and in the penultimate round of the scheduled twelve he again went for the knockout. The referee was forced to stop the fight with Klitschko helpless on the ropes after getting up from his second knockdown of the round.

Embed from Getty Images

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.

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/

In some sports an Olympic title can be part of a greater achievement. In this blog we’ve already featured ice hockey’s Triple Gold Club and basketball’s Triple Crown winners but tennis also has its’ ultimate challenge – the Golden Slam.
The Golden slam consists of winning the 4 major championships, the Australian, French and US Opens as well as Wimbledon and an Olympic gold medal. It was never achieved during tennis’s original tenure as an Olympic sport (because of the French tournament being restricted to members of French clubs before 1925) but, since the sport returned to the Olympic fold in 1988, a dozen men and women have performed the feat in a mixture of singles and doubles.

Men’s singles
[table]

Athlete,Nation(s),Olympics,Australia,French, Wimbledon,USA
Andre Agassi, USA, 1996,4 wins,1 win,1 win,2 wins
Rafael Nadal,ESP,2008,1 win,9 wins,2 wins,2 wins

[/table]

Men’s doubles
[table]
Athlete,Nation(s),Olympics,Australia,French, Wimbledon,USA
Bob Bryan,USA,2012,6 wins,2 wins,3 wins,4 wins
Mike Bryan,USA,2012,6 wins,2 wins,3 wins,4 wins
Daniel Nestor,CAN,2000,1 win,4 wins,2 wins, 1 win
Todd Woodbridge,AUS,1996,3 wins,1 win,9 wins,3 wins,
Mark Woodforde,AUS,1996,2 wins,1 win,6 wins,3 wins
[/table]

Women’s singles
[table]

Athlete,Nation(s),Olympics,Australia,French, Wimbledon,USA
Steffi Graf,FRG/GER,1988,4 wins,6 wins,7 wins,5 wins
Serena Williams,USA,2012,5 wins,2 wins,5 wins,5 wins
[/table]

Steffi Graf (right of picture)

Women’s doubles
[table]

Athlete,Nation(s),Olympics,Australia,French, Wimbledon,USA
Gigi Fernandez,PUR/USA,1992/1996,2 wins,6 wins,4 wins,5 wins
Pam Shriver,USA,1988,7 wins,3 wins,5 wins,5 wins
Serena Williams,USA,2000/2008/2012,4 wins,2 wins,5 wins,2 wins
Venus Williams,USA, 2000/2008/2012, 4 wins,2 wins,5 wins,2 wins
[/table]

Williams sisters

Mixed doubles
Closest approach which includes an Olympic title is that of Vika Azarenko and Max Mirnyi of Belarus with Olympic, Wimbledon and US Open titles and an appearance in the final at the Australian Open.
Daniela Hantuchová has won all 4 major titles but did not compete in the event at the 2012 Olympics.

Serena Williams is unique in achieving this feat as both a singles and doubles player and has a record 34 wins across all five championships and both disciplines. Steffi Graf is the only player to win all 5 tournaments in the same calendar year whilst the Bryan brothers have also held all 5 titles at the same time although, in their case, it was spread over 2012 and 2013. Two of the premiere players of recent years, Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova, still need an Olympic singles gold to complete their set.

With the 2014 World Cup now underway it may surprise many of you just how few people have performed the feat of winning both Olympic gold and a World Cup winners medal. It’s only been done 11 times in the men’s game and, since the last time it happened was in 1938, there is now no man alive who has achieved the feat. Despite women’s football having spent less than 20 years as an Olympic event it’s already been 15 times on the female side, mostly by Americans.

The fact that the World Cup only began in 1930 and was dominated by professionals post World War Two gave only a small window for the Olympic/World Cup double to be realistically achieved until the advent of professionals in the late 80s.
That’s why the 11 names on the list all came from the 1930s.
7 come from the Uruguay team of the late 20s and early 30s and the other 4 from the Italian team of the late 30s.
As for Brazilians? There aren’t any. Brazil have been so far thwarted in their attempts on the Olympic championships although with a home Olympics following a home World Cup this may well change.

The women’s tournament, free of the artificial restrictions that plague the men’s event, has already seen more do the double since 1996 than in the 114 year history of men’s Olympic football.

Jose Andrade

Men (11)
[table]

Athlete,NOC,Olympic Gold,World Cup
José Andrade, URU, 1924-28, 1930
Héctor Castro, URU,1928,1930
Pedro Cea, URU, 1924-28, 1930
Lorenzo Fernández, URU,1928,1930
Alvaro Gestido, URU,1928,1930
José Nasazzi, URU, 1924-28, 1930
Héctor Scarone, URU, 1924-28, 1930,
Sergio Bertoni, ITA, 1936, 1938
Alfredo Foni, ITA, 1936, 1938
Ugo Locatelli, ITA, 1936, 1938
Pietro Rava, ITA, 1936, 1938

[/table]

Women (15)
[table]

Athlete,NOC,Olympic Gold,World Cup
Michelle Akers,USA, 1996, 1991 & 1999
Tisha Venturini,USA, 1996, 1999
Brandi Chastain,USA, 1996 & 2004, 1991 & 1999
Joy Fawcett,USA, 1996 & 2004, 1999
Julie Foudy,USA, 1996 & 2004, 1991 & 1999
Mia Hamm,USA, 1996 & 2004, 1991 & 1999
Kristine Lilly,USA, 1996 & 2004, 1991 & 1999
Shannon MacMillan,USA, 1996, 1999
Tiffeny Milbrett,USA, 1996, 1999
Carla Overbeck,USA, 1996, 1999
Cindy Parlow,USA, 1996 & 2004, 1999
Christie Pearce-Rampone,USA, 2004 2008 & 2012, 1999
Tiffany Roberts,USA, 1996 & 2004, 1999
Briana Scurry,USA, 1996 & 2004, 1999
Kate Sobrero-Markgraf, USA, 2004 & 2008, 1999
Gro Espeseth,NOR,2000,1995
Bente Nordby,NOR,2000,1995
Marianne Pettersen,NOR,2000,1995
Hege Riise,NOR,2000,1995

[/table]

Mia Hamm

Looking to add their names to the list this year will be the following players. Cameroon won Olympic gold in 2000, Argentina in 2004-08, and Mexico in 2012, defeating Brazil in the final match. (Yuichi Nishimura was not refereeing the Mexico-Brazil match in London.)

Cameroon
Samuel Eto’o

Mexico
José de Jesús Corona
Carlos Salcido
Diego Antonio Reyes
Javier Aquino
Giovani dos Santos
Marco Fabián
Héctor Herrera
Raúl Jiménez
Oribe Peralta
Miguel Ángel Ponce

Argentina
Ezequiel Garay
Ezequiel Lavezzi
Fernando Gago
Javier Mascherano
Lionel Messi
Ángel di María
Pablo Zabaleta
Sergio Agüero
Sergio Romero

This is not an easy thing to do. Both the Olympics and the World Cup only take place every four years and teams cannot even use all the same players in the two tournaments – there are some age limits at the Olympics. Further, not all teams compete in both events. Great Britain competes at the Olympics, while England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have separate teams for the World Cup. If we limit ourselves to the World Cup era (1924-2012), here are the only nations that have even won both an Olympic and a World Cup title – note that Brazil is not on this list. Brazil has won 5 World Cups but never won an Olympic gold medal.
[table]
Winning Both,World Cup,Olympics
Italy,4,1
Argentina,2,2
Uruguay,2,2
France,1,1
Spain,1,1
[/table]

Earlier today King Juan Carlos I of Spain announced his intention to abdicate after 39 years as monarch. What is less known, at least outside Spain, is that Juan Carlos was once an Olympic yachtsman who sailed as part of a crew skippered by the Duke of Arión in the Dragon class at the Munich Games of 1972. Indeed there is a strong connection between Spanish royalty and the Olympic movement both as competitors and administrators that stretches back over a century.

Let’s take a look at the Spanish royals who have been linked to the Olympic Games in one form or another – using the King himself as a starting point

Juan Carlos, Crown Prince de Borbón (later King Juan Carlos I)

[table]

Year-Games,Sport,Event,Place

1972-Summer,Sailing ,Dragon class, 15
[/table]
Whilst his Olympic sailing career was not wildly successful it did qualify him for a unique place in history as the only Olympian to officially open the Olympic Games. An achievement which came to pass at the 1992 Games in Barcelona.

His wife.
Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark (later Queen Sofía of Spain)
Queen Sofía went to the Rome Olympics of 1960 at the age of just 21 as part of her brother’s crew in the Dragon class. She was an unused reserve at the Games and could not share in their gold medal triumph.
[table]

Year-Games,Sport,Event,Place

1960-Summer,Sailing ,Dragon class, DNS

[/table]
His son.
Felipe, Crown Prince de Borbón, The Prince of Asturias (soon to be King Felipe)
The flag bearer for Spain at the opening ceremony of the Barcelona Olympics and the most successful Spanish royal in terms of his results (although there is one more obscure better performance as we’ll find later).
[table]

Year-Games,Sport,Event,Place

1992-Summer,Sailing ,Soling class, 6

[/table]
His daughter.
Cristina, Princess de Borbón (later Duchess of Palma de Mallorca)
Her appearance at the 1988 Olympics was brief and rather uninspiring. Appearing only as a substitute in the last race of a 7 race series, her boat failed to finish. She was the Spanish flag bearer at the opening ceremony.
[table]

Year-Games,Sport,Event,Place

1988-Summer,Sailing ,Tornado class, 20

[/table]
His son-in-law
Iñaki Urdangarín (later Duke of Palma de Mallorca)
Whilst competing at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, where he helped Spain won a bronze in the sport of handball, he met Princess Cristina. Little over a year later the two were married. In recent years he has been dogged by allegations of corruption involving his business dealings.

[table]

Year-Games,Sport,Event,Place

1992-Summer,Handball ,Men, 6
1996-Summer,Handball ,Men, Bronze
2000-Summer,Handball ,Men, Bronze

[/table]

His brother-in-law
Crown Prince Konstantinos (later King Konstantínos II of Greece)
One of only 2 future kings to be Olympic champions (both in sailing), his reign was ended when Greece became a republic in 1973. He was an IOC member between 1963 and 1974.
[table]

Year-Games,Sport,Event,Place

1960-Summer,Sailing ,Dragon class, Gold

[/table]

His sister
Princess Pilar de Borbón, Duchess of Badajoz
Her links to the Olympic movement come as an administrator rather than a competitor.
She served as the President of the International Equestrian Federation from 1994 to 2005 and was a member of the IOC between 1996 and 2006.

Most distantly related, through Queen Sofía, are British royalty. Her cousin, Prince Phillip, the Duke of Edinburgh, officially opened the 1956 Olympics whilst his wife, Queen Elizabeth fulfilled the same role in 1976 and 2012. Their daughter and granddaughter, Princess Anne and Zara Phillips, are also Olympians.

Fernand Sanz
There is one further member of Spanish royalty whose existence may have been ignored forever had it not been for the work of Spanish Olympic historian Fernando Arrechea. King Juan Carlos’s great-grandfather was Alfonso XII who reigned from 1874 to 1885. As well as having three children with María Cristina of Austria, Alfonso also sired two sons with his mistress, the opera singer Elena Armanda Sanz Martínez de Arizala. The youngest of these sons was Fernand Sanz, who became one the finest amateur sprint cyclists in France and, at the age of 19, was only narrowly beaten to the gold medal by Albert Taillandier at the 1900 Olympic Games. He later went to find success as an amateur boxer as well.
[table]

Year-Games,Sport,Event,Place

1900-Summer,Cycling,Sprint, Silver

[/table]

The Olympic skater convicted of murdering her husband.

See also http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/de/yvonne-de-ligne-1.html

Born 19 September 1907 in Bruxelles (Brussels) (BEL)
Died c.1952

[table]
Year,Sport,Event,Place,
1932,Figure Skating,Ladies, 6th
1936,Figure skating,Ladies, 18th
[/table]

Yvonne De Ligne achieved her best result in her first major international competition, debuting with a 6th place at the 1929 World Championships. She would match that performance in 1932, placing also sixth at the 1932 Olympics. In the European Championships, her best result was a 5th place, in 1933. De Ligne was married to speed skating Olympian Charles de Ligne, but their marriage was not a happy one. During World War II, she fell in love with a Dutch figure skater, Jacob Hartog, who was living in Antwerpen at the time. Catching his wife and her lover in their home, Charles de Ligne kicked out Hartog. Yvonne de Ligne was unhappy with this, and sought revenge. In November 1944, she led her husband to their countryside hideout. Armand Michiels, convinced Charles was a collaborator, was also “invited”, and killed him with a German weapon, to make it look like he was shot by the Gestapo. But the plot was discovered, and both Michiels (3 years) and De Ligne (15 years) were sentenced to prison terms. Yvonne de Ligne was released after serving six years, as she was suffering from tuberculosis, and died very shortly thereafter.

Happy 75th birthday to Ralph Boston

See also http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/bo/ralph-boston-1.html

Born 9 May 1939 in Laurel, Mississippi (USA)

[table]
Year-Sport,Event,Place,
1960,Athletics,Long Jump, Gold
1964,Athletics,Long Jump, Silver
1968,Athletics,Long Jump, Bronze
[/table]

‘

Until a few weeks before the 1960 Olympics, Ralph Boston seemed no more than an average long jumper. But in August he beat Jesse Owens’ 25-year-old world record with a mark of 26-11¼ (8.21) and went on to take the gold medal. In 1961 he twice improved the record, becoming the first man to jump 27 feet (8.23), but then lost the record to Igor Ter-Ovanesyan of the Soviet Union in 1962. Boston equalled that mark in August 1964, broke it the following month, and in May 1965, set his last world record with 27-5 (8.35). Boston won the AAU outdoor long jump for six successive seasons (1961-1966), the AAU indoor in 1961, and the Pan American Games in 1963 and 1967. Competing for Tennessee State, he won the NCAA outdoor title in 1960. Boston was also a gifted performer in other events. In 1961 he was undefeated in the high hurdles and won the AAU indoor in 1965. He placed fourth in the 1963 Pan American Games high jump, and in that year headed the U.S. lists in the triple jump. Ralph Boston retired after the 1968 Olympics. He was later an administrator at the University of Tennessee.

Personal Bests: 100y – 9.6 (1964); 220y – 22.0 (1964); 120yH – 13.7 (1961); HJ – 6-8½ (2.04) (1962); PV – 13-8 (4.16) (1960); LJ – 27-5 (8.35) (1965); TJ – 52-1½ (15.89) (1964); JT – 169-0 (51.51) (1959).

On the 60th anniversary of the 1st 60-foot shot put.

See also http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ob/parry-obrien-1.html

Born 28 January 1932 in Santa Monica, California (USA)
Died 21 April 2007 in Santa Clarita, California (USA)

[table]
Year-Sport,Event,Place,
1952,Athletics,Shot put, Gold
1956,Athletics,Shot put, Gold
1960,Athletics,Shot put, Silver
1964,Athletics,Shot put, 4th
[/table]

Although his records have now been surpassed, Parry O’Brien is, by the standards of his contemporaries, the greatest shotputter of all time. Indoors and outdoors he won a total of 17 AAU titles and between July 1952 and June 1956 he ran up a winning streak of 116 consecutive victories. He broke the world record 17 times, although only 10 of these were ratified, and he was the first man to beat the 18-meter, 60-foot, and 19-meter barriers. O’Brien set his last world record in 1959, with 63-4 (19.30), but he continued to improve and set a career best of 64-7¼ (19.69) in 1966, two years after his final Olympic appearance in Tokyo, where he placed fourth. O’Brien was Pan American Games champion in 1955 and 1959 and, while at Southern Cal, he won the NCAA title in 1952 and 1953. He also added the 1955 AAU discus championship. In discus throw he also won two medal at the Pan American Games – silver in 1955 and bronze in 1959. Apart from his multiple victories and records, Parry O’Brien made a significant contribution to the sport by pioneering a new style which was copied by many of those who followed him as world record holders. He later worked in the banking and real estate business in Southern California.

Personal Bests: SP – 64-7¼ (19.69) (1966); DT – 196-10 (59.99) (1965).

The naked policeman who was the first Olympic walking champion.

Born 7 March 1875 in Langley, Slough (GBR)
Died 4 March 1949 in Brighton, Brighton and Hove (GBR)

[table]
Year-Sport,Event,Place,
1908, Athletic, 3500m walk,Gold
,,10 mile walk,Gold

[/table]

George Larner did not take up competitive walking until 1903 when he was 28-years old. In 1904, when still little more than a novice, he won both AAA titles, and he repeated the double the following year. Having won four AAA titles and set nine world records, Larner then decided to retire as he found that training interfered with his duties as a Brighton policeman. Fortunately, the Chief Constable of Brighton was persuaded to give Larner time off from work to train for the 1908 Olympic Games, and after a two-year absence, Larner reappeared on the track.

Although he had an exceptionally long stride, Larner was generally rated as a very fair stylist and it came as no surprise when he was disqualified in his first comeback race, the AAA 7 mile Championship in April 1908. He soon redeemed himself by winning the AAA 2 mile title in July and then won both the Olympic walking titles later than month.

After the Games, Larner retired again from race walking but he enjoyed some modest successes as a cross-country runner with Brighton & County Harriers and Highgate Harriers. In 1911 he made another comeback and won the AAA 7 miles title, but he did not stay in training for the 1912 Olympics. After he finally tired, George Larner became a respected race walking judge and when he died, at the age of 73, many of his British records were still intact.

He published a book, simply titled “Walking”, in which he gave the following advice – “When time permits, all clothing should be removed for a run round a secluded garden, especially it if be raining at the time”.

Personal Bests: Mile Walk – 6:26.0 (1904); 2 miles Walk – 13:11.4 (1904); 3 miles Walk – 20:25.8 (1905); 10kmW – 44:58.4e (1905); 7 miles Walk – 50:50.8 (1905); 10 miles Walk – 1-15:57.4 (1908); Hour Walk – 13,275 metres (8 miles, 438 yards) (1905).