On this day in Olympic history, …

• 319 Olympians were born, and …
• 81 Olympians died

• The 400-metre running twins, Noel and Christopher Chavasse (GBR), who competed at the 1908 Olympics, were born in 1884. Noel was killed in World War I at Ieper, Belgium.
• Heywood Edwards (USA), a wrestler at the 1928 Olympics, was born in 1905. Edwards attended the US Naval Academy. He died aboard the USS Reuben James, the first US navy ship to be sunk in the Atlantic during World War II. The USS Heywood L. Edwards would be named in his honour.
• Viktor Chukarin (URS), the first great male Soviet gymnast, individual all-around champion at the 1952 and 1956 Olympics, was born in 1921. Very old for a gymnast, Chukarin had been a prisoner-of-war during World War II.
• Alice Coachman (USA) was born in 1923. Coachman won the high jump at the 1948 Olympics, becoming the first black woman to win an Olympic gold medal.
• Sven Hannawald, German ski jumper, was born in 1974. Hannawald won three Olympic ski jumping medals in 1998-2002 including a gold in the 2002 team event, but he is best known as the only ski jumper to win all four events in the Four Hills Tournament (Vierschanzentournee) in the same season, which he did in 2001-02.

• Pietro Speciale, Italian fencer at the 1908/12/20 Olympics, died on this day in 1945 in Palermo. Speciale won a team foil gold medal in 1920 and an individual foil silver in 1912.
• Eero Lehtonen (FIN), who won the pentathlon in track & field at the 1920 and 1924 Olympics, and remains the defending champion in the event, as it was never held again, died in 1959. Lehtonen also competed in the long jump and decathlon in 1920 and the 4×400 relay in 1924.
• Dick Howard (USA), bronze medalist in the 1960 400 metre hurdles, died of a heroin overdose in 1967, shortly after he left prison after serving a 7-year term for drug charges. The silver medalist in that event also died tragically, though Cliff Cushman met his end fighting in Vietnam.
• Cliff Gray, American bobsledder who won gold medals in the 4-man event in both 1928 and 1932, died on this day in 1969, at least we think he did. The confusion relating to the true identity of Clifford Gray has persisted almost since the day he left the Olympic scene. See the recent book Speed Kings by Andy Bull for a full discussion of Gray/Grey’s identity (even the spelling is confusing), which Bull unearthed with the assistance of Hilary Evans, one of our OlyMADMen.
• Lewis Luxton (AUS), the son of an IOC Member of the same name, who rowed at the 1932 Olympics for Great Britain, and later also became an IOC Member, that for Australia, died on this day in 1985.

[table]

Parameter,Value

Full Name,William Herbert “Bill” Northam

Born,28 September 1905 in Torquay; Torbay (GBR)

Died,6 September 1988 in Woollahra; New South Wales (AUS)

Measurements,183 cm / 81 kg

[/table]

Bill Northam started as a youngster in athletics and then turned to dirt-track car and motorcycling racing. But he excelled in business and became the chairman of the Australian sections of both Johnson & Johnson and Slazenger. He did not take up sailing until he was 46, but he quickly became serious about it. Northam bought some property at The Basin, Pittwater in Sydney, and was taken out for a sail by a neighbor, and became interested. His house looked out over the Barrenjoey Lighthouse, and Northam would eventually name his 5.5 metre boat, which he raced at the Olympics, “Barrenjoey.”

Northam started out in larger 8-metre yachts, racing “Saskia” in England and winning the prestigious Sayonara Cup in 1955 and 1956. He had success racing “Caprice of Huon” in the Sydney-to-Hobart race, and raced “Jazzer” in the Sabre class. In 1962 he served as a member of Frank Packer’s syndicate for “Gretel,” which was the challenger for the America’s Cup.

In 1962 Northam decided to aim for the Olympics and went to the United States, asking naval architect Bill Luders to build him a 5.5 metre craft, the “Barrenjoey.” He made the Australian team for the Tokyo Olympics and marched at the Opening Ceremony alongside his son, Rod, who was a reserve on the rowing team. In the competition, Northam skippered “Barrenjoey” to the gold medal. He was named Australia Yachtsman of the Year, and in 1966 was named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. In 1976 Northam was knighted for services to the community.

[table]

Games/Sport,Event,Boat,Position,Medal

1964 Sailing,5.5 metres,Barrenjoey,1,Gold

[/table]

Today in Olympic History, …

• 291 Olympians were born and …
• 65 Olympians died

• Marion Jones (USA) was born in 1879, but not the one you think, but rather Marion Jones the tennis player who won two bronze medals at the 1900 Olympics, in singles and mixed doubles, making her the first American woman to win Olympic medals.
• Victor Galíndez (ARG) was born in 1948. Galíndez was a boxer at the 1968 Olympics, without much success, although he had won a silver medal at the 1967 Pan American Games. He had much more success as a professional, winning and holding the WBA light-heavyweight title from 1974-1978 and again briefly in 1979.
• Bruce Baumgartner (USA) was born in 1960. Baumgartner is the most successful super-heavyweight wrestler in US history, winning four Olympic medals, including golds in 1984 and 1992. Baumgartner won three World Championships, three Pan American Games gold medals, had eight World Cup wins, and was a 17-time US Champion.
• Noah Ngeny (KEN) was born in 1978. Ngeny was a middle-distance runner who won the gold medal in the 1,500 metres at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. He was a silver medalist in the 1,500 at the 1999 World Championships and set one world record, running 2:11.96 in September 1999 for the 1,000 metres.
• Gillian Apps (CAN), descended from hockey royalty, was born in 1983. Apps won three gold medals in ice hockey for Canada at the 2006, 2010, and 2014 Winter Olympics. Her grandfather, Syl Apps, is considered one of Canada’s greatest ever hockey players, is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, and also competed at the Olympics. He placed sixth in the pole vault at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Gillian Apps’ father, Syl Apps, Jr., also played in the National Hockey League, for 10 seasons with the New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Los Angeles Kings.

• Hélène, Countess de Portales (SUI) died on this day in 1945. A crew member on her husband’s yacht, Lerina, at the 1900 Olympics, she was the first female Olympic competitor, and the first female Olympic medalist, winning a gold and silver medal.
• Two renowned American track & field champions died on this day. Ted Meredith died in 1957. He won gold medals in the 800 metres and the 4×400 metre relay at the 1912 Olympics. Milt Campbell died in 2012. Campbell won a gold medal in the decathlon at the 1956 Olympics, after winning a decathlon silver in 1952.
• Vasily Rudenkov (URS) died in 1982. Rudenkov was the gold medalist in the hammer throw at the 1960 Olympics.

• No Olympic events were held on this day, however, Olympic competition has been held in November. At the 1904 St. Louis Olympics, some football (soccer) matches were contested in November, the Games ending on 23 November. At the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, the Games opened on 22 November, to match the Southern Hemisphere summer. There is no truth to the rumor that discus and hammer throwers had to spin in a reverse direction during those Games.
• And the 1^st and 2^nd Zappas Olympic Games were held in November in Athinai in 1859 and 1870. The Zappas Olympic Games were early forerunners of the Modern Olympic Games, and among many attempts of revival of the Ancient Olympics.
• And in November 1892, Pierre de Coubertin held the conference at the Sorbonne at which the delegates re-instituted the Olympic Idea, and formed the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
• And on 25 November 1979, the two-China problem was finally resolved by the IOC when it formally recognized the Republic of China, and on 26 November, the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee was formally recognized under that name.
• And on 24 November 1998, Salt Lake City television station KTVX reveals that the Salt Lake Bid Committee had been paying tuition and expenses for the daughter of an IOC Member. Paraphrasing Boston Globe sportswriter Bob Ryan, “the excrement was about to hit the cooling device.”

On this day in Olympic history, …

303 Olympians were born, including Britain’s track & field athlete Robbie Brightwell, who was disappointed not to win a medal at the Tokyo Olympics, but whose day was brightened when his fiancé, Ann Packer, won the women’s 800 metre gold medal; and the Italian alpine skiiers Giuliano Giardini and Claudia Giordani, who must have tortured the Italian media trying to get their names straight; and Mary T. Meagher, “Madame Butterfly,” universally considered the greatest female butterfly swimmer of all-time, and whose middle name, in case you didn’t know, stood for Terstegge; and Maria Mutola, the pioneering middle-distance runner from Mozambique, who won gold in the 800 metres at Sydney in 2000; and …

58 Olympians died, including American boxer Bob Carmody, a flyweight bronze medalist at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, who died fighting in Vietnam; and Olga Gyarmati, Hungarian who won the gold medal in the long jump in 1948, and is still usually considered Hungary’s greatest female track & field athlete; and …

7 Olympic events were contested, including 5 boxing events at the 1908 Olympics, a rugby match at the 1900 Olympics, and the equestrian team jumping that ended the 1968 Mexico City Olympics.

On this week in Olympic history …

The Much Wenlock Games were held for the first time on 22 October 1850 in Much Wenlock, a small village in rural Shropshire, England. The Games were one of the early attempts at the revival of the Olympic Movement and were a major influence on Pierre de Coubertin, who visited them in 1889; and …

On 23 October 1974, at the 75th IOC Session in Wien (Vienna), Lake Placid, New York, USA was selected as host of the 13th Olympic Winter Games (1980), and Moskva (Moscow), Russia, USSR was selected as host of the Games of the XXIInd Olympiad (1980).

[table]

Parameter,Value

Full Name,Pedro Vicente Ernesto Quartucci

Born,30 July 1905 in Buenos Aires

Died,20 April 1983 in Buenos Aires

[/table]

After winning his bronze medal at the 1924 Olympics, Pedro Quartucci turned professional and fought four pro bouts in 1925, winning three and losing one. The first three were in the New York area, but he then returned to Argentina, losing his final bout that year to Luis Rayo on points. Quartucci then took a break, and fought one more time, winning a decision over Socrates Mitre in Buenos Aires on April 1928, and Quartucci then retired from boxing.

Quartucci then turned to acting, becoming one of the best known Argentine actors and appearing in over 60 films. He had actually been a child actor well before his Olympic appearance, acting in ‘Til After Her Death in 1916. His next film was in 1931, in Las luces de Buenos Aires. He acted in films until 1980, with his best known films La familia Falcón in 1962, The Man from Saturday in 1947, and La familia Falcón as a television series in 1963. Quartucci died of a heart attack in his native Buenos Aires in 1983.

[table]

Games/Sport,Event,Position,Medal

1924 Boxing,Featherweight,3,Bronze

[/table]

Born into a medical family, his father Henri Forestier was a director at the therapeutic spas in Aix-les-Bains. He was awarded the Croix de Guerre and made a commander of the Légion d’honneur for his bravery in the First World War as a field doctor. Whilst completing his medical studies he excelled for the university rugby team and was called up to play for the hastily put together French team for the 1920 Antwerp Games. Forestier was also an excellent swimmer and skier.

It was in the field of medicine however that Forestier was to excel. Working with the neurologist Jean-Athanase Sicard, he pioneered radiodiagnosis in neurology with the discovery of the use of Lipidol and is also remembered for his introduction of gold salts as a remedy for rheumatoid arthritis. Forestier has the unusual distinction for an Olympian of having a disease name after him – Forestier’s disease is a degenerative spinal arthritis found predominately in elderly men.

[table]

Parameter,Value

Full Name,Francisco Paula Gonzales

Born,1936 in Manila (PHI)

Died,7 May 1964 near San Ramon; California (USA)

Measurements,168 cm / 61 kg

[/table]

Francisco Gonzales’ Olympic participation was fairly unremarkable. Together with Fausto Preysler and Jesus Villareal he finished 24th in the Dragon class at the 1960 Rome Games. Four years later, he would make the news in a completely different manner. Following his Olympic adventure, Gonzales had moved to San Francisco, and there, got into trouble. His wife wanted to leave him, and he had huge debts to pay off. Telling all his friends that he would die on 6 or 7 May 1964, he flew to Reno, Nevada on the 6th, carrying a new firearm. Hitting the casinos, he made it clear he didn’t care whether he won or lost. He took the return flight the next day, Pacific Airlines flight 773. Ten minutes before a scheduled stop-over, the plane disappeared from the radar screens. It had crashed in the hills near the Californian town of San Ramon. Investigators recovered Gonzales’ firearm, and discovered that he had taken out a $100,000 life insurance for his wife. They concluded that Gonzales had shot both pilots, then shot himself, causing the plane to crash and killing all 44 on board.

[table]

Games/Sport,Event,Boat,Position

1960 Sailing,Three Person Keelboat,Patricia,24

[/table]

[table]

Parameter,Value

Full Name,Paul Thomas Côté II

Born,28 January 1944 in Vancouver BC

Died,19 July 2013 in Vancouver BC

Measurements,190 cm / 89 kg

Affiliations,Royal Vancouver Yacht Club

[/table]

As a law student at the University of British Columbia, Paul Côté joined with John Ekels and Dave Miller in 1969 to compete internationally in sailing’s Soling Class. Together they were selected to represent Canada at the 1972 Summer Olympics by winning all eight of the races at the national trials and, at the Games, they captured a bronze medal behind the Americans and the Swedes. The trio then won the 1973 North American Championships before splitting up due to Miller’s retirement from active competition. The Olympics were Côté’s only major international medal, but he is better known by environmentalists for a different achievement.

In 1970 Côté was one of a handful of activists who formed the Don’t Make A Wave Committee to protest (and stop) the detonation of nuclear weapons in Alaska. He did not join the protest vessel on its journey, as he was training for the Olympics, but he is nonetheless considered by some to be one of the founders of the organization that followed, the Greenpeace Foundation. Côté earned a law degree from the University of British Columbia, where he was a member of Alpha Delta Phi, and later worked in business, starting several successful ventures in Canada and the United States, including Genstar and the Newland Group. He was inducted, along with the other members of his bronze medal-winning team, into the British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame in 1989.

[table]

Games/Sport,Event,Position,Medal

1972 Sailing,Three Person Keelboat,3,Bronze

[/table]

[table]

Parameter,Value

Full Name,James David Wolfensohn

Born,1 December 1933 in Sydney; New South Wales

[/table]

James Wolfensohn competed for Australia in fencing at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics but his business career has far outshone his sporting one. He received a degree in law from the University of Sydney and worked briefly as a lawyer in Australia before attending Harvard Business School. After receiving his MBA he worked in Switzerland, Australia, and London before settling in the United States as a senior executive with Salomon Brothers. In 1980 he became a US citizen, and began his own investment firm, James D. Wolfensohn, Inc., which included among its partners Paul Volcker, former chairman of the US Federal Reserve Bank.

In 1995, President Bill Clinton nominated Wolfensohn to become President of the World Bank, and he assumed that post on 1 July 1995. The bank’s board of executive directors unanimously supported him for a second five-year term in 2000, and he became only the third person to serve two terms in that position.

After leaving the World Bank he formed Wolfensohn & Company, LLC, a private investment firm and advisory group that provided consulting advice to governments and large corporations. He also became chairman of the International Advisory Board of Citigroup. He also served one year as special envoy for Gaza Disengagement for the Quartet in the Middle East, a post to which he was named by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. In 2005, James Wolfensohn also founded the Wolfensohn Center for Development at the Brookings Institution, a Washington-based think tank.

He has received numerous honors. He was an honorary trustee of the Brookings Institution, trustee and former chairman of the board for the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, chairman emeritus of the Carnegie Hall, and of the John F. Kennedy for the Performing Arts in Washington, and was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He was awarded the Order of Australia in 1987 and received an honorary knighthood and OBE in 1995.

[table]

Games/Sport,Event,Position

1956 Fencing,Men’s Team Épée,4 p1 r1/3

[/table]

OK, we know that Michael Phelps has won the most Olympic medals, with 22, and the most Olympic gold medals, with 18. But what about silver and bronze medals – who has the most of the other podium medals?

For silver medals the list of all those with 5 or more is as follows:

[table]

Silvers,Name,Gdr,Ssn,NOC,Sport

6,Aleksandr Dityatin,M,S,URS,GYM

6,Mikhail Voronin,M,S,URS,GYM

6,Shirley Babashoff,F,S,USA,SWI

5,Larysa Latynina,F,S,URS,GYM

5,Nikolay Andrianov,M,S,URS,GYM

5,Edoardo Mangiarotti,M,S,ITA,FEN

5,Raisa Smetanina,F,W,EUN/URS,CCS

5,Aleksandr Popov,M,S,EUN/RUS,SWI

5,Raisa Smetanina,F,W,URS,CCS

5,Zoltán von Halmay,M,S,HUN,SWI

5,Leisel Jones,F,S,AUS,SWI

5,Anky van Grunsven,F,S,NED,EQU

5,Yury Titov,M,S,URS,GYM

5,Katalin Kovács,F,S,HUN,CAN

5,Mariya Horokhovska,F,S,URS,GYM

5,Gustavo Marzi,M,S,ITA,FEN

5,Andrea Ehrig-Schöne-Mitscherlich,F,W,GDR,SSK

5,Dagmar Hase,F,S,GER,SWI

5,Bogdan Musiol,M,W,GDR/GER,BOB

5,Viktor Lisitsky,M,S,URS,GYM

[/table]

How about individual silver medals? Who has the most of those? Here are all those who have won 4 or more individual silver medals?

[table]

IndSilvers,Name,Gdr,Ssn,NOC,Sport

5,Larysa Latynina,F,S,URS,GYM

5,Aleksandr Dityatin,M,S,URS,GYM

5,Shirley Babashoff,F,S,USA,SWI

5,Andrea Ehrig-Schöne-Mitscherlich,F,W,GDR,SSK

4,Raisa Smetanina,F,W,EUN/URS,CCS

4,Raisa Smetanina,F,W,URS,CCS

4,Zoltán von Halmay,M,S,HUN,SWI

4,Mikhail Voronin,M,S,URS,GYM

4,Karin Enke-Kania,F,W,GDR,SSK

4,Gunda Niemann-Stirnemann-Kleemann,F,W,GER,SSK

4,Mariya Horokhovska,F,S,URS,GYM

4,Kirsty Coventry,F,S,ZIM,SWI

4,Kateřina Neumannová,F,W,CZE,CCS

4,Hryhoriy Misiutin,M,S,EUN/UKR,GYM

4,David Cal,M,S,ESP,CAN

4,Hryhoriy Misiutin,M,S,EUN,GYM

4,Frankie Fredericks,M,S,NAM,ATH

4,Ivica Kostelić,M,W,CRO,ASK

[/table]

What about those who have won silver medals but no other Olympic medal? All they won were silver medals. Somewhat surprisingly, 10 Olympians have won 4 or more silvers, but no other Olympic medals. And here they are:

[table]

Silvers,Name,Gdr,Ssn,NOC,Sport

5,Viktor Lisitsky,M,S,URS,GYM

4,Frankie Fredericks,M,S,NAM,ATH

4,Ivica Kostelić,M,W,CRO,ASK

4,Tsuyoshi Yamanaka,M,S,JPN,SWI

4,Hilkka Riihivuori-Kuntola,F,W,FIN,CCS

4,Vincenzo Pinton,M,S,ITA,FEN

4,Ian Stark,M,S,GBR,EQU

4,Frank Wiegand,M,S,GDR/GER,SWI

4,Kara Lynn Joyce,F,S,USA,SWI

4,Renzo Nostini,M,S,ITA,FEN

[/table]

What about those athletes who only won individual silver medals – no team medals, no golds, no bronzes? We got that list too – here it is:

[table]

IndSilvers,Name,Gdr,Ssn,NOC,Sport

4,Frankie Fredericks,M,S,NAM,ATH

4,Ivica Kostelić,M,W,CRO,ASK

3,Viktor Lisitsky,M,S,URS,GYM

3,Tsuyoshi Yamanaka,M,S,JPN,SWI

3,Raelene Boyle,F,S,AUS,ATH

3,Thor Henning,M,S,SWE,SWI

3,Peter-Michael Kolbe,M,S,FRG,ROW

3,Tim McKee,M,S,USA,SWI

3,Leah Poulos-Mueller,F,W,USA,SSK

3,Robert Pražák,M,S,TCH,GYM

3,Tan Liangde,M,S,CHN,DIV

3,Aleksandar Tomov,M,S,BUL,WRE

3,Ernie Webb,M,S,GBR,ATH

[/table]

OK, that’s it for silver medal trivia. What about bronze medals? Who has the most of them? Here is that list:

[table]

Bronzes,Name,Gdr,Ssn,NOC,Sport

6,Aleksey Nemov,M,S,RUS,GYM

6,Franziska van Almsick,F,S,GER,SWI

6,Heikki Savolainen,M,S,FIN,GYM

6,Merlene Ottey-Page,F,S,JAM,ATH

6,Harri Kirvesniemi,M,W,FIN,CCS

5,Natalie Coughlin,F,S,USA,SWI

5,Stefania Belmondo,F,W,ITA,CCS

5,Daniel Revenu,M,S,FRA,FEN

5,Phil Edwards,M,S,CAN,ATH

5,Antje Buschschulte,F,S,GER,SWI

5,Arie de Jong,M,S,NED,FEN

[/table]

And here is the list of those winning the most individual bronze medals:

[table]

IndBronzes,Name,Gdr,Ssn,NOC,Sport

5,Aleksey Nemov,M,S,RUS,GYM

5,Merlene Ottey-Page,F,S,JAM,ATH

4,Takashi Ono,M,S,JPN,GYM

4,Vitaly Shcherbo,M,S,BLR/EUN,GYM

4,Dmitry Sautin,M,S,EUN/RUS,DIV

4,Yelena Välbe,F,W,EUN/RUS,CCS

4,Anja Pärson,F,W,SWE,ASK

4,Roald Larsen,M,W,NOR,SSK

4,Yelena Välbe,F,W,EUN,CCS

4,William Merz,M,S,USA,GYM

4,Vitaly Shcherbo,M,S,BLR,GYM

[/table]

Finally, who has won the most bronze medals, and the most individual bronze medals, while winning no other Olympic medals? Following are those two lists:

[table]

Bronzes,Name,Gdr,Ssn,NOC,Sport

6,Harri Kirvesniemi,M,W,FIN,CCS

5,Phil Edwards,M,S,CAN,ATH

5,Antje Buschschulte,F,S,GER,SWI

5,Arie de Jong,M,S,NED,FEN

4,Vitaly Shcherbo,M,S,BLR,GYM

4,Jetze Doorman,M,S,NED,FEN

4,Robert Dover,M,S,USA,EQU

[/table]

Now for the list of the most individual bronze medals, with no team medals, no gold medals, and no silver medals.

[table]

IndBronzes,Name,Gdr,Ssn,NOC,Sport

4,Yelena Välbe,F,W,EUN/RUS,CCS

3,Angel Martino,F,S,USA,SWI

3,Stan Rowley,M,S,AUS,ATH

3,George Breen,M,S,USA,SWI

4,Vitaly Shcherbo,M,S,BLR,GYM

3,Hugues Duboscq,M,S,FRA,SWI

3,Curtis Myden,M,S,CAN,SWI

3,Amarilys Savón,F,S,CUB,JUD

3,Sheng Zetian,M,S,CHN,WRE

3,Hans van Helden,M,W,NED,SSK

3,Arnold Vanderlijde,M,S,NED,BOX

3,Gabi Zange-Schönbrunn,F,W,GDR,SSK

3,Marian Zieliński,M,S,POL,WLT

[/table]

So with these lists, and probably about $4.50, you can get a nice coffee at Starbucks.