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On This Day in Olympic History …

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).

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Pedro Quartucci

[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]

Uncategorized

Jacques Forestier

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.

Jacques Forestier
Jacques Forestier

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.

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Francisco Gonzales

[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

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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]

Uncategorized

Paul Côté

[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]

Athletics, Boxing, Figure skating, Gymnastics, Ski jumping, Synchronized Swimming

Medals changing hands after the Olympics

The Australian Athletics Federation is looking to overturn Olympic results from 1948 and 1980. It hopes to help Shirley Strickland to a bronze medal in the 1948 200 m and Ian Campbell to a gold in the 1980 triple jump. Although it’s not very likely that they will be successful, medal changes years after the fact are not without precedent in Olympic history. In fact, even if the 1948 result changes 67 years after the fact, it wouldn’t even be a record.

We’ve made a compilation of occasions in Olympic history when the medal results changed at least a month after the end of the Games. All doping related cases have been excluded – they warrant an article of their own.

1904

All Olympic record books list the silver medallist in the 1904 lightweight boxing event as Jack Egan (sometimes spelled Eagan). He lost the final on decision to Harry Spanjer, while Russell Van Horn took third place. But more than a year later, Egan was discovered to have been fighting under an alias. This was not uncommon at the time, as many more wealthy citizens did not want to be associated with sports. Egan’s real name was Frank Floyd, and he came from Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. While this may not seem serious, by the rules of the AAU it was illegal to fight under an assumed name, a so-called ringer. In November 1905, the AAU decided that Egan would be disqualified from all AAU competitions, and he would have to return his prizes. The Atlantic Association that had knowingly accepted Floyd’s application as Egan was also expelled from the AAU.

This late decision to revise the Olympic results in this event has, as far as we know, never been published since the events in 1905, and was only rediscovered in 2008 by Taavi Kalju (a member of the OlyMADMen, just like the authors of this blog). More than 100 years after the fact, Peter Sturholdt can be recognized as a new Olympic medallist – all the more remarkable considering he never won a single fight.

1912

The star athlete of the 1912 Olympics was American Jim Thorpe. He had overwhelmingly won both the pentathlon and the decathlon events.  The King of Sweden gave him his gold medals and told him, “You, sir, are the greatest athlete in the world.”

In early 1913, it was revealed that Thorpe had played minor league baseball in the United States. For this he was retroactively declared a professional by the AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) and the IOC and his records at the 1912 Olympics were declared void. He had to return his gold medals. What is not so well known is that Thorpe should never have been disqualified in the first place.

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An all-round athlete, Thorpe also played professional football, baseball and basketball

Over the years numerous attempts were made to get the IOC to reverse the decision, mostly started by Thorpe’s children. Some efforts succeeded gradually. In 1973, the AAU restored Thorpe’s amateur status for the years 1909-1912. This was followed in 1975 by the United States Olympic Committee making a similar restoration.

In 1982, the Thorpe family, aided by Bob Wheeler, one of Thorpe’s biographers, and his wife, Florence Ridlon, succeeded in their long struggle to have Jim Thorpe’s medals restored by the International Olympic Committee. It was revealed in Sports Illustrated that a key factor in this decision was a discovery by Ridlon, who found a pamphlet in the Library of Congress which gave the rules and regulations for the 1912 Olympic Games. It stated that the statute of limitations for a claim against any Olympic athlete’s eligibility in 1912 had to have been made within 30 days after the awarding of the prizes. The announcement of Thorpe’s professional baseball career occurred in January 1913. Thus it was almost six months after the end of the Olympics and his disqualification was completely unwarranted.

On 27 February 1982, Wheeler and Ridlon founded The Jim Thorpe Foundation, expressly for the purpose of moving to have his medals and honors restored. On 13 October 1982, only eight months after the formation of The Jim Thorpe Foundation, but fully 70 years too late, the IOC Executive Board approved, in a sense, the restoration of Jim Thorpe’s medals, declaring him co-winner with Sweden’s Hugo Wieslander (decathlon) and Norway’s Ferdinand Bie (pentathlon). At a meeting of the IOC Executive Board, this time on 18 January 1983 in Los Angeles, commemorative medals were presented to Bill and Gail Thorpe, two of Thorpe’s children.

1924

The inaugural Olympic ski jumping competition ended with a clean sweep for the Norwegians – or so it seemed.

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Anders Haugen – Olympic medallist after 50 years.

Almost 40 years later, Thoralf Strømstad – a silver medallist in the cross country and Nordic combined at the 1924 Games – contacted Norwegian ski historian Jacob Vaage, claiming that the points from the ski jumping event for Thorleif Haug had been miscalculated, and that his final points should be behind Haugen’s. Vaage checked the case and had to agree with the 77-year-old Strømstad. In 1974 IOC decided to award the bronze medal to Haugen, at that time an elderly gentleman of 86. He was invited to Norway, and at a nice ceremony Haug’s bronze medal from 1924 was handed over to Haugen by Haug’s youngest daughter. Thorleif Haug himself died already in December 1934 from pneumonia at the age of 40. But Haugen was pleased to meet some of his Norwegian competitors from 1924: Narve Bonna, Einar Landvik and also Thoralf Strømstad, the man responsible for justice being made after 40 years.

1952

America’s Ed Sanders created carnage in the heavyweight boxing division in Helsinki as he battered his way to the final with three brutal knockout victories. His opponent in the final, Sweden’s Ingemar Johansson, appeared to be completely intimidated by the American’s reputation and spent most of the fight backpedalling around the ring. When Sanders did get into range Johansson would simply grab hold of his opponent. Eventually an increasingly irate referee grew tired of warning the Swede and disqualified him for “not trying”. This also had the effect of denying Johansson his silver medal and the second step on the podium remained vacant.

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Ingemar Johansson, who waited almost three decades to receive his silver medal.

Johansson did become a household name as a professional when he became the first European to win the World Heavyweight Championship for over 20 years after knocking out Olympic champion Floyd Patterson. In 1982, 30 years after his Olympic embarrassment, Johansson was finally awarded his silver medal after the IOC were persuaded to reverse their decision.

But Johansson was not the only boxer from 1952 to receive his medal late. In 1950, the International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA) had decided to eliminated the bronze medal match, having the losing finalists place an equal third. This was accepted by the IOC, on condition that they would not receive a bronze medal. This is indeed what happened in Helsinki.

But 1970, the president of the Finnish Boxing Association brought up the subject with AIBA, noting the absence of bronze medals in the boxing events to be an injustice. The AIBA President, Rudyard Russell, concurred and contacted the IOC. They received approval for the matter through IOC director Monique Berlioux, although no formal decision was made during an IOC Session. Six of the 20 losing semi-finalists received the medal in a ceremony in Finland on 2-3 April 1970, while the others received theirs in the mail.

1964

The pair’s competition at the Innsbruck figure skating was won by the Soviet husband-wife pair of Lyudmila Belousova and Oleg Protopopov, beating the favored German pair of Marika Kilius and Hans-Jürgen Bäumler. Shortly after the Innsbruck Olympics, it was revealed that Kilius/Bäumler had signed a professional contract prior to the event to perform with Holiday on Ice. This should have disqualified them as professionals, but strangely no definite action was initially taken against them by the IOC or the International Skating Union.

A few weeks later they won the World Championships, defeating Belousova and Protopopov. It was felt that the West German Olympic Committee, lobbying the IOC for the 1972 Olympic bid, wanted to present themselves in the best possible manner and encouraged the German skaters to return their medals. The IOC formed a special sub-committee to examine the case, and the minutes of the Executive Committee note, “A special sub-committee under Ivar Vind had studied the case of the German figure skaters. They had been found ‘non-amateurs’. Willi Daume said that ‘The German NOC will do what is necessary.’

At the 65th IOC session the IOC passed a resolution, which was printed in the Olympic Review, volume 95, page 39, from 15 August 1966 which stated, “We have received the silver medals back, and we will award them to the original third-place finishers. The bronze medals will be awarded to the original fourth-place finishers.” In January 1966, Kilius/Bäumler returned their silver medals to the IOC. Silver medals were awarded to Wilkes and Revell by Canadian IOC Member James Worrall during the 1967 Canadian Figure Skating Championships, while the Josephs received bronze medals from USOC President Tug Wilson at a small private ceremony at the Sheraton Hotel in Chicago, during the 1966 USA Figure Skating Championships. However, no action was ever taken by the ISU, who continued to list Kilius/Bäumler as silver medalists and World Champions in 1964.

However, the controversy did not end there. In 1987, the German NOC rather surreptitiously requested the return of the silver medals to Kilius and Bäumler, which was in keeping with the ISU ruling as well. They asked the IOC to do this, stating that it was known that other skaters had signed similar contracts in that era. At the 1987 IOC Session in Istanbul, the IOC approved this request and the Germans received new silver medals on 5 December 1987, when German NOC president Willi Daume presented replicas of the originals to Kilius and Bäumler on the German television show “Sportstudio”.

Contacted in the late 90s, Debbi Wilkes and Vivian Joseph knew nothing of this, and still thought the German pair had been disqualified. Wilkes and Revell kept their silver medals, in fact, Revell’s medal was buried with him after his death, and the Josephs kept their bronze medals. Thus four silver medals were eventually awarded in this event. The IOC lists did not change the standings for many years, but recognizing that two sets of silver medals have been awarded in this event, now list Kilius/Bäumler and Wilkes/Revell as =2nd and as silver medalists, and have the Josephs in 3rd place with bronze medals. The ISU has never changed the original rankings, continuing to list Kilius/Bäumler 2nd, Wilkes/Revell 3rd, and the Josephs 4th.

1968

In a similar case to the 1952 boxing, American featherweight Al Robinson was disqualified in the final against home fighter Antonio Roldán. In a dubious decision, Robinson was disqualified for head butting. As in 1952, this officially ruled him out of a silver medal. However, US officials protested the decision and Robinson received the medal after returning home. He did not enjoy it for long, as he fell into a coma during training in 1971, and eventually died three years later.

1984

The women’s 100 m hurdles, severely hurt by the Soviet boycott, saw Benita Fitzgerald-Brown edge out Shirley Strong (GBR). Third-place was announced at first as a dead heat between Kim Turner (USA) and France’s Michele Chardonnet, but after reviewing photos of the finish, the judges reversed themselves and gave the bronze medal to Turner. But Chardonnet was not informed of this until she was standing on the infield awaiting the medal ceremony, and she left the field sobbing. The French Athletics Federation protested and 3½ months later the decision was reverted to a dead-heat. Chardonnet received her bronze medal six months after the Olympics ended.

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Kim Turner (right) on her way to a shared bronze.

1992

Canadian Sylvie Fréchette, the 1991 World Champion and World Cup Champion was favored to win the women’s solo synchronized swimming event at the Barcelona Games. She was expected to be challenged by American Kristin Babb-Sprague, who was stronger in the freestyle final routine. Fréchette was expected to open a lead in the technical figures. But in that segment, Brazilian judge Maria de Silveira gave Fréchette an unaccountably low score of 8.7. De Silveira maintained that she had made a mistake and hit the wrong button, and meant to give her a score of 9.7. But the score could not be changed, per the FINA rules. The Canadians appealed the decision after the technical figures, but this was overturned 11-2, the two dissenting votes coming from the Canadian members of the Jury of Appeal. This let Babb-Sprague take the lead after the technical figures, and Fréchette was unable to overcome that lead, as Babb-Sprague seemingly won the gold medal.

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Fréchette hugs Babb-Sprague from the silver medal section of the podium.

But that would not be the end of it. Dick Pound, powerful Canadian IOC Member, led a further appeal to have the results overturned. FINA eventually caved to the pressure and elected to declare Fréchette and Babb-Sprague as co-champions, and awarded Fréchette a gold medal in October 1993.

2000

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Dong Fangxiao, who was only 14 years old at the time of the Sydney Olympics

As a member of the Chinese women’s gymnastics team at the Sydney Olympics, Dong Fangxiao earned a bronze medal. Eight years later, she was entered as an official for the Beijing Olympics. The birth information she used for that application – stating a birth year of 1986 – was different from the one used at the Sydney Games, when she claimed to have been born in 1983.

The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) launched an investigation, as a birth year of 1986 would have made Dong only 14 at the time of the Sydney Olympics, two years under the age limit of 16. The FIG concluded 1986 was Dong’s actual birth year, and disqualified her from the 2000 Games. The IOC went along with that verdict, and handed the bronze medal from the team all-around to the United States.

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James Wolfensohn

[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.

James Wolfensohn

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]

Uncategorized

Silver and Bronze Medal Trivia

2 Comments

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.

Football

Women’s Olympic and World Cup Champions – Updated US List

After the US Women won the World Cup last week, this greatly changes the list of women who have won both an Olympic title and a World Cup title in football. This is almost a purely American list, with 4 Norwegians on the list from the 1995 World Cup and 2000 Olympics (Gro Espeseth, Bente Nordby, Marianne Pettersen, Hege Riise). Below is the list of the American women who have won both titles, and the number of times.

Christie Pearce-Rampone
Christie Pearce-Rampone

The leader with 5 such championships is Christie Pearce-Rampone, with three Olympic gold medals (2004/08/12) and two World Cups (1999/2015). Seven American women have four titles – Heather O’Reilly, Shannon Boxx, Brandi Chastain, Joy Biefeld-Fawcett, Julie Foudy, Kristine Lilly, and Mia Hamm. One could also add Hope Solo to this list, but this reflects one of the difficulties of compiling such a list. In 2004 Solo was on the Olympic team, but never played as a backup goaltender. Likewise, Tiffany Roberts was on the 2004 Olympic team but never played.

Brandi Chastain
Brandi Chastain

Only Heather Mitts has three such titles without winning both, as an Olympic gold medalist in 2004/08/12. Five Americans have won two Olympic gold medals, without winning the World Cup – Aly Wagner, Angela Hucles, Kate Sobrero-Markgraf, Lindsay Tarpley (2004/08), and Rachel Buehler (2008/12).

[table]

Name,Total,#Oly,#WC,OlyYear(s),WCYear(s)

Christie Pearce-Rampone,5,3,2,2004/08/12,1999/2015

Heather O’Reilly,4,3,1,2004/08/12,2015

Shannon Boxx,4,3,1,2004/08/12,2015

Brandi Chastain,4,2,2,1996/2004,1991/99

Joy Biefeld-Fawcett,4,2,2,1996/2004,1991/99

Julie Foudy,4,2,2,1996/2004,1991/99

Kristine Lilly,4,2,2,1996/2004,1991/99

Mia Hamm,4,2,2,1996/2004,1991/99

Abby Wambach,3,2,1,2004/2012,2015

Amy Rodriguez,3,2,1,2008/12,2015

Briana Scurry,3,2,1,1996/2004,1999

Carli Lloyd,3,2,1,2008/12,2015

Cindy Parlow,3,2,1,1996/2004,1999

Hope Solo,3,2,1,2008/12,2015

Kate Sobrero-Markgraf,3,2,1,2004/08,1999

Lauren Cheney-Holiday,3,2,1,2008/12,2015

Tobin Heath,3,2,1,2008/12,2015

Carla Werden-Overbeck,3,1,2,1996,1991/99

Michelle Akers,3,1,2,1996,1991/99

Alex Morgan,2,1,1,2012,2015

Becky Sauerbrunn,2,1,1,2012,2015

Carin Jennings-Gabarra,2,1,1,1996,1991

Kelley O’Hara,2,1,1,2012,2015

Lori Chalupny,2,1,1,2008,2015

Megan Rapinoe,2,1,1,2012,2015

Shannon MacMillan,2,1,1,1996,1999

Sydney Leroux,2,1,1,2012,2015

Tiffany Roberts,2,1,1,1996,1999

Tiffeny Milbrett,2,1,1,1996,1999

Tisha Venturini,2,1,1,1996,1999

[/table]

Uncategorized

Small Nations Competing at the Olympics

5 Comments

Nick Zaccardi, NBC Olympics maven, posited that if Fiji gets 50+ athletes qualified for the 2016 Olympics, that it might be the most ever for a nation with less than 1,000,000 population. I tweeted recently that it would be and that no such current nation had had more than 40 competitors at a single Olympics. Unfortunately, I did not go back far enough checking those stats, and it has happened before.

Luxembourg is the only nation with < 106 population (as of 2015) that has had 40 or more competitors at a single Olympics, and they have done it several times, with a high of 52 in 1960. They also had 47 in 1928, 45 in 1948, and 44 three times – 1936, 1948, and 1952.

The first such nation to compete at the Olympics was again Luxembourg, in 1900, although this was not known for over 80 years. Michel Théato, winner of the 1900 marathon, was always considered French until French athletics historian Alain Bouillé discovered in the early 1980s that he was actually a Luxembourgeois national. In 1908 and 1912 Iceland competed, although it was a Danish territory in both those years. From 1920-28 Luxembourg and Monaco competed, along with Malta in 1928. It was not until 1936 that six such small nations competed – Bermuda, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, and Monaco. In 2012, fully 43 such small nations competed at London.

Through 2012, such small nations have competed 398 times at the Summer Olympics – we did not check Winter Olympics for this stat. This has been done in all by 43 nations, although Guyana (British Guiana), Belize (British Honduras), and Samoa (Western Samoa), competed under two different names in various years.

The following list is inclusive of all nations who have competed at the Olympics, with 10 or more competitors, both men and women, at a single Summer Olympics, and currently have a population under a million. I did not try to go back and check populations at the time of their Olympic participation – sorry, but that would be a huge effort. This also eliminates a few small nations that no longer exist as nations, notably Netherlands Antilles and Newfoundland, both of which have competed at the Olympics, but never with very many athletes.

[table]

Nation,3LA,Year,###

Luxembourg,LUX,1960,52

Luxembourg,LUX,1928,47

Luxembourg,LUX,1948,45

Luxembourg,LUX,1924,44

Luxembourg,LUX,1936,44

Luxembourg,LUX,1952,44

Montenegro,MNE,2012,33

Iceland,ISL,1988,32

Iceland,ISL,1984,30

U.S. Virgin Islands,ISV,1984,29

Iceland,ISL,1992,27

Iceland,ISL,2008,27

Iceland,ISL,2012,27

Iceland,ISL,2004,26

The Bahamas,BAH,1996,26

Iceland,ISL,1972,25

Luxembourg,LUX,1920,25

The Bahamas,BAH,2000,25

The Bahamas,BAH,2008,25

U.S. Virgin Islands,ISV,1992,25

Fiji,FIJ,1988,23

Cyprus,CYP,2000,22

Guam,GUM,1992,22

The Bahamas,BAH,1984,22

The Bahamas,BAH,2004,22

U.S. Virgin Islands,ISV,1988,22

Luxembourg,LUX,1912,21

The Bahamas,BAH,2012,21

U.S. Virgin Islands,ISV,1976,21

Bermuda,BER,1992,20

Cyprus,CYP,2004,20

The Bahamas,BAH,1972,20

Guam,GUM,1988,19

Iceland,ISL,1948,19

Montenegro,MNE,2008,19

San Marino,SMR,1984,19

Barbados,BAR,2000,18

Fiji,FIJ,1992,18

Iceland,ISL,2000,18

Barbados,BAR,1988,17

Barbados,BAR,1992,17

Cyprus,CYP,1992,17

Cyprus,CYP,1996,17

Cyprus,CYP,2008,17

Fiji,FIJ,1996,17

San Marino,SMR,1992,17

Barbados,BAR,1984,16

Bermuda,BER,1976,16

San Marino,SMR,1980,16

The Bahamas,BAH,1968,16

The Bahamas,BAH,1988,16

U.S. Virgin Islands,ISV,1972,16

Antigua and Barbuda,ANT,1988,15

Antigua and Barbuda,ANT,1984,14

Cyprus,CYP,1980,14

Fiji,FIJ,1984,14

The Bahamas,BAH,1992,14

Antigua and Barbuda,ANT,1992,13

Antigua and Barbuda,ANT,1996,13

Barbados,BAR,1972,13

Barbados,BAR,1996,13

Cyprus,CYP,2012,13

Iceland,ISL,1976,13

Luxembourg,LUX,2008,13

The Bahamas,BAH,1960,13

Bermuda,BER,1948,12

Bermuda,BER,1984,12

Bermuda,BER,1988,12

Iceland,ISL,1936,12

Liechtenstein,LIE,1988,12

Luxembourg,LUX,1964,12

U.S. Virgin Islands,ISV,1996,12

Barbados,BAR,1976,11

Belize,BIZ,1984,11

Luxembourg,LUX,1956,11

Luxembourg,LUX,1972,11

Malta,MLT,1936,11

Monaco,MON,1960,11

Samoa,SAM,1988,11

San Marino,SMR,1988,11

Seychelles,SEY,1980,11

Seychelles,SEY,1992,11

The Bahamas,BAH,1964,11

The Bahamas,BAH,1976,11

Antigua and Barbuda,ANT,1976,10

Barbados,BAR,2004,10

Belize,BIZ,1988,10

Belize,BIZ,1992,10

Bermuda,BER,2004,10

Cayman Islands,CAY,1992,10

Cyprus,CYP,1984,10

Guyana,GUY,1984,10

Luxembourg,LUX,2004,10

Malta,MLT,1960,10

San Marino,SMR,1976,10

St. Kitts & Nevis,SKN,1996,10

[/table]

All the Olympic Stats You'll Ever Need