DUE THURSDAY 2ND FEBRUARY
CHAPTER 4 – FAMOUS OLYMPIC RECORD
BREAKERS
Each Olympic Games produces new
champions. They break the old records, going “faster, higher and
stronger” to set new world records. Here are some special record
breakers:
The Greatest Athlete of the 20th
Century
Jim Thorpe, a Native American, was a
champion athlete from the Potowatomi tribe. His Native American name
-Wa-tho-huck- means “Bright Path”. His mother came from the family
of the legendary chief Black Hawk, a famous warrior and talented
athlete.
As a teenager, Thorpe attended a Native
American School in Pennsylvania. He was good at every sport and went
on to compete in 17 different Olympic events – more than anyone in
history! At the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, crowds celebrated as Thorpe
became the first and only Competitor to win both the pentathlon and
the decathlon. King Gustav V of Sweden told Thorpe that he was “the
greatest athlete in the world”. However, in 1913 the international
committee forced Thorpe to return his medals, because they discovered
that in the past, he had received money for playing basketball. The
Olympics were ony for amateur (non-professional) athletes, so this
was against the rules.
Later, Thorpe played American football
and baseball professionally. He was also a natural horse-rider and
dancer. He even excelled at bowling, and his average
was over 200 points a game.
In 1950, the US press elected Thorpe as
the greatest athlete of the first half of the 20th century.
Thorpe died in 1953. Nearly 30 years later, the Olympic organisers
finally returned his medals to his family. In 2001, ABC's Wide World
of Sports named him “Athlete of the Century”.
African-American Triumphs in Nazi
Germany
The National Socialist Party, also
known as the Nazi party hosted the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Although we
understand now that the Nazis were racist and fascist, many people in
1936 did not understand this. The Nazis wanted to prove that the
Aryan race was superior to Jews, black people and other minorities.
Unfortunately for the Nazis, an African-American – Jesse Owens –
won fours gold medals in Berlin in the 100 and 200 metres, the long
jump and the 4x100 metres. He was clearly superior to all
other athletes there!
Jesse Owens' father worked on a farm
and his grandfather was a slave. As a teenager, Owens broke records
in the high jump and long jump. Owens won many
championships with grace and speed before he arrived at the Olympics.
His triumphant performance as a black man embarrassed
the fascists. At their Games, he became the greatest modern Olympic
champion!
When Owens died in 1980, President Jimmy
Carter said, “Perhaps no athlete better symbolised the human
struggle against tyranny, poverty and racial intolerance. His
personal triumphs as a world-class athlete and record
holder were the start of a career devoted to
helping others. His work with young athletes, as an unofficial
ambassador overseas and a supporter of freedom, is a rich legacy to
the American people.”
Superstars and Heroes
There have been many great athletes in Olympic history. People have
forgotten many of them today, but some are too special to forget.
Here are a few examples:
In 1940, Emil Zátopek ran his first race at the request of a Czech
shoe manufacturer. Though new to running, he achieved
second place. Then, he trained hard for a few years and became a
champion. He was the first person to run 10,000 metres in less than
29 minutes and the first person to run 20,000 metres in an hour.
Zátopek's nickname was “The Locomotive”. In Helsinki in 1952, he
stunned the world by winning the 5,000 metres, the 10,000 metres and
the marathon within eight days!
In Munich, Germany, in 1972, Mark Spitz from the USA charmed the
world as he won seven gold medals in swimming. Olga Korbut, a gymnast
from the Soviet Union, thrilled audiences at the same Olympics.
Korbut was young and small. She won gold medals in the balance beam
and floor events and in the team competition
Four years later, at the Olympics in Montreal, Canada, in 1976, the
crowds fell in love with 14-year-old Nadia Comaneci from Romania. In
gymnastics, she won three gold medals, one silver and one bronze. She
achieved the impossible – a perfect 10 on the asymmetric bars.
During her life as an Olympic athlete, Comaneci achieved six more
perfect 10s!
