Winter Games History (IWG) - Sports Day by Day project ahead of the Pyeongchang Olympics. We write only about the most interesting and important things - without water, pathos and cliches.
St. Moritz-1928
Host country: Switzerland
464 athlete
25 countries
14 sets of medals
Essential Facts About St. Moritz 1928
The Summer and Winter Games were held in the same year. Holland had the right to host the Winter Games before the Summer (Amsterdam 1928), but refused.
In hockey, Canada again tore everyone apart, beating rivals and not conceding a single puck (38: 0). The Americans did not participate. Returning home, the Canadians lost the first-ever international match to the Boston University team - 0: 1.
11 accredited Spanish journalists arrived in St. Moritz. Not a single athlete from Spain competed at the Olympics.
Cross-country skiing (skiering) was first shown to the public in St. Moritz
For the first time a skeleton appeared in the Games program. In bobsleigh, the teams performed in fives - the last time in Olympic history
Jumping over barrels on skates is another demonstration entertainment of the Olympics
Ski jumping in St. Moritz
Canada - Switzerland - 13: 0 - immediately after this match, the closing ceremony of the Games was held
Speed skating at the 1928 Olympics
Hot, winter, your Switzerland
The Olympics in St. Moritz fit the slogan “Hot. Winter. Yours. " Before the 10,000 meter skating races, the sun melted the ice. The athlete had to run through the porridge. American Irving Jeffy and Norwegian Bernt Evensen were the first. The remaining ice continued to melt, and the results from race to race worsened noticeably. The fifth pair just dropped out of the race. The favorites did not even have time to go to the start, and the organizers decided to recognize the competition as valid. Jeffy won gold, Evensen won silver. Finns and Norwegians have filed a protest.
The organizers panicked. They canceled the results. The Americans, who won the gold, threatened the entire delegation to leave Switzerland. It was decided to hold the competition again, but it turned out that the Norwegians had already left home. The weather conditions did not improve - as a result, the medals were never officially awarded, and Irving Jeffy flew to the USA without gold - he was taken away.
In the 500 meter races, the chronometer determined two winners and four bronze medalists. They produced few medals; they had to be removed from those sports that had not yet ended, and then additional ones were minted.
Medal standings St. Moritz-1928
1. Norway 6 + 4 + 5 = 15
2.US 2 + 2 + 2 = 6
3. Sweden 2 + 2 + 1 = 5
4. Finland 2 + 1 + 1 = 4
5-6. France 1 + 0 + 0 = 1
5-6. Canada 1 + 0 + 0 = 1
…eight. Switzerland 0 + 0 + 1 = 1
II Winter Olympic Games were held in the Swiss St. Moritz from 11 to 19 February 1928.
City selection
Unlike the previous Games, the choice of the new capital was held on a competitive basis. At the IOC session in May 1926 (Lisbon, Portugal), among the three Swiss candidate cities - Davos, Engelberg and St. Moritz - the choice was made in favor of the latter.
It is interesting that initially the Dutch also claimed to host the 1928 Olympics, but withdrew their candidacy due to the uncertainty that the weather in February would allow the Games to be held with dignity. The Swiss, in turn, were more confident about the climate, although, as it turned out, in vain. The treachery of nature that year truly knew no bounds: on some days in the mountains there was a weekly precipitation rate, but then the temperature rose to + 20 °, and the athletes drowned in deep puddles.
Member countries
The 1928 Games were attended by 464 athletes (26 women) from 25 countries. Among the debutants of the Winter Games were representatives of Germany, Holland, Romania, Lithuania, Estonia, as well as envoys from distant Japan, Argentina and Mexico.
The countries that took part in the Winter Olympics for the first time are highlighted in blue.
Green - those who previously participated in the Winter Olympics.
Yellow dot - the venue of the games (St. Moritz).
Sports
The Games program included competitions in cross-country skiing, ski jumping, nordic combined, bobsleigh, skeleton, speed skating, figure skating and ice hockey.
He left the games curling, at the previous Games it was listed in the category of demo games. Military patrol competitions (a prototype of modern biathlon) were transferred from the main competitions to demonstration competitions. The skeleton made its debut as the main type at the games. Dog races were also present at the games as a demonstration view.
The opening ceremony
The opening ceremony of the Games took place on February 11 on the ice of the Badrutz Park skating rink. There was a heavy snowfall at night, so the organizers had to postpone the ceremony for half an hour to clear the ice from the ice rink. The ceremony began with the arrival of members of the IOC, as well as dignitaries of Switzerland.
Spectators gather for the opening ceremony
President of the Swiss Confederation Edmund Schults arrives for the opening ceremony
After the arrival of the official guests, the parade of athletes began. An interesting point - many of them came with their equipment, dressed in sports uniforms. The skiers carried their skis, and the hockey players were fully equipped (their first games began immediately after the opening ceremony).
Parade of participating countries. Team Canada
National teams flag bearers
President of the Swiss Confederation Edmund Schults addressed the audience with a solemn speech and declared the II Winter Olympic Games open. After the flag was raised over the stadium Olympic movement, and the Swiss combined skier Hans Eidenbenz pronounced the Olympic Oath on behalf of all athletes.
Closing ceremony
The closing ceremony of the II Winter Olympic Games took place on 19 February. On this day, competitions were still held, postponed to a later date due to overlays with warm weather. In the morning, the doubles tournament ended figure skating, and the closing ceremony began immediately after the end of the ice hockey match between the national teams of Canada and Switzerland.
As at the opening of the Games, a parade of participating countries was held again, marching with national flags.
The President of the NOC of Switzerland, in accordance with the protocol, presented awards to the winners and prize-winners of the Games, and also congratulated all the participants on the completion of the Olympics. Then the Olympic flag was lowered to the sound of fireworks.
Thereafter, the President of the International Olympic Committee, Count Henri de Bayeux-Latour officially declared the II Winter Olympic Games closed.
Scandals at the II Winter Olympics
Before the 10,000 m speed skating races, the hot sun flooded the ice of the running tracks, but the organizers decided not to cancel the competition. The race was opened by an American Irving Jeffie and Norwegian Bernt Evensen... The ice continued to melt and the results deteriorated from run to run. The fifth pair left the race, because the quality of the ice no longer allowed the competition to continue. The competition was declared over, and the organizers distributed medals among those who managed to run. Best result was in the first pair, "gold" was awarded to Irving Jeffy, "silver" - to Bernt Evensen. Finns and Norwegians protested as many athletes, including one of their favorites, the Norwegian Ivara Ballangruda, did not have time to go to the start. It was decided to cancel the results of the competition and not to play medals in this form. But the US delegation demanded that the medal be returned to their athlete Irving Jeffy, threatening to leave St. Moritz otherwise. The organizing committee tried to reach a compromise and decided to re-run with the onset of favorable weather conditions. But this decision came as a surprise to the Norwegian skaters, who had already left Switzerland, not hoping for a repeat of the competition. However, the weather conditions did not allow for repeated starts. Awards in this discipline have not officially been played.
Competitions at a distance of 500 m were also not without surprises. Chronometers, which in those years were able to record the time with an accuracy of only tenths of a second, revealed two winners and four (!!!) bronze medalists. Not foreseeing such a situation, the organizers of the Games decided to "borrow" the missing medals from other, not yet played, disciplines, and then urgently made additional tokens.
St. Moritz (Switzerland)
The St. Moritz Games became the first Olympics for the new IOC President Henri de Baye-Latour, who replaced the retired Pierre de Coubertin in 1925. The Belgian was known as a less subtle politician than his predecessor, but he was a tough administrator and a talented organizer - these qualities helped him save the White Olympics project, which from its first steps was on the verge of collapse.
To begin with, Bayeux-Latour had to suffer a lot in search of a place for the first official Winter Games (recall that the 1924 sports week in Chamonix was recognized by the IOC only retroactively). And then the competition program was half-disrupted due to the abnormally warm weather in the Engadine Valley.
Venue - St. Moritz, Switzerland
11-19 February 1928
Number of participating countries - 25
Number of athletes participating - 463 (28 women, 435 men)
Medal Sets - 14
Overall Winner - Norway
Three main characters of the Games according to "SE"
Sonya Henie (Norway),
figure skating
William Fiske (USA),
bobsled
Johan Grettumsbroten (Norway),
ski race
LOSSES AGAIN
ANNOUNCEMENT TEAM
After the 1928 Olympics, many newspapers wrote that the unpredictability of the weather put an end to the very idea of holding the Winter Games. But the IOC took a more optimistic position on this issue. First of all, because the competition, despite all the organizational overlaps, was a great success with the public. Especially - skaters' performances.
The only type of program in which women were represented was won by 15-year-old Norwegian Sonja Henie: she later became the main star of pre-war figure skating, and then made a career in show business. In the men's figure skating tournament, another Norwegian, Gillis Grafström, celebrated success with a swollen injured knee, but still became a three-time Olympic champion in St. Moritz.
Hockey matches turned out to be another top discipline. The Canadian national team, represented by a university team from Toronto, have scored more than ten goals in each match. True, the main competitors of the Canadians, the US team, did not arrive in St. Moritz.
When the Maple Leaves returned home with Olympic gold, they were challenged and defeated by American hockey players from Boston University. This was Canada's first defeat in the international hockey arena.
Backdating olympic tournament in St. Moritz received the status of the world championship, so the players from Toronto accidentally brought their homeland and the title of world champions.
One of the features of the 1928 Winter Games was the format of bobsledders' competitions - the crews were allowed to include up to five people. Bobsleigh starts were the main hope for medals for the Olympics hosts, the Swiss. However, American bobsledders and skeletonists left the owners no chance. The crew led by 16-year-old William Fiske became the Olympic champion in bobsled, and the young pilot found three members of his team by placing an advertisement in the newspaper. None of the trio had the slightest idea of bobsleigh prior to their trip to St. Moritz. In 12 years Fiske will become a military pilot and will die at the beginning of the Second World War.
The same fate will await another participant in bobsleigh starts in Switzerland - the French Marquis Jean d'Olan. This restless aristocrat was the champion of his country in diving and bobsleigh, took part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans auto races and various air shows. In 1944, his fighter caught fire during a battle with the German Messerschmitts, and d'Olan was unable to leave the blazing cockpit.
EXPERIENCE TAKES UP
Warm weather and the associated inconvenience did not prevent athletes from the northern countries - Norway, Sweden and Finland - from taking all the medals of the 1928 Games in ski and speed skating disciplines, with the exception of one bronze. At the same time, athletes who had experience of performing in Chamonix four years earlier became two-time champions of the second White Olympiad. Finnish skater Klas Turnberg added two more St. Moritz gold medals to his five 1924 Games medals. And the three-time Chamonix medalist Johan Grettumsbroten from Norway won the 18 km race and the double event in Switzerland.
The most amazing competitions of the 1928 Olympics were the demonstration performances of equestrian skiers. Athletes skied across the ice of the lake, grasping the long horse's reins, and had to overcome the distance of 1900 meters in this way. Eight athletes entered the start, all of them representing Switzerland. This was the first and last appearance of the sport in Winter Games, although in different variations (with dogs, deer and other animals) similar competitions are held to this day.
Oleg SHAMONAEV
FIGURES AND FACTS
Since 1928, the Winter Olympics were officially separated from the Summer Olympics for the first time, and thus it was in St. Moritz that the first White Olympics actually took place.
A skeleton, then known as a toboggan, made its debut in the Games program. The first gold medal in the history of the discipline was won by American Jennison Heaton, who also became one of the five prize-winners from the USA in bobsleigh competition.
For the first time, the geography of the Winter Olympics went beyond Europe and North America: Argentina, Mexico and Japan were among the participants. Hispanics fielded bobsleigh teams (Argentinians had two), and the Japanese fielded skiers. However, none of these countries have won awards.
Norway won the medal standings for the second time in a row. Although this time her application was only 8th in number (25 people). Nevertheless, the Norwegians won 6 gold, 4 silver and 5 bronze medals... In total, the awards went to representatives of 12 national teams - two more than in Chamonix 1924.
More than half of the medals - 24 out of 41 (58.5 percent) - went to the Northern European teams - Norway, Sweden and Finland. It is worth noting that the Olympic Games emerged as an alternative to the intra-Scandinavian Nordic Games, and for a long time the Norwegians, Swedes and Finns were on the verge of boycotting the Winter Olympics.
Klas Thunberg (Finland) and Johan Grettumsbrotten (Norway) won two gold medals each in St. Moritz. At the same time, Thunberg became the champion of the Winter Olympics - on his account, taking into account the Games in Chamonix, there were 5 champion titles.
Speed skater Bernd Evensen (Norway) was the first athlete in the history of the White Olympics who managed to win awards of all merits (one at a time) at one Games.
First gold on winter Olympics in its history was conquered by France (now it is in 13th place in the overall table of OWG medals with 27 awards). The winners were figure skaters Pierre Brunet and André Joly.
In figure skating, Sonya Heni won with a big advantage, having won her first olympic gold... On the day of the start of the Games, the Norwegian was 15 years old and 316 days old. Only in 1998 this record was broken: American Tara Lipinski became the champion in the same figure skating at 15 years and 242 days (on the opening day of the Olympics).
The Swiss national team, which had the most impressive delegation (44 athletes), out of 41 Olympic medals won only one bronze - in hockey. This result is still the worst in history for the host country of the Games.
The ice hockey tournament was again won by the Canadian team, represented by a team from the University of Toronto. The Canadians have not conceded a single goal in 3 matches, having won them with a total score of 38: 0.
The top scorer of the hockey tournament was Canadian David Trottier, who scored 15 (12 + 3) points.
In 1925, Pierre de Coubertin announced his resignation. Quite disappointed, he published a "sports testament", in which, once again setting out his concept of the essence of sport: "Professionalism, here it is - the enemy!" On May 28, 1925, at a session in Prague, the International Olympic Committee elected a new president for itself - the Belgian diplomat Count de Bayeux-Latour, who served until 1942, until his death. To host the 1928 Games, the IOC received only one application - from Amsterdam. So Amsterdam got the right to host Olympic Games without any struggle. On the summer Olympics For the first time, the founder of the Games, Pierre de Coubertin, was not present in the Netherlands: he fell seriously ill. On the whole, the Olympics were rather mundane. And although the number of participating countries increased, the number of athletes was slightly less, and the competition program was reduced.
In Amsterdam, a tradition arose that was never broken later: during the Games, a fire burned, lit in Olympia from the sun with the help of a mirror. Runners carried it to Amsterdam, passing it to each other like a baton. They crossed Greece, Yugoslavia, Austria, Germany and the Netherlands.
Lighting the Olympic flame. July 28, 1928.
Arrival of the Uruguayan national team to Amsterdam
Arrival of the French national ice hockey team at the central station of Amsterdam
After a 16-year break, the German team entered the Olympic start, and, I must say, came out in a solid composition - 233 people. For the first time, athletes from Malta, Panama and Rhodesia took part in the Olympics.
German athletes in white skirts, black blazers and white caps pose for the camera before the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games on July 28, 1928.
Greek Olympic team participating in the 1928 Olympics
For the first time in the Olympic program there were competitions among women in athletics- running on 100 and 800 meters, relay race 4 x 100 meters, high jumping, discus throwing - and in gymnastics. The most striking event was the performance of the athletes. Each type of program was marked by a world record.
Argentine national football team during the Olympic Games
American Betty Robinson won the 100m race and won a silver medal in the 4 x 100m relay. The 16-year-old student didn't know she was a good runner until her teacher saw her running after training. She began competing in running just four months before the 1928 Olympics. In her first outdoor performance, she set a world record at a distance of 100 meters. At the Olympics in Amsterdam, Betty won by half a meter in the final of the 100 meter race, participating in only the fourth time in this type of competition. Three years after her Olympic triumph, Elizabeth was in a plane crash. The man who found her even thought she was dead, carried her into the trunk of his car and took her to the funeral home. She was unconscious for seven weeks and could not walk normally for another two years, but he survived. Betty Robinson wanted to return to the sport and compete in the sprint. But her leg could no longer fully bend at the knee, which prevented the athlete from taking the correct starting position. However, she could run relay races. And in 1936, Betty Robinson won the second gold medal in the 4x100 meter relay as part of the American team.
Athletes from Czechoslovakia at the stadium
The 800m race was won by Lina Radke-Batshauer from Germany, the 4x100m relay by the Canadian (Fanny Rosenfeld was among the winners), and their compatriot Ethel Catherwood won the high jump. Percy Williams of Canada won two gold medals in the 100 and 200 meters.
The Estonian Olympic team before the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games on July 28, 1928.
Interestingly, the inclusion of 800 meters in the program for women caused great controversy. During the 800-meter races, young women fell exhausted onto the track. It was decided from 1932 to exclude this distance from Olympic program, and again she appeared only at the XVII Games, in 1960, where the USSR athlete Lyudmila Shevtsova won. Her result was 12.5 seconds higher than Lina Radke's.
Canadian athletes prepare to take part in the opening ceremony of the 1928 Olympic Games
But, in general, the fight was exciting and interesting. As in the previous Games, the Finnish track and field athletes performed well. They won five gold, five silver and four bronze medals, and won 1500 meters, 5000 meters, 3000 meters hurdles and 10,000 meters. The legendary Paavo Nurmi was the first to finish at the last distance. It was his 9th Olympic gold medal!
The Australian Olympic team during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. July 28, 1928
As for the American track and field athletes, they won nine gold, eight silver and eight bronze medals in Amsterdam. An interesting struggle took place in the long jump sector, which was fought between the American Eduard Hemm and the athlete from Haiti Silvio Kator. In 1928, they were the ones who fought the main battle for the championship. The American came to the Olympics in the rank of world record holder (7.90 m). A hard fight for Olympic gold also brought him victory with an Olympic record (7.73 m). However, the ambitious Kator nevertheless took revenge on Olympic champion having won the world championship with a new world record (7.93 m).
Argentine Olympic team during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. July 28, 1928
The marathon race brought France an unexpected victory. The hero of the marathon was a little Algerian named Bougera El Kafi, a laborer from Renault factories in Biyancourt. His run in Amsterdam was a masterpiece of tactics, caution, ability to withstand. After the first ten kilometers, he lagged behind the leaders by 2 minutes 30 seconds. The Japanese and Finnish leaders seemed much more active. The Japanese K. Yamada, small but surprisingly wiry and strong, made a dash at the twenty-fifth kilometer. His mistake was that he went ahead very early. This mistake of Yamada became a trump card for El Kafi, who, picking up speed, saw on his road rivals exhausted in a fight with the Japanese. When the second hour struck, he was already outflanking the Japanese runner. But three kilometers before the finish line, another danger awaited him - Chilean Miguel Reyes Plaza rushed forward. But he also overestimated his strength, and one and a half kilometers before the finish, El Kafi was already confident of his success. And he became an Olympic champion.
The Belgian Olympic team during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. July 28, 1928
In Amsterdam, the first victories were won by representatives of Japan: Mikio Oda in the triple jump and Ishiuki Tsuruta in the 200-meter breaststroke swim. The Post Office of the Land of the Rising Sun also celebrated the first Olympic award for Japanese athletes. The first silver was won by Kinue Hitomi in the 800-meter race. She lost less than a second to world record holder German runner Caroline Radke. Kinue Hitome exceeded the old German world record by as much as 2 seconds, but this was not enough. Caroline Radke set a new world record (2.16.8) in a bitter struggle and rightfully became the Olympic champion.
The British Olympic team during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. July 28, 1928
As for swimming, it was in this sport that the Hero of the 1928 Olympics appeared. The American Johnny Weissmuller has rightfully become it. Weissmüller competed in the 100m freestyle and in the 4x200m relay, resulting in two gold medals. Johnny Weissmuller has performed brilliantly in the basins of America and Europe for about ten years. He has five Olympic gold medals in his collection. Twice he became the champion of the Olympic Games in the most prestigious swimming distance - 100 meters freestyle. At the same distance, Weissmuller was the first to get out of the minute and brought the world record to 57.4 seconds by 1924. In the pre-war and post-war years, the screens of the world were filled with numerous episodes of the American action movie Tarzan. Particularly successful were those episodes in the film, where Tarzan demonstrated amazing athletic qualities: a breathtaking competition with a crocodile, dizzying stunts in the jungle, long underwater journeys of the hero. Undisputed are the excellent sports data of the performer of the role of Tarzan. There is nothing surprising in this: after all, the five-time Olympic champion Johnny Weissmuller starred in the role of Tarzan.
The German Olympic team during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. July 28, 1928.
At the Amsterdam Olympics, the winner of the weightlifting competition was determined for the first time by the sum of the classic triathlon: press, snatch, clean and jerk. Weightlifters competed in five weight categories, and Olympic and world records were broken in all categories.
The Danish Olympic team during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. July 28, 1928
Field hockey competitions brought together 9 teams. For the first time, Indian hockey players took part in the Olympics. The debut brought them gold medals. From then until 1960, they had no defeats, and only in Rome did they have worthy rivals in the face of the Pakistani team.
The Canadian Olympic team during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. July 28, 1928
The football tournament attracted 17 teams. This tournament was a great success among the audience, of which there were more than 250 thousand. The final was South American: Uruguay played against Argentina. It took two matches to determine the champion. The first ended in a draw - 1: 1. And only in the additional second match the Uruguayans were able to win - 2: 1. In the match for third place, the Italian team defeated the Egyptian team with a score of 11: 3.
The Finnish Olympic team during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. July 28, 1928
The Italians and the French competed in foil and epee fencing. And if the first in both cases won as a team, then in the individual competition the veteran, Frenchman Lucien Gaudin took the lead. So brilliantly ended the career of this outstanding swordsman who fought for olympic title for twenty five years. The strongest saber fencers showed themselves to be the Hungarians, who won the championship both in the individual and in the team standings. This was their first of seven consecutive Olympic gold medals.
Cars in a parking lot near the Olympic stadium
At the 1928 Games, the brilliant career of German Helena Mayer began. Mayer became one of the strongest foil fencers in her time. She won gold (1928) and silver (1936) medals at the Olympic Games; 3-time world champion (1929, 1931, 1937), 6-time champion of Germany, 9-time champion of the USA. In 1923, at the age of 13, she won the German championship for the first time, playing for the Offenbach fencing club. In 1928, in addition to the Olympics, she won the Italian championship. In 1932 she moved to the United States to study at the university. In 1933, after the Nazis came to power in Germany, for some time it was one of the sports symbols of Nazi propaganda. Later, her half-Jewish origin surfaced, and she was even expelled from her native fencing club in Offenbach. However, Helena Meyer was included in the German Olympic team in 1936. After the 1936 Olympic Games, she finally emigrated to the United States.
Olympics security chief with collection of confiscated photographic equipment
In aristocratic equestrian sports, 2 gold medals (individual and team dressage competitions) were won by Karl Friedrich von Langen-Parov, a baron, a German aristocrat. In equestrian sports, overcoming obstacles in the individual championship was won by the Czechoslovak athlete František Ventura on Eliot. Without receiving a single penalty point, he won the dispute over 46 of the best athletes in the world from 16 countries.
Ladies from the medical staff of the Olympics
In freestyle wrestling, which was called Freestyle American in those years, the US athletes were noticeably pushed aside by the Europeans, and first of all the Finns and Swedes. Only in the featherweight title did the American get the title of Olympic champion.
Crowd near the Olympic Stadium
The queue to check tickets for the stadium.
An operator of an Italian film company during a match.
Press areas
Olympic stadium stands
American swimmers posing for photographers
400m hurdle race won by English Lord David Burleigh, Olympic Stadium
Akiles Järvinen during the decathlon competition. He won silver
Sprinter test start
August J. Scheffer (from London), 3rd place in weightlifting ( average weight)
Al Morrison, Olympic freestyle wrestling champion
American takes an autograph
Argentine cyclist Saavedra during the race
Boxing, Lambert Bep Van Claweren (right) Featherweight Champion. Olympic gold medalist
Gymnastics team from France
In 1925, Pierre de Coubertin announced his resignation. Disappointed, he published a "testament of sports", in which, once again outlining his concept of the essence of sport: "Professionalism, here it is - the enemy!"- he makes the following conclusion: "Despite some disappointments that shattered my very best hopes in an instant, I believe in the peaceful and moral qualities of sport.".
On May 28, 1925, at a session in Prague, the International Olympic Committee elected a new president - a Belgian diplomat Comte de Bayeux-Latour, who performed his duties until 1942, until his death. To host the 1928 Games, the IOC received only one application - from the largest city in the Netherlands, Amsterdam. Naturally, she was satisfied. After a sixteen-year break, the German team entered the Olympic start, and, I must say, came out in a solid composition - 233 people. For the first time, athletes from Malta, Panama and Rhodesia took part in the Olympics.
On the eve of the opening of the Games, there was a big scandal. The French athletes decided to get acquainted with the Olympic complex, which consisted of a football field bordered with a ring intended for athletics competitions. Around this ring stretched another - made of cement - for cycling. All this was surrounded by cozy tribunes with forty thousand seats, over which towered a tower that looked like a windmill. A group of French athletes led by the General Secretary of the French Athletics Federation Paul Mericamp approached the stadium and came across a guard, who forbade them to enter. Just a few minutes before, the German team entered the stadium, and the fury of the French is hard to describe. Mericamp tried to push the guard aside, who, in defense, hit the French leader in the face with a key. A scuffle began, and after a while the French withdrew. The organizing committee immediately apologized to them, and that would have settled the incident. But the next day the French bus was stopped at the entrance to the stadium due to the fact that they did not have a pass. The athletes got off the bus and walked to the stadium on foot. And then there was an exact repetition of yesterday's incident: the same watchman who knocked out Mericamp again stood in the way of the French delegation. It was too much! Considering it a provocation, the French got on the bus and left the parade. The Minister of Foreign Affairs had to intervene. If we consider what happened to the French delegation as a misunderstanding, otherwise everything went well, without much noise, quiet and somehow non-festive, everyday.
For the first time in the Olympic program there were competitions among women in athletics - running 100 and 800 meters, relay race 4 x 100 meters, high jumping, discus throwing - and in gymnastics.
The American won the 100m race and also won a silver medal in the 4 x 100m relay.
& nbsp & nbsp A 16-year-old student didn't know she was a good runner until her teacher saw her running after her workout. She began competing in running just four months before the 1928 Olympics. In her first outdoor performance, she set a world record at a distance of 100 meters.
At the Olympics in Amsterdam, Betty won by half a meter in the final of the 100 meter race, participating in only the fourth time in this type of competition.
Three years after her Olympic triumph, Elizabeth was in a plane crash. The man who found her even thought she was dead, carried her into the trunk of his car and took her to the funeral home. She was unconscious for seven weeks and could not walk normally for another two years, but he survived. Betty Robinson wanted to return to the sport and compete in the sprint. But her leg could no longer fully bend at the knee, which prevented the athlete from taking the correct starting position. However, she could run relay races. And in 1936, Betty Robinson won the second gold medal in the 4 x 100 meter relay with the American team.
All the performances of the athletes were marked by world records. For men, the records, with rare exceptions, survived.
But overall, the fight was exciting and interesting. As in the previous Games, the Finnish track and field athletes performed well. They won five gold, five silver and four bronze medals, and won 1500 meters, 5000 meters, 3000 meters hurdles and 10,000 meters. Paavo Nurmi was the first at the finish in the last distance. Unfortunately, this was not the same Nurmi. It was said that, at the behest of the team leaders, Nurmi let his friend Ritola go ahead in the 5000 meter race. Many believed this at the time. Now it is all the more difficult to say whether this is true or not. Nurmi also participated in the steeplechase. But here he had no chance of winning at all, he made very unforgivable mistakes, overcoming obstacles, and jumping over a pit of water, he had to swim.
American athletes have won nine gold, eight silver and eight bronze medals in Amsterdam.
The admission of women to the athletics competition caused one incident: during the 800m races, young women fell exhausted onto the track. Since 1932, this distance was excluded from the Olympic program, and it reappeared only at the XVII Games, in 1960.
The marathon race brought France an unexpected victory. Little Algerian became the hero of the marathon El Waafi, a laborer from the Renault factories in Billiancourt. His run in Amsterdam was a masterpiece of tactics, caution, ability to withstand. After the first ten kilometers, he lagged behind the leaders by 2 minutes 30 seconds. The Japanese and Finnish leaders seemed much more active. The Japanese K. Yamada, small but surprisingly wiry and strong, made a dash at the twenty-fifth kilometer. His mistake was that he went ahead very early. This mistake of Yamada became a trump card for El Waafi, who, picking up speed, saw on his road rivals exhausted in a fight with the Japanese. When the second hour struck, he was already outflanking the Japanese runner. But three kilometers before the finish line, another danger awaited him - the Chilean M. Plaza rushed forward. But he too overestimated his strength, and one and a half kilometers before the finish, El Waafi was already confident of his success. And he became an Olympic champion.
In swimming, old rivals met again: the Swede Arne Borg, American and Australian Andrew Charlton... Weissmüller competed in the 100m freestyle and in the 4x200m relay, resulting in two gold medals. Borg won the 1500m freestyle. At all distances, swimmers have set world and Olympic records. Johnny Weissmuller has performed brilliantly in the basins of America and Europe for about ten years. He has five Olympic gold medals in his collection. Twice he became the champion of the Olympic Games in the shortest and most popular swimming distance - 100 meters freestyle. At the same distance, Weissmuller was the first to get out of the minute and brought the world record to 57.4 seconds by 1924.
In the pre-war and post-war years, the screens of the world were filled with numerous episodes of the American action movie Tarzan. Particularly successful were those episodes in the film, where Tarzan demonstrated amazing athletic qualities: a breathtaking competition with a crocodile, dizzying stunts in the jungle, long underwater journeys of the hero. Undisputed are the excellent sports data of the performer of the role of Tarzan. There is nothing surprising in this: after all, the five-time Olympic champion Johnny Weissmuller starred in the role of Tarzan.
And until he was eleven years old, Johnny did not know how to swim at all. He was a frail, sickly boy. And once at the medical examination, the doctor, patting him on the shoulder, said: - If you want everything to be in order, young man, do more sports, better by swimming. - Thank you, Doctor. Swimming is my favorite sport, ”replied little Johnny, embarrassed to admit that he couldn't swim at all.
But from that very day he began to come to a small river on the western outskirts of Chicago and, floundering along the very shore, desperately pounding his hands and feet in the water, tried to learn to swim. Several months of peculiar training passed, and Johnny could confidently compete with the surrounding boys. And then he came to the pool. For several years of training, he got stronger, grew, turned into a real giant, slender and handsome.
Once in the pool he was seen by the senior coach of the US Olympic team. William Bachrach... He had been looking for a tall, thin athlete who looked like a fish for a long time. Such a swimmer was supposed to make Bahrakh's plans come true. He liked Johnny and started working with him. Later, already being an Olympic champion, Weismüller recalled:
"Bahrach said then that I should swim for style, not speed. And after that, throughout my career, I swam for style, not speed. Speed was the result of this method.".
Johnny spent a whole year training in the pool all alone. Bakhrakh did not want to show it to anyone. He thought it was early. Every day, for an hour, Johnny swam, holding his hands to the board and working only with his legs. He wanted to learn the great footwork of Hawaiian Duke Kahanamoku, the 5th and 7th Olympic champion in 100m freestyle swimming. Johnny then put his feet in a rubber tube and over the next hour, he improved his hand and body position.
As any good specialist, creating something new, his own, uses the experience accumulated by his predecessors in his work, so Weissmüller and his coach carefully, bit by bit, selected all the best from the world's outstanding swimmers. They were not blind copiers. They studied and selected only the main thing: the manner of performance of this or that element. And only after a detailed analysis a decision was made: how, in what form and to what extent it can be used for Johnny, given his great ability to work and excellent physical data by that time. In a word, Bahrakh adapted the technique of outstanding swimmers to the individual characteristics of his talented student.
Johnny Weissmuller became famous for his victories in Olympic swimming pools, for his records: for ten years no one could come close to his record at 100 meters. But his main merit is that he gave the world's swimmers an example of a thoughtful creative attitude to swimming technique, to training methodology, showed how much a well-thought-out training system and preparation for competitions mean a lot.
At the Amsterdam Olympics, the winner of the weightlifting competition was determined for the first time by the sum of the classic triathlon - press, snatch, clean and jerk. Weightlifters competed in five weight categories, and Olympic and world records were broken in all categories.
In freestyle wrestling, which was called Freestyle American in those years, the US athletes were noticeably pushed aside by the Europeans, and first of all the Finns and Swedes. Only in the featherweight title did the American get the title of Olympic champion.
The Italians and the French competed in foil and epee fencing. And if the first in both cases won the team, then in the individual competition the veteran, the French Lucien Gaudin... So brilliantly ended the career of this outstanding fencer, who fought for the Olympic title for twenty-five years. The strongest saber fencers showed themselves to be the Hungarians, who won the championship both in the individual and in the team standings. This was their first of seven consecutive gold medals they won at the Olympics.
Grass hockey competitions brought together 9 teams. For the first time, Indian hockey players took part in the Olympics. The debut brought them gold medals. From then until 1960, they had no defeats, and only in Rome did they have worthy rivals in the face of the Pakistani team.
The football tournament attracted 17 teams. The final was South American: Uruguay played against Argentina. It took two matches to determine the champion. The first ended in a draw - 1: 1. And only in the additional second match the Uruguayans were able to win -2: 1. In the match for third place, the Italian team defeated the Egyptian team with a score of 11: 3.
Representatives of the Country won the first victories in Amsterdam rising sun: Mikio Oda in a triple jump and Ishiuki Tsuruta in swimming 200 meters breaststroke.
The largest number of prizes went to the US athletes at the IX Olympic Games, who won 22 gold, 18 silver and 16 bronze medals. But the Americans received credits in only nine of the twenty types of the program. The second place in the unofficial team competition was taken by representatives of Germany, who received points in sixteen types of the program.
At the Games of the IX Olympiad in Amsterdam, a tradition arose that was never broken later: throughout the Games, a fire burned from the sun in Olympia with the help of a mirror.
