By Irineu Gonsalves.

IN THE DAYS of ancient Greece women were forbidden not only to enter the Olympic Games, but even to watch them. For many years women kept well away from the stadium, for the penalty of being caught in the sacred precincts was death by being dropped over the nearest cliff. The story is told of a mother who was so anxious to see her son compete in one of the athletic events that she disguised herself as a man and attended the Games. When her boy won his event her excitement was so great that she burst forth into very feminine cheers and all was discovered. However, the Olympic Committee of that day decided that this was only a proper show of motherly love and voted against the cliff-dropping penalty.

Even so, the governing body of 1896 was reluctant to follow this classical precedent, and women’s events were at first restricted to tennis. When the Games came to London in 1908, skating and archery competitions were opened to them. The following Olympiad saw them swimming, and the 1924 Games had a female fencing contest.

Today women’s events include running, jumping, gymnastics, fencing, equestrianism, canoeing, throwing the javelin, and even shot-putting. A girl’s gold Medal is just as welcome as a man’s – and it’s often the girls who make the headlines.

Such a girl was 20-year-old Wilma Rudolph, an African American printer from Tennessee, in America. She not only bore the cross of colour, but also the ravages of disease. A premature baby, she survived polio, double pneumonia and scarlet fever. She lost the use of her left leg and had to wear a brace and orthopaedic shoe.

In the 1956 Olympics at Melbourne an Australian girl had taken all the honours over the shorter running distances. Betty Cuthbert had won the 100 metres, the 200 metres and had run a brilliant final leg of the 4 x 100 relay to put Australia in first place at that event. In 1960 the tall American girl – she stands 5ft 10½ inches – was down to compete in the same events.

The first semi-finals in the 100 metres sprint showed her potential in no small way. She beat her nearest rival, a French girl, by three metres – and in such a short race this was really moving. In the final she ran like a deer – in fact the French called her ‘La Gazelle’ – and when the 25 metres point had been passed her Russian rival, M. Itkina, who had started strongly and snatched the lead, was nowhere in the picture. Wilma Rudolph flashed over the short track and hit the tape some three metres ahead of Britain’s Dorothy Hyman. Her fantastic time was precisely 11 seconds. This was the fastest-ever, topping Betty Cuthbert’s previous Olympic time by half a second. Unfortunately since the wind was following the runners just a little too enthusiastically her time was not recognised as a world record, but stood as an Olympic record. That was on September 2 nd , 1960.

Carl Lewis: If a sculptor ever chiselled faces on mount Olympus Carl Lewis would be up there alongside Jesse Owens, Al Oerter, and Paavo Nurmi. More than any other sport track and field symbolises the Olympics – not merely the huge modern stadiums but the memory of the performance of these icons. With his ninth gold medal Carl Lewis tied the Finnish long distance runner Paavo Nurmi’s total from 1920 to 1928. With his fourth gold in the long jump, Carl Lewis tied the discus thrower Al Oerter’s record of four in the same event from 1956 to 1968.

In 1984 at Los Angeles Lewis equalled Owen’s four gold medals: the 100m, 200m, 4x100m relay and the long jump. In 1988 at Seoul he won the long jump and the 100m (when Ben Johnson tested positive for using a banned steroid), then in 1992 at Barcelona he added the long jump and the 4x100 relay. Carl Lewis wanted to see a tenth gold medal in the 4x100 relay but he wasn’t in the American coaches’ plans. That would have made him the all time gold medal winner. Not quite. Ray Ewry, won ten golds from 1900 to 1908, but this events (the standing high jump, long jump and triple jump) were discontinued after the 1912 Olympics.

Jesse Owens: Another African American, who has already earned himself a page in the history books of sport, performed a series of record-breaking feasts at the 1936 Olympic Games at Berlin. His name was Jess Owens, and he was one of the world’s true sportsmen, both in action and in spirit.

James Cleveland Owens (Jesse was his nickname) came from Ohio, where as a child he had no great sporting leanings. For his health’s sake a teacher suggested to the frail lad that he try out some track work. One day his coach asked Jesse to run a hundred yards as fast as he could. He timed the run – then sent his watch to the jewellers for repair. He just could not believe that Jesse Owens had run 100 yards at almost world record time! He tried it again when the watch had been checked. It showed the same time again!

From then on Jesse was unbeatable. He had discovered that he was a natural sprinter, and more than that – he was a born hurdler and long jumper as well. In America he shattered record after record, and when he came to the Berlin Games he was at the peak of his form. Spurned by Adolph Hitler, who refused to meet him, reviled by the German crowd, who called him one of America’s ‘Black Auxiliaries’, this great gentleman remained unruffled and determined to do his best for his sport and country throughout the Games.

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