Daley Thompson: The Decathlete Legend

In the track and field program at a Summer Olympic games the title of best all round male athlete resides with the man who collects the gold medal for the decathlon. This ten discipline, two day event has provided many of the iconic figures of the modern Olympics. Jim Thorpe was the first great decathlon gold medallist, picking up the unique double decathlon and pentathlon victories in Stockholm 1912. Glenn Morris, the American gold medal winner in the 1936 Berlin Olympics not only showed his supremacy over his rivals, he also began a short tempestuous relationship with the director of the definitive official Olympic film of these games, Leni Riefenstahl. Bob Mathias took the gold medals in the first two Olympics after World War Two, in London 1948 and Helsinki 1952, whilst Rafer Johnson's victory over C.K. Yang in Rome 1960 is one of the 101 greatest moments in modern Olympic history. Then in 1976 Bruce Jenner turned his decathlon triumph into a multi-million dollar industry back home in the USA. However the greatest decathlete of all time didn't come from the United States like all these illustrious predecessors. The remarkable Daley Thompson won his first gold in the boycott-effected Moscow 1980 Olympics, then reached a new level of Olympic greatness in the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Games.

Daley Thompson was born on July 30th, 1958 in the London suburb of Notting Hill, to a Nigerian father and Scottish mother. Whilst at a Sussex boarding school the young Thompson showed promise in athletics, which was further developed by a period at the age of 17 with the Essex Beagles athletics club. Prior to winning the 1976 British AAA decathlon title the young Briton went to Montreal and came 18th with 7434 points. It was an inauspicious start for an Olympic career that would stretch through to Seoul in 1988, and include not just two gold medals but also world championship titles, world records, European championships and Commonwealth Games gold medals as well.

At the 1978 Edmonton Commonwealth Games Thompson won his first major international senior decathlon title, and in the period between then and Moscow 1980 he rapidly grew in stature and performance. His only loss in this period came in 1979 at the European championships; between then and 1987 Thompson never lost another decathlon. As the upcoming Soviet-hosted Olympics were threatened by a major US-led boycott Daley Thompson became engaged in a personal duel with West German decathlete Guido Kratschmer. Kratschmer was the then world record holder before the two met in May 1980 (by this time West Germany had joined the Moscow boycott). At this decathlon Thompson beat Kratschmer and set a new world record (8622 points). This performance established Thompson as a red hot favourite for the Olympics in Moscow, and whilst Kratschmer won the world record back his non-attendance(plus the absence of American and Canadian athletes) meant the Briton had the Moscow gold medal to lose. And he didn't disappoint; winning the decathlon gold medal with a final score of 8522 and running 153 points ahead of his silver medallist rival Yuri Kutsenko.

Naturally with the non-appearance of the then world record holder, plus the overall paucity of quality opposition of the Moscow 1980 decathlon field, Thompson's first Olympic decathlon gold medal could be regarded slightly tarnished by harsh critics. However the story would be dramatically different four years later in Los Angeles. The period between these two boycotted Olympics was dominated in decathlon by the hard-fought battle between Daley Thompson and new West German champion decathlete Jürgen Hingsen. These two would duel repeatedly over European, world championship and finally Olympic stages and in the process create one of the greatest moments in Olympic history.

Hingsen like Thompson was born in Duisburg in 1958, and the two first came into serious competition at a European Junior championship in 1977. At this event Thompson came first and Hingsen third. Hingsen developed slower than Thompson, and it wasn't until 1982 that the West German claimed the position as the new threat to the British Olympic champion. At the West German championships that year in Ulm Hingsen set a new world record of 8723 points. This gave him the favouritism for the European championships in Athens, however Thompson took that title. In 1983 Hingsen set another new world record point score the decathlon, scoring 8779 at Bernhausen. Yet again however at the next major international track and field meet (the 1983 Helsinki IAAF World Championships) Thompson defeated Hingsen, with the scores being 8714 points for the Briton and 8561 for the West German. For a third time Hingsen set a world record (8798 points), this time at Mannheim in 1984; the third time he had achieved such a result on West German soil. The question was would Hingsen be able to buck the trend of losing out to Thompson on foreign soil for a third time. The next meeting of the two in such conditions would be the Los Angeles Olympics.

During the final months of the lead up to the 1984 Summer Games Thompson again and again added personal colour to his rivalry with the so-called "German Hercules". When Hingsen claimed he would be winning gold in Los Angeles Thompson claimed "There are only two ways he is going to bring a gold medal home; he'll have to steal mine or win another event." For other Olympians this could have been called arrogant; yet Thompson's clowning and cheeky sense of humour excused him from most criticism. He also called the West German "Hollywood Hingsen" because he resembled the actor Burt Reynolds, whilst in a separate showing of supreme confidence Daley Thompson wrote a postcard to dual decathlon gold medallist Bob Mathias saying "I'm coming to get you." When it came to mind games the Briton was setting a leading pace from his West German and other rivals.

On August 8th 1984 athletes from 18 countries began the 10 event final chase for decathlon gold. Unlike 1980 the field wasn't as significantly weakened by the revenge boycott implemented by the Soviet-bloc at Los Angeles; Thompson and three West Germans, Hingsen, Kratschmer and Siegfried Wentz formed the core lead group, whilst the Americans expected to do well with home soil advantage and world championship entrant John Crist. The first event was 100 metres, and Thompson (who could perform creditably in 4x100 metres relays at Olympic and Commonwealth Games) raced Hingsen and Kratschmer. Setting his best ever time for the distance in a decathlon Thompson scored 948 points with his time of 10.44 seconds. Hingsen was third behind Kratschmer as well, and down by 122 points from the Briton.

Thompson had another win in the next event, the long jump (his result would have earned him fifth in the final of the LA 1984 long jump final), but Hingsen narrowed the gap slightly. The shot put followed and this was an opportunity for Hingsen to reclaim more ground between him and Thompson. However Thompson again rose to the occasion and putted the shot to a personal best of 15.72 metres. Hingsen was behind the defending Olympic champion and he wasn't as yet able to pull in enough points at this stage to threaten Thompson yet. The high jump however saw Hingsen make up some ground, with his final height of 2.12 metres clawing back 77 points from Thompson. Importantly for Hingsen he aggravated a knee injury in his right leg, receiving four pain killing injections to continue competing. This may not have stopped Hingsen physically yet it did work against him mentally, and the coming final event of the day needed strong legs.

The last event of the decathlon's first day was the 400 metres. Thompson reasserted his pre-eminence with a win against Hingsen and the American Jim Wooding. The close of the first day saw the West German world record holder on 4579 points and the British reigning gold medallist from Moscow on 4633 points. Hingsen was only trailing his world record by 17 points, but Thompson was 114 points ahead and had achieved the highest first day score in an Olympic decathlon. It appeared that Thompson would surpass the slightly injured Hingsen and win his second Olympic decathlon title.

The second day of the 1984 decathlon began with the 110 metres hurdles. Hingsen clawed back all of 6 points and so stayed in the silver medal ranking. The seventh event was the discus, and it was here that Hingsen finally unleashed his promise. On his first throw the West German reached 49.80 metres; his best ever result in a decathlon. Thompson on the other hand had a poor first throw, sending the discus down range only 37.90 metres. Hingsen's second throw was even better, reaching 50.82 metres and applying significant pressure to the Briton. Daley Thompson improved only marginally, and with Hingsen's last throw not improving his position the lead was posied to change. As Thompson later described it, he was looking over the edge and needed to meet the challenge. And like every great Olympic champion he did; the third throw from Thompson sailed to 46.56 metres. It was another personal best for Thompson and whilst Hingsen had won this round with 888 points, the Briton still led. It was getting closer and closer to crunch time.

The eight event was the pole vault and it was here that Hingsen unfortunately suffered the effects of illness, effectively ending his hopes. Before his first two vaults the West German had vomited twice, and his best height after three attempts was a sub-par 4.50 metres. Thompson on the other hand flew over the bar, and with his best height being a full half metre above Hingsen (earning him 1052 points) the gold medal was almost around the Briton's neck. In the penultimate round (the javelin) Hingsen again underperformed whilst Thompson took 824 points with his throw of 65.24 metres. Then it came down to the final race; the 1500 metres.

In the closing event of the 1984 Los Angeles decathlon Thompson knew he had gold, but on his horizon was beating Hingsen not just in places on the medal stand but also in the world record point score. Needing a time of 4 minutes 34.8 seconds Thompson literally strolled to the finish line. His time was 4 minutes 35 exactly, which meant he fell a single point shy of equalling Hingsen record. The first double decathlon gold medallist since Bob Mathias (who as promised he had 'caught'), Daley Thompson took a victory lap of the LA Olympic Coliseum track, showing his joy whilst pointedly criticising the jingoistic coverage of the American host broadcaster. Wearing a t-shirt that read "Thanks America for a great games," on the front and then on the reverse "But what about the TV coverage?" he was met by Princess Anne (herself an Olympian). Later when asked what she had said to him, Thompson again revealed his comedic side; "She said I was a good looking guy!" joked the Briton. To add a much later layer of glory on his victory, in 1986 the IAAF established that Thomspon had run one second quicker than recorded in the 110 metres hurdles, hence claiming that single point he needed to equal Hingsen's record.

For Great Britain and for Daley Thompson Los Angeles was a golden games, and whilst Hingsen had been competitive at these Olympics up until the discus there was no denying that the dual gold medallist from the United Kingdom was the best decathlete of his generation. Three times the great rivals had met in major international championships and each time Daley Thomspon had prevailed. Later Thompson continued to Seoul where he placed a credible fourth, whilst Hingsen suffered the crushing disappointment of being disqualified for false starts in the 100 metres. In some ways this served as the perfect postscript for an epic duel between two great Olympians; one who scaled amazing heights, one who was unable to reach the potential he had displayed away from the cauldron of Olympic decathlon competition.









Sources:

• "The Complete Book of the Olympics: 2008 Edition" by David Wallechinsky, Aurum Press, 2008
• "The Official Report of the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics" (available online at http://www.la84foundation.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1984/1984v2pt2.pdf)
• IAAF Online Profiles for Daley Thompson & Jurgen Hingsen: http://www.iaaf.org
• New York Times: Call This Briton Great (20/8/84): http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,954354,00.html
• Decathlon 2000: Jurgen Hingsen Biography: http://www.decathlon2000.ee/eng/athletes.php?art=606
• Decathlon 2000: Daley Thompson Biography: http://www.decathlon2000.ee/eng/athletes.php?art=607
• Olympics30 - Thirty Greatest Olympic Stories - Daley Thompson: http://www.olympics30.com/30greatest/daley-thompson.asp
• Wikipedia - 1983 Helsinki Athletics World Championships Results (Decathlon): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_World_Championships_in_Athletics_-_Men's_Decathlon
• Wikipedia - Daley Thompson Biography: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daley_Thompson
• Sports Reference - Daley Thompson: http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/th/daley-thompson-1.html
• "16 Days of Glory: The Official Film of the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics" (Video), directed by Bud Greenspan
  

Song Kee-Chung: Korean To The Core

One of the most dramatic and enduring moment of any Olympic Games opening ceremony is when the Olympic flame is brought into the main stadium during the opening ceremony. There have been occasions when the theatre of the event has perhaps overshadowed the actual bearer, such as when Stein Gruber of Norway brought the 1994 Lillehammer torch down a ski jump, or when Antonio Rebollo used a flaming arrow to assist with the lighting of the 1992 Barcelona Olympic cauldron. On other occasions it has been the celebrity or relative athletic greatness of the final torchbearers who have defined an Olympic opening cermeony, as in the case of Rafer Johnson at Los Anegles in 1984, or Niklos Kaklamankis in Athens 2004. Finally, there are those times when the symbolism of that final torchbearer goes beyond spectacle or sporting greatness; that person or persons symbolizes something specific about the host nation and its culture. Cathy Freeman in Sydney 2000 is a prime example of this. In 1988 the presence of one man in the final deliverance of the Olympic torch brought (to quote David Wallechinsky) "tears to an entire nation...". That country was South Korea, and the torchbearer who evoked such a powerful response from his countrymen and women was Sohn Kee-Chung. 52 years prior to the 76 year old's entrance into Seoul's Olympic stadium this immensely proud Korean had won a gold medal for the marathon whilst competing as a member of the Japanese team. Yet even though he had to wear the occupier's uniform, listen to their national anthem and even have his name changed to echo Japanese norms, Sohn never let the colonial masters of his homeland take away his dignity.

Sohn Kee-Chung was born in Sinŭiju, North P'yŏngan Province in 1912 and during his youth he would run against friends riding bicycles, as well as up and down logging tracks near his home town. When his talent was recognised by the relevant authorities he was then sent to Yangjung High School in Seoul, where many well-credentialled Korean runners were based. Running for Sohn was not just a physical activity, it was a way of showing his Korean-ness. As quoted in "Berlin Games: How Hitler Stole The Olympic Dream" by Guy Walters, Sohn stated:

"The Japanese could stop our musicians from playing our songs. They could stop our singers and silence our speakers. But they could not stop me from running."

After initial success in the 800 metres and 1500 metres Sohn turned to the marathon. Winning his first three races held in Seoul (possibly over a reduced distance), Sohn Kee-Chung was twice national champion by 1935. In April his considerable marathon reputation spread beyond Asia, when it was reported that a 'Japanese' runner had beaten the two and a half hour mark for the distance. In his seven races that year (four in Korea, three in Japan) Sohn cemented his position as a leading exponent of the longest distance run by any Olympic athlete, then made a definitive statement of intent with his marathon run of November 3rd 1935. Completing a course staged in Tokyo Song Kee-Chung crossed the finish line after 2 hours 26 minutes and 42 seconds. This was a new world record. This was almost five minutes faster than that recorded by 1932 Los Angeles marathon gold medallist Juan Carlos Zabala of Argentina. The issue for Sohn going into the Olympic year and the 1936 Berlin Summer Games wasn't his fitness or speed; it was his nationality.

At the first Japanese Olympic trial marathon held on April 18th 1936 Sohn Kee-Chung was running under his Japanese name of Kitei Son, and whilst he laboured under this cultural burden his athletic ability was in no way impaired. Winning in a time of 2.28.32 the Korean beat leading Japanese entrants Shinichi Nakamura and Fusahige Suzuki. Then in a final trial event Sohn came second behind Tamao Shiaku, and these two plus another Korean native, Nam Seung-yong (a.k.a. Shoryu Nan) would form the basis of the Japanese entries into the Berlin marathon.

Meanwhile, the rest of the world's marathon runners were also preparing for the Berlin Games. Two South Africans, Johannes Coleman and Henry Gibson both set sub 2 hour 33 minute times in their national championship. In Britain Donald McNab Robertson and Ernest Harper qualifed for Berlin in July at the AAA Championships with times about 9 minutes slower than Sohn's world record. The Americans had three contenders for Berlin, William McMahon, Mel Porter and John Kelley. However none of these three were close to Sohn's times. Finally the Argentinian Zabala trained extensively in the host city of the 1936 Summer Olympics for several months prior to the games, and in the absence of a leading German competitor established himself as a local favourite. The Berlin marathon promised to be a great race.

The 1936 Berlin Summer Olympics opened on Saturday August 1st, and both before and after that date whenever Sohn Kee-Chung met anyone in Berlin he took the opportunity to impress upon officials, journalists and fans alike that he was Korean, not Japanese. He even went to the effort of signing his name in its Korean form, not as Kitei Son. Yet when it came to the day of the marathon, Sunday August 9th he like his compatriot Nam wore the Hi-no-maru or Rising Sun of Japan. Lined up against a field of 56 competitors from 27 countries, Sohn was about to stage a truly unique act of national protest against foreign domination of his homeland.

The Berlin course ran from the Olympiastadion through the Grunewald forest, then back into the main stadium for one last lap before the finishing line was reached. Conditions for the marathoners were good, being dry and sunny with an air temperature of around 22 degrees celsius, and this assisted Zabala as he took off with great speed from the race's beginning. Wearing a white handkerchief on his head the Argentinian set a quick pace with the first 8 kilometres traversed in 26 minutes 18 seconds. Portuguese runner Manuel Dias was in second place, but Sohn and Britain's Harper were also near the front of the race. The lead narrowed at the 15 kilometres mark with Dias only lagging about 100 seconds behind Zabala, with Sohn and Harper closing the gap to be half a minute behind the Portuguese runner.

By the half way mark Dias was caught by the Korean and the Briton, and Zabala's lead was dropping to less than a minute. Then in the style of many an Olympic gold medallist Zabala fought back, lengthening his lead to 90 seconds at the 25 kilometre point. Harper and Sohn were locked together in joint second whilst Ellison 'Tarzan' Brown of the USA surged into fourth. Then came the crucial moment in the 1936 Marathon. At the 28 kilometre mark as Zabala approached the northern end of the neighbouring Avus raceway he tripped, fell and recovered just as Harper and Sohn passed him. Sohn took the lead by the 31 kilometre mark (leading by 16 seconds from Harper), whilst within another kilometre Zabala dropped out. The Korean extended his lead over Harper at every major mark between this point and the stadium. Meanwhile, in the battle for the bronze Sohn's fellow-countryman Nam claimed third position by the 35th kilometre. The order wouldn't change from here until the end of the race. Sohn Kee-Chung racing under the 'official' name of Kitei Son returned to the Berlin stadium in first place, crossing the finish line to win the gold medal. Nam was finishing quickly but Harper claimed silver, even as his one of his shoes filled with blood from a bad foot blister. It was the first marathon gold for an Asian country at the Olympic Games, even though it wasn't actually the one that the winner believed he was truly representing. Mobbed by Japanese journalists Sohn had to endure their claims to his victory on behalf of their nation; this was a bittersweet gold medal victory.

Foreshadowing a far more notorious incident mounted by Tommy Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, when the time came for the medal presentation the two Korean medallists Sohn and Nam showed their distaste for representing Japan. With the Japanese anthem playing and the Rising Sun climbing up two of the stadium's flag poles Sohn Kee-Chung and Nam Seung-yong bowed their heads in mute protest, with Sohn even obscuring his uniform's Japanese emblem. Following this Sohn made sure to point out to those reporters he was Korean not Japanese, however his Japanese minders made sure that this point didn't get translated. Sohn was even tempted to tell Adolf Hitler his story, yet the Korean demurred at the last moment. It would have been unfathomable for Hitler to understand the Korean's situation, and as Guy Walter's points out the German dictator wouldn't have cared.

There were several intriguing postscripts to Sohn Kee Chung's victory. As a further expression of national pride the Korean newspaper Dong-a-Ilbo reported Sohn's gold accompanied with an edited photo that removed the Japanese flag on his sweatshirt. The colonial Japanese government respnded to this act of defiance by jailing 8 Korean staff members of the newspaper and then suspended its publication for 9 months. Meanwhile Sohn and Harper were brought back to Berlin so that famous German documentary director Leni Riefenstahl could re-film segments of the marathon. This incident may have added to the lustre of the Berlin Olympics official film, but it again insulted a great Korean gold medallist. Sohn retired after these events in 1936, never running for Japanese governed Korea again. However in 1948 he was given the honour of carrying South Korea's flag at the London Olympics. This partially reinforced his position as a Korean patriot on the world stage, but it was back in Seoul more than half a century after his Berlin gold medal that Sohn Kee-Chung was allowed to run in front of his own countrymen at their Olympics. Whilst the IOC never changed its records to show Kitei Son was not who the Japanese represented, but the Korean Sohn Kee-Chung both he and all Koreans knew where his heart and spirit lay.





Sources:

• "The Berlin Games: How Hitler Stole The Olympic Dream" by Guy Walters, John Murray, 2006
• "The Official Report fo the 1936 Berlin Olympics: Volume II" (available online at http://www.la84foundation.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1936/1936v2sum.pdf)
• "The Complete Book of the Olympics: 2008 Edition" by David Wallechinsky, Aurum Press, 2008
• Wikipedia Article - Sohn Kee-Chung Biography: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sohn_Kee-chung
• "The Olympic Marathon: The History and Drama of Sport's Most Challenging Event" by Martin & Glynn, Human Kinetic Press, 2000
• International Olympic Committee - 1936 Berlin Summer Olympics: http://www.olympic.org/uk/games/past/index_uk.asp?OLGT=1&OLGY=1936

Konrad Freiherr Von Wangenheim: The Arm In The Sling Gold Medallist

Without a doubt the 1936 Berlin Summer Games were the largest, most controversial and most nationalistic games of the modern era before the beginning of the Second World War. Originally awarded the rights to host the 1936 Games in 1932, prior to the advent of the Nazi's Third Reich, Berlin saw some amazing performances and spectacular ceremonies. And for the home nation the 1936 Games were seen by the Nazi authorities as a way to validate their absurd theories of aryan superiority. Hence gold medals won by German competitors were at a premium. Remembered now in some quarters as an overall defeat for the ridiculous racist basis behind the Nazi theory of Olympic sport (thanks to the likes of Jesse Owens), there were still some amazing results from German competitors at these Olympics. The stoic and ultimately gold medal winning efforts of Leutnant Konrad Freiherr von Wangenheim can possibly be described as the most noble achievement by such a German gold medallist at the so-called Nazi Olympics.

As in previous Olympics (and as was to continue until 1948) the 1936 Berlin Olympics three day equestrian event was limited to military officers only. Somewhat bizarrely, considering the supposed peaceful intent of the modern Olympics, participants were usually cavalry officers who competed in military uniform. Von Wangenheim was like his fellow German team members allowed 18 months as part of his army duties to train on a replica of the Berlin Olympic cross-country course. Perhaps unsportingly well prepared, he and his team mates Captains Ludwig Stubbendorf and Rudolf Lippert entered the steeplechase phase of the three day event with Stubbendorf in first place after the dressage and Lippert in sixth. Von Wangenheim was in a rather lowly twenty-fourth, and this may well have contributed to how the cavalry Leutnant attacked the extremely hard corss-country course.

At the fourth obstacle, a combined hurdle and pond jump Von Wangenheim's horse Kurfurst stumbled, with the rider being thrown violently to the ground, breaking the rider's collarbone. As at this time there were no fourth riders in an equestrian eventing team at the Olympics, the three entrant riders and their horses had to finish each day's event for the team as whole to stand a chance for a medal. So for the Germans to have any chance Von Wangenheim had to remount and complete the remaing 32 obstacles on the steeplechase course, then return for the final day and the showjumping section. Remounting Kurfurst, Von Wangenheim rode out the remainder of the 8 kilometre course. Von Wangenheim was not the only victim of this demanding stage of the Berlin Olympics three day event; amongst other national teams that had problems with the steeplechase and suffered injured riders or even killed horses were the Danes, the Americans and the Hungarians. However unlike his competitors, due to his determination and that of his horse Von Wangenheim and Kurfurst were able to attend the final day's showjumping stage, held in the main Olympic stadium.

The final day of the three day event was held on a sunny but slightly cloudy warm August day in the main Olympische Stadion. At 1100 metres and with twelve obstacles, which had to be copmpleted in 155 seconds or less, the course would have been difficult for any fit rider and horse. The German cavalry officer on his horse Kurfurst however appeared at the venue for the jumps with his left arm in a sling. The significantly smaller field of 38 horses and riders were all ready to finalize their quest for team or individual Olympic gold. Von Wangenheim's arm was removed from the sling and then tightly bound before he mounted Kurfurst and began his ride.

After surviving the first few jumps the German horse and rider combination reached a double jump, at which Kurfurst rushed. Von Wangenheim tried to control the horse by pulling back on the reins with both hands, however as the horse reared up it then fell backwards, toppling on top of the now fallen Von Wangenheim. For a moment it appeared to the remaining competitors and the approximately 100,000 spectators that Kurfurst was dead and that the crawling figure of Von Wagenheim was not going to be able to complete the ride. Germany would be denied a team medal after such a heavy fall to both horse and injured rider.

Amazingly Kurfurst rose up from its prone position, and with just as great an effort Konrad Freiherr Von Wangenheim returned to the saddle. No doubt motivated by several factors, but ultimately signifying an incredible strength of will and character the bloodied but unbowed cavalry officer took his horse over the remaining jumps. Completing the course in time and with his horse still rideable, Von Wangenheim helped secure a gold for himself and for his team mates Stubbendorff and Lippert. Stubbendorff also won the individual three day event gold medal. Fittingly the medla ceremony was held later that night in the main stadium, immediately prior to the closing ceremony. Von Wangenheim's ride was arguably the greatest achievement of any German Olympian at these, the so-called Hitler's Games.

Third from left: Leutnant Konrad Freiherr Von Wangenheim, Berlin 1936 Three Day Event Gold Medallist

Sources:

• "The Complete Book of the Olympics" by David Wallechinsky, Aurum Press 2004
• "The Nazi Olympics" by Richard Mandell, University of Illinois Press, 1987
• "The Berlin Games: How Hitler Stole The Olympic Dream" by Guy Walters, John Murray, 2006
• "The Official Report fo the 1936 Berlin Olympics: Volume II" (available online at http://www.la84foundation.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1936/1936v2sum.pdf)
• "Jews and the Olympic Games" by Paul Taylor, Sussex Academic Press 2004