Bizarre Olympic Moment - Day 14

Each day of the 2008 Olympics we're going to find a bizarre clip or story from a past Summer Olympics. Today we'll look at Italian Marathon Runner Dorando Pietri.

In 1896, at the first modern games in Athens, the showcase event was the marathon. The event was created to commemerate a historic moment in Greek history. In the 5th century BC, a man named Phidippides ran 39km from the battlefield back to Athens to declare victory and then dropped dead.

At the 1908 Olympics in London the marathon was extended to it's current length of 26 miles and 385 yards. The reason for the extension? The English wanted the race to start at Windsor Castle and end at White City Stadium which were 26 miles apart. The additional 385 yards was needed so the race would finish right in front of the King.

The favourite of the race, Canadian Tom Longboat, collapsed in the July heat at about the 20 mile mark. South African Charles Hefferon took the led and held it until he accepted a glass of victory champagne from a spectator. The alcohol made him sick and he was overtaken by Italian Dorando Pietri, a pastry chef by trade.

Pietri was in front at the 26 mile mark and was the first to enter the stadium. Four years ago, the race would have ended here but this year Pietri still had 385 yards to go. The Italian was severly dehydrated and started to head in the wrong direction until officials pointed him the right way. In the last 200 yards he collasped five times until, with the urging of the crowds, officials helped Pietri up and assisted him across the finish line.

Pietri won the gold but the American team lodged a protest. Pietri was eventually disqualifed for receiving illegal assistance and American Johnny Hayes was awarded the gold.

Pietri spent several days in hospital and nearly died. He became an international star and was awarded a silver cup by Princess Alexandra in honour of his achievement.

Take a look at the 16 most bizarre Olympic moments in history:

Day 1 - Eric "The Eel" Moussambani
Day 2 - Betty Robinson
Day 3 - Sally Robbins
Day 4 - Abebe Bilkila
Day 5 - 1972 USA Basketball team
Day 6 - Bobby Pearce
Day 7 - Byun Jong-il
Day 8 - Stella Walsh
Day 9 - Spanish Paralympic Basketball Team
Day 10 - Ingeborg Marx
Day 11 - Vanderlei de Lima
Day 12 - Hans-Jurgen Todt
Day 13 - Liu Changchun
Day 14 - Dorando Pietri
Day 15 - 1956 Hungarian Water Polo Team
Day 16 - 1960 Tunisian Modern Pentathlon Team

Bizarre Olympic Moment - Day 13

Each day of the 2008 Olympics we're going to find a bizarre clip or story from a past Summer Olympics. Today we'll look at Chinese sprinter Liu Changchun.

We're all witnessing China dominate all other countries in the 2008 Olympics. Their 42 golds are more than the second place America and surprise third place Britain have combined. It looks like China will come away from the 2008 Games with one of the largest margins for victory a country has ever captured.
(If you want some more info on medal counts check this out from the NY Times)

With China's success it's a perfect time to check out a bizarre Olympic moment from China's past ... which also happens to be their first Olympic moment.

In 1932, China had never competed in a single Olympics, but the Los Angeles Olympic organisers thought that with a population as big as China's they may be interested in participating and sent them an invitation. The Chinese sent back an enthusiastic acceptance and said they would be sending a team ... it was a very historic event.

When the 'team' arrived organisers realised it was only one man, Liu Changchun ... in a country of over 500 million people only one was interested in participating in the Olympics.

He arrived only three days before the start of the Games after almost a month of travelling from Shanghai to Los Angeles. He was out of shape (as he could not properly train on the ship) and unable to speak even a single word of english. The organisers found a translator and discovered Changchun wanted to sign up in the 100-meter, 200-meter and 400-meter track events.

In both the 100-meter and 200-meter events he finished in dead last in the preliminary rounds and was eliminated from the competition. He was so exhausted after his trip and earlier races that he dropped out of the 400-meter race. The trip that took almost a month to start, ended in approximately 40 seconds. Here's a clip of Changchun at full speed:

If you are upset that China is looking like the new powerhouse in the Olympic medal standings -- America, we're looking in your direction --at least you know that there was an Olympics where China finished dead last.

(Information for this article was taken from The Independant and China Culture)

Take a look at the 16 most bizarre Olympic moments in history:

Day 1 - Eric "The Eel" Moussambani
Day 2 - Betty Robinson
Day 3 - Sally Robbins
Day 4 - Abebe Bilkila
Day 5 - 1972 USA Basketball team
Day 6 - Bobby Pearce
Day 7 - Byun Jong-il
Day 8 - Stella Walsh
Day 9 - Spanish Paralympic Basketball Team
Day 10 - Ingeborg Marx
Day 11 - Vanderlei de Lima
Day 12 - Hans-Jurgen Todt
Day 13 - Liu Changchun
Day 14 - Dorando Pietri
Day 15 - 1956 Hungarian Water Polo Team
Day 16 - 1960 Tunisian Modern Pentathlon Team

Bizarre Olympic Moment - Day 8

Each day of the 2008 Olympics we're going to find a bizarre clip or story from a past Summer Olympics. Today we'll look at Polish-American Runner Stella Walsh.

Stella Walsh immigrated to America when she was a young child and became a high school star in Cleveland, she won 41 US Championships in her career and was inducted in to the US Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1975. In her Olympic career she competed for her birth country Poland. In 1932 she won gold for Poland and in 1936 she finished second to her main rival Helen Stevens.
Many of Walsh's supporters claimed that Helen Stevens was too fast to be a woman and believed she was actually a man. Oh the irony. Why was this ironic? In 1980, Stella was tragically killed by a stray bullet in a robery. During her autopsy the doctors discovered something interesting. We believe the conversation between the doctors went something like this.

That's right Stella Walsh was a man. She was born Stanislawa Walasiewiczowna in Poland and had male genitals and both male and female chromosomes - a condition known as mosaicism. No doubt this gave the media plenty of opportunity to use the headline "Stella the Fella".

Looking at the photos of Stella we can see why everybody was so shocked to learn she wasn't a woman.


Take a look at the 16 most bizarre Olympic moments in history:

Day 1 - Eric "The Eel" Moussambani
Day 2 - Betty Robinson
Day 3 - Sally Robbins
Day 4 - Abebe Bilkila
Day 5 - 1972 USA Basketball team
Day 6 - Bobby Pearce
Day 7 - Byun Jong-il
Day 8 - Stella Walsh
Day 9 - Spanish Paralympic Basketball Team
Day 10 - Ingeborg Marx
Day 11 - Vanderlei de Lima
Day 12 - Hans-Jurgen Todt
Day 13 - Liu Changchun
Day 14 - Dorando Pietri
Day 15 - 1956 Hungarian Water Polo Team
Day 16 - 1960 Tunisian Modern Pentathlon Team

Bizarre Olympic Moment - Day 2

Each day of the 2008 Olympics we're going to find a bizarre clip or story from a past Summer Olympics. Today we'll look at runner Betty Robinson.

Yesterday, we showed you a bizarre moment from the pool at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Today we go to the track and there will be no video clip as our moment is from the 1928 games in Amsterdam . It must be one of the most insane stories I’ve ever heard.

In 1928, Betty Robinson, was running for a train when the track coach at her high school saw her and convinced her to join the track team. Three weeks later she made her debut and finished second to the US record holder. In her next meet she equaled the world record of 12.0 seconds. In just her third meet she qualified for the American Olympic team, at just 16 years old.

The IOC was forced to include women’s events in the 1928 Olympics, making it the first time female track and field athletes were allowed to compete. Just four months after she was discovered and with only three meets under her belt, she sailed to Amsterdam to compete in the games.

The 100-meter race was first up. Robinson ended up winning a very close race … making her the very first female track medalist in Olympic history.

A nice story up to this point but this is where things get crazy.

In 1931, still a top athlete, Robinson was involved in a plane crash. The man who found her body thought she was dead, put her in his car boot and drove her to a mortician - but she was still alive, in a coma. She woke seven months later, and spent six months in a wheelchair. It took her two years to learn to walk normally again.

''If I had not been in such good physical condition,'' Robinson said, ''I would not have lived through it.''

Incredibly, she eventually returned to racing. Unable to bend her legs fully, she couldn't adopt a sprinter's crouch. But she could still run the relay, and in 1936 she won her second gold in the 4x100m. Completing one of the greatest comebacks in sports history.

(The information for this article was taken from articles in the New York Times and The Guardian.)

Take a look at the 16 most bizarre Olympic moments in history:

Day 1 - Eric "The Eel" Moussambani
Day 2 - Betty Robinson
Day 3 - Sally Robbins
Day 4 - Abebe Bilkila
Day 5 - 1972 USA Basketball team
Day 6 - Bobby Pearce
Day 7 - Byun Jong-il
Day 8 - Stella Walsh
Day 9 - Spanish Paralympic Basketball Team
Day 10 - Ingeborg Marx
Day 11 - Vanderlei de Lima
Day 12 - Hans-Jurgen Todt
Day 13 - Liu Changchun
Day 14 - Dorando Pietri
Day 15 - 1956 Hungarian Water Polo Team
Day 16 - 1960 Tunisian Modern Pentathlon Team