Thursday, August 28, 2008

Tokyo 1964

The 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games were the first to be held in Asia. After World War II, the Japanese expressed their successful in the final torchbearer Yoshinori Sakai who born in Hiroshima the day the city was destroyed by atomic bomb. In the Olympic program, judo and volleyball were introduced. Abebe bikila of Ethiopia became the winner of marathon. Russian rower Vyacheslav Ivanov won the single sculls for the third time, Australian swimmer Dawn Fraser won the 100m freestyle for the third time in Tokyo Olympics. Al Oerter of the United States won the Olympics for discus throwing despite of cervical disc injury in his neck.

The Hungarian, Greco-Roman wrestler Imre Polyak, won the gold medal after finishing second in the same division at the previous three Olympics. Winning two medals in the Tokyo, larysa latynina of Ukraine won medal with incredible 18.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Rome 1960

Fifty-four years after Italy had to give up hosting the Olympics, Rome finally got its chance. Paul Elvstrom of Denmark won the gold medal in the single-handed dinghy class yachting for the fourth consecutive time in its history. Hungarian fencer Aladar Gerevich succeeded his sixth consecutive gold medal in the team sabre event. The athletes well used the athletic gear for volleyball, badminton, basketball and for other Olympic games. In canoeing, Sweden’s Gert Fredriksson holds his position with its sixth gold medal. Yugoslavia qualified for finals by winning coin toss and won the football tournament after losing in the final three times.

The Italian Sante Gaiardoni became the only cyclist in Olympic history in both time trial and the match sprint events. Using the boxing gloves, techniques and boxing shoes, Clement "Ike" Quartey of Ghana won the silver medal in light welter weight boxing and he was the first black African Olympic medalist.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Melbourne / Stockholm 1956

Melbourne won the right to host the 1956 Olympic game by one vote over Buenos Aires. Australian volleyball rules laws were too severe, so the equestrian events were held separately. The Melbourne Games were the first to be held in the southern hemisphere. In boxing, Laszlo Papp of Hungary wearing boxing gloves became the first boxer to win three gold medals. American Pat McCormick won both diving events, just as she had in 1952. Two athletic players dominated the gymnastics competition. On the men’s, Ukrainian Viktor Chukarin earned five medals, including three gold, to bring his career total to eleven medals, seven of them gold and on women Agnes Keleti of Hungary brought her career total to ten medals by winning four gold medals and two silver.

The U.S. basketball team, led by Bill Russell and K.C. Jones, put on the most dominant performance in Olympic history, scoring more than twice as much as their opponents and winning each of their games by at least 30 points on basketball nets. U.S. weightlifter Paul Anderson weighed 137.9kg.
In weightlifting, ties are broken by awarding the higher place to the athlete used discus shoes with the lower body weight. Incredibly, this worked to Anderson’s advantage when he tied for first with Humberto Selvetti of Argentina. Selvetti weighed 143.5kg. Prior to 1956, the athletes in the Closing Ceremony marched by nation, as they did in the Opening Ceremony. In Melbourne, following a suggestion by a young Australian named John Ian Wing, the athletes entered the stadium together with athletic gear during the Closing Ceremony, as a symbol of global unity.

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