t-and-f: Believe it or not
Something that struck me with awe when I first noticed it in one of Quercetani's historical volumes is that Bill Miller, later to place first in the 1932 Olympics, vaulted 13-2 5/8 (4.02) at age 15 (15!) (born in November 1912, meet in April 1928), 13th in the world for that year. Bill Allen
t-and-f: Universiade
The Universiade results page is awkward but manageable once you get the hang of it. And it is a delight for those who cherish evidences of the Mysteries of the East: Qualifiers -- even a gold medallist -- whose performances are recorded but not their names. The gold medallist case is understandable. The Kenyan who won the 10,000 was, according to the news story at the same site, a late arrival. "Who is that No. 1226?" was the buzz in the stands, the story said. Bill Allen
t-and-f: Doubles
How about Ralph Craig? Won both sprints in 1912, was on the yachting team in 1948 (no medal, though). Bill Allen
t-and-f: Sydney Notes (Broad jump-400 meters)
Not the same Olympics, but Szewinska was second in the broad jump in Tokyo and then won the 400 meters in Montreal. Bill Allen
t-and-f: Dark glasses
I've been away, and it takes a while to go through all the foolishness on this list to find the occasional item of interest. So, though the subject is no doubt long since forgotten by those with typical American attention spans, Bud Spencer (gold medallist 1600mr 1928) may have been the pioneer wearer of dark glasses. With him it was no sort of affectation; he had lost the sight of one eye in an automobile accident. (And on another subject that's been dealt with on the list, Spencer was another trackster turned journalist. He was for many years sports editor of the San Francisco News and was the author of one of Tafnews Press' finest publications, a memoir of Dink Templeton.) Bill Allen
