Monday, July 15, 2024

PHOTOS FROM THE PAST


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Byter and friend John P sent me an email with a link to photographs and commentaries about the 1924 Paris Olympics.

If you have watched the film Chariots of Fire you will recognise some of the names. Likewise if you watched the earlier Tarzan films and the TV series Jungle Jim.

The link:
"Historic images from the 1924 Olympics in Paris"

Thanks John.


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Historic images from the 1924 Olympics in Paris

Camille Fine
USA Today
Posted 14 July 2024
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English middle distance runner Hyla Bristow Stallard (1901-1973) crosses the finish line in first place to win the Men's 880 yards event at the Amateur Athletics Association (AAA) Championships at Stamford Bridge stadium in London in June 1924. H. B. Stallard would go on to win the bronze medal for Great Britain in the Men's 100 metres event at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, France on July 10.
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American athlete Harold Osborn (1899 - 1975) taking gold in the high jump at the Paris Olympics.
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American swimmer Johnny Weissmuller takes a breath while swimming freestyle. Johnny Weissmuller won three swimming golds and a bronze playing water polo during the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris and two further swimming golds at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam.
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The first ever Olympic Village, built for the 1924 games in Paris.
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Boxers Alfred O Barber (right) (Bantamweight - placed 5th in the 1924 Paris Olympics) and A Groom, Paris Olympic Games.
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American decathlete and actor Chuck Lewis (1899–1983), American high jumper Alma Richards (1890-1963), American sprinter Charley Paddock (1900-1943), American coach Boyd Comstock (year of birth unknown-1950), and American hurdler Fred Kelly (1891-1974) during a break in training for the 1924 Summer Olympics, at film studios - the set of Douglas Fairbanks' 'The Thief of Bagdad' can be seen in the background - in Los Angeles, California, 1924.
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Athletes sitting in front of a cabin in the Olympic Village at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, France, 1924. The 1924 Games were the first Games to have an Olympic Village, with a number of cabins built near the stadium to accommodate visiting athletes.
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Scottish sprinter Eric Liddell (1902-1945), winner of the quarter mile event at the Amateur Athletics Association (AAA) Championships, posed on the track at Stamford Bridge stadium in London in June 1924. Eric Liddell would go on to win the gold medal for the Great Britain team in the Men's 400 metres event at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, France on July 11.
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English sprinter Harold Abrahams (1899-1978) crosses the finish line in first place to win the Men's 100 yards event at the Amateur Athletics Association (AAA) Championships at Stamford Bridge stadium in London in June 1924. Harold Abrahams would go on to win the gold medal for Great Britain in the Men's 100 metres event at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, France on July 7.
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American track and field athlete DeHart Hubbard (1903-1976) posed in 1924. DeHart Hubbard won the gold medal for the United States team in the final of the Men's long jump event at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris on July 8.
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American track and field athlete Bud Houser (1901-1994) in action in 1924. Bud Houser won the gold medal for the United States team in the final of the Men's shot put event at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris on July 8.
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Aerial view of the Colombes Olympic Stadium during the Paris 1924 Olympic Games.
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Reims Olympic Stadium during the Paris 1924 Olympic Games.
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The Olympic Village catering hall at Colombes during the 1924 Olympic Games in France.
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The front of a Paris department store during the 1924 Olympic Games.
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Scottish athlete Eric Liddell (1902 - 1945) winning the 440 yards race at the Amateur Athletics Association championships at Stamford Bridge, London, UK. Eric Liddell, known as the 'Flying Scotsman' went to the Paris Olympics in 1924 as the favourite to win the 100 metres race but refused to run because he felt that running on a Sunday conflicted with his Christian beliefs. He won a bronze medal in the 200 metres event instead and then ran the 400 metre race despite having little experience at the distance. He not only won the gold medal but broke the world record by completing the race in 47.6 seconds, an achievement which is celebrated in the 1981 film 'Chariots of Fire'. Liddell gained two degrees, one in science and the other in divinity, before leaving Britain to work as a Scottish Congregational Church missionary in China as his parents had before him.
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Plus some more . . .


Richard Norris Williams narrowly avoided having both legs amputated after jumping into frozen water during the sinking of the Titanic on 15 April 1912.

Williams jumped from a height of more than 12 metres into minus two-degree water, while his father perished when the first funnel fell from the ship. The young tennis player swam to reach a lifeboat, and made it to the RMS Carpathia, which had come to rescue survivors. His legs were frozen and a doctor suggested they should be amputated immediately. "I'm going to need these legs!" he shouted. Insisting on walking around the deck of the Carpathia, he gradually rediscovered feeling in his lower limbs.

Barely 12 weeks later, Williams was on court at the Longwood Challenge Bowl near Boston, in a match against Karl Howell Behr, another survivor of the Titanic! Behr won in five sets, but while his career was coming to an end, Williams' was only just taking off. Later in 1912, he won his first Grand Slam title – the mixed doubles with Mary Browne at the US National Championships, the precursor to the US Open.

A superb volleyer, Williams won the Davis Cup with the USA in 1913, 1921, 1923, 1925 and 1926, recording 10 victories and just three defeats in total, and he remained unbeaten in the doubles. He won the men's singles title at the US National Championships in 1914 and 1916. He was Wimbledon champion in the men's doubles with Chuck Garland in 1920, and alongside Vincent Richards in 1925 and 1926. In the intervening period, he served in the US army during the First World War, and was awarded the Légion d'Honneur and the Croix de Guerre.

At the 1924 Olympics he was unsuccessful in individual categories because of a foot injury. In the mixed doubles, Williams teamed up with Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman in the mixed doubles and they won gold.

Finnish runner Paavo Nurmi won five gold medals to add to the three he had won in 1920. His most spectacular performance occurred on 10 July. First, he easily won the 1500m and then, a mere 55 minutes later, he returned to the track to win the 5,000m.

The 1924 Games introduced the Closing Ceremony ritual as we know it today. This involves the raising of three flags: the flag of the International Olympic Committee, the flag of the host nation and the flag of the next host nation.

34 Australians marched in the Paris 1924 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony. Australia won 6 medals in Paris: 3 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze. The gold medals were won by Anthony Winter in the triple jump, Dick Eve in plain high diving, and swimmer Andrew ‘Boy’ Charlton, who became the first Australian to win the 1500m freestyle. All 3 champions lived around the Sydney suburb of Manly and received a great civic reception upon their return home.

Crowds watching the departure of the Australian Olympic Team - on the S.S. "Ormonde" - to the 1924 Paris Olympics. Staff of the Sydney Harbour Bridge Branch of the Department of Public Works are also on board - on their way to London to check the working drawings and specifications of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Andrew “Boy” Charlton, Paris 1924 Olympic champion at 17. 
Charlton had turned 17 on the eve of the swimming competition, celebrating with a world record in his Olympic debut in the heats of the 1500m freestyle. Charlton also won400m freestyle bronze and joined another Manly teenager, his best friend, Ernest Henry in the silver-medal winning Australian 4x200m freestyle that finished second behind the star-studded US team, led by the legendary five-time Olympic gold medallist, he of Tarzan fame, Johnny Weissmuller.

Paris Olympic 400m freestyle medallists (L-R) “Boy” Charlton (Aus Bronze), Johnny Weissmuller (USA Gold) and Arne Borg (SWE silver).



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