PARIS - July 11, 1924
I have returned from a virtual time travel trip precisely 100 years into the past to Stade Olympique de Colombes, the Olympic Stadium for the 1924 Paris Olympics. Colombes is a suburb in northwestern Paris which is about 4 miles from the Arc de Triomphe (Arch of Triumph) that stands at the end of the Champs-Élysées.
I came here come here to see the strong American track & field team.
But as a distance runner myself, I’ve been captivated by the performances of the Flying Finns, as the group of Finland’s distance runners has come to be known.
A month ago I had made the virtual trip to Hoboken, NJ to see the USA team off to France. All 320 athletes competing on the American team in the 1924 Olympics set sail on the ocean liner, America, on June 16th.
The June 17th New York Times described it as as, “a farewell long to be remembered… not since the days after the armistice, when Uncle Sam’s troops came straggling back, flushed with victory, has the harbor of New York witnessed such a demonstration.”
The New York Daily News had this photo of the ocean liner, America, on the back page of the paper:
There were high expectations for the group of Americans onboard that were slated to compete in track & field. Head coach of the American team, Lawson Robertson, was quoted in the Times, “the combined strength of the team is as good as that of any other team we’ve ever sent across.”
The ocean liner was specially equipped with athletic facilities to enable the Olympians to train during the 9 day voyage to Cherbourg on the north coast of France. “A cork linoleum track stretched from stem to stern on the starboard side of the promenade deck,” according to the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.
Americans Strike Gold
The USA did have some magnificent performances here in Paris over the past week. And they did in fact “win” the overall track & field meet.
Two Americans were double gold medal winners - Bud Houser and Harold Osborn.
Bud Houser won the shot put and the discus. Bud, a student at the University of Southern California, had a large picture in the Los Angeles Times last week:
It was interesting to see that Bud looks rather trim as compared to the hulk like bodies of shot put and discus throwers that we’ll see in the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympics.
The other outstanding American track & field athlete at these 1924 Games was Harold Osborn. On May 27th, Osborn had set the world record in the high jump, becoming the first man to ever clear 6 feet 8 inches.
On July 7th at Stade Olympique de Colombes, he only needed to clear 6 feet 6 inches to capture the gold medal. You can see the winning high jump in this picture that appeared on the back page of the New York Daily News on July 8th.
After his high jump victory, Osborn was not done competing. Osborn had also set the world record in the decathlon this past spring. And on July 11 - 12 he competed in the grueling two day event here at the Olympic Games. The 2nd day of the decathlon is a notorious slog as athletes compete for a 2nd full day of events. But on July 12th it was the toughest day ever for Olympic athletes as the temperatures in Paris rose to 100 degrees.
NOTE From The Sports Time Traveler™
Back here in 2024, Wikipedia indicates the temperature on the track may have reached 40 degrees celsius, which is 104 degrees.
Now back to 1924.
Osborn persisted in the sweltering conditions and won the decathlon for his 2nd gold medal. And he set another world record with 7,710 points, 360 points ahead of the silver medalist, American Emerson Norton.
His picture appeared in the Boston Globe yesterday:
The Flying Finns
Despite the strong American showing, it was the distance runners from Finland, not the Americans, who drew the most admiration from the crowd, from sportswriters, and from this virtual time traveler.
The 1924 Paris Olympics contained a large slate of distance running events, several of which, sadly, have long been discontinued. Take a look at the list of distance competitions that took place here over the past week:
1,500 meter run
3,000 meter steeplechase
3,000 meter team race*
5,000 meter run
10,000 meter run
10,000 meter cross country run*
Cross Country team race*
Marathon
* - events no longer run in 2024
Two runners from Finland were regarded as international superstars coming into these Olympic Games in Paris in 1924 - Paavo Nurmi and Willie Ritola.
Paavo Nurmi
Paavo Nurmi, 27, won 3 gold medals in the 1920 Antwerp Olympics.
Just over 2 weeks before the 1924 Paris Olympics competition was set to begin, on June 19, 1924, Nurmi broke the 7 year old 1,500 meter world record by 2 seconds with a 3:52.7.
On the same day, Nurmi broke his own 5,000 meter world record by 7 seconds in 14:28.
Articles appeared across America about the double world records by Nurmi, set in a track meet in Helsingfors, Finland.
What was most remarkable was that Paavo Nurmi had run the two races just 45 minutes apart.
Deacon White of the Edmonton Bulletin wrote on June 21, “Paavo Nurmi, the phantom Finn, has again startled the athletic world… (the two world records within one hour) stamps the Finn as the marvel of all ages and all nations in this class of track events.”
Nurmi was clearly peaking for the Olympic Games. It was rumored prior to the Games that Nurmi might enter 7 running events including the 800 meter run.
An AP article on July 1st that appeared in the Springfield Daily Republican reported that Nurmi was, “timed at this distance in 1 minute and 52 seconds at a recent trial which is within one-tenth of a second of Ted Meredith’s world record.”
The next day however, the July 2nd Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported that Nurmi would not run the 800 since it would require him to compete in that event on the same afternoon as the 1,500 and the 5,000, events which Nurmi has already specifically requested be scheduled 3 hours apart.
Willie Ritola
The other great Finnish runner is 28 year old Willie Ritola, who has been living in America since 1913, when he moved with 7 of his siblings from Finland. In 1922 Ritola emerged as a top distance runner, competing as a member of the Finnish-American Athletic Club, when he won the 10 mile national championship in New York. In that race he burst out with an opening mile of 4:47 and led the entire way.
Ritola’s time of 52:04 was the fastest since a fellow Finn, had won the race in 1913. That runner was the original Flying Finn, the legendary Hannes Kolehemainen, who after winning 3 gold medals in the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, also emigrated to America. But Kolehmainen competed for Finland once again in the 1920 Olympics, winning the marathon.
Ritola hoped to follow Kolehmainen as a Finnish emigrant competing for his Finnish homeland. In 1924, he went to Finland to compete in Finnish Olympic trials. In the 10,000 meter race he won in a world record time of 30:35, while a heavy rain was falling. His time bettered Paavo Nurmi’s record by 5 seconds.
Ritola had established himself as one of the two best distance runners in the world next to Paavo Nurmi.
His picture appeared in American newspapers including the Springfield Daily Republican on May 26, 1924:
Olympic Entries Intrigue
Coming into the Olympic Games, Ritola was rumored to have entered in 5 events.
On July 3rd, Davis J. Walsh, sports editor of the International News Service, reported on the official entries made by Nurmi and Ritola, of which he wrote, “Hitherto, the Finns have kept their plans secret.”
Nurmi was entered in the 800, 1,500, 5,000, 10,000, the cross country race and the 3,000 meter team race.
Ritola was in the 5,000, 10,000, 3,000 meter steeplechase and the 3,000 meter team race.
Either Nurmi or Ritola would be the favorite to win each of the events in which they competed.
Some newspapermen in America, who were daily tracking the USA’s track & field team prospects, were concerned that these two Flying Finns, might all by themselves defeat the entire USA track team in the unofficial track & field meet team scoring across the entire slate of 26 track and field events.
An AP article on July 6th, that appeared in the Boston Globe indicated that, “An analysis of form tonight apparently assured Finland and the United States of nine first places each… a majority of observers is convinced that the all-around team strength of the Americans will carry them through to victory.”
There was some good news for the Americans that planned to keep count of the total track & field meet scoring, when that same AP article Paavo Nurmi would not in fact run in the trials of the 800 meters taking place on the first day of competition, indicating, “It would entail too great a strain upon him.”
And now, here are my virtual time travel reports from each of the first 5 days of the track & field meet at the 1924 Paris Olympics.
JULY 6 - 1st Day of Track & Field: 10,000 Final
On the opening day of the track & field competition at Stade Olympique de Colombes, there were heats in the 800 meter run and the 10,000 meter finals took place.
NOTE From The Sports Time Traveler™
The track at Stade Olympique de Colombes was 500 meters around. This was the last Olympic Games in which the track was a different distance than the modern standard of 400 meters.
Now back to 1924.
The first big news of the day was that Paavo Nurmi was not competing in either event.
An AP article that appeared in the Kansas City Journal noted that, “Paavo Nurmi, greatest of all Finnish athletes, was unexpected withdrawn.” The Finns wanted to keep Nurmi fresh for the 1,500 and 5,000 as they had Ritola and two other strong contenders in the 10,000.
The 10,000 turned out to be the coronation of Willie Ritola as one of the great distance runners of all time. Ritola, running a 10,000 again in a heavy rain destroyed the field in winning the gold medal.
An AP article that appeared in the Passaic Daily Herald described Ritola’s 10,000 performance, “as among the premier feats of the world’s as well as the Olympic athletic annals. Running all rivals into the ground, the sturdy Finn seemed capable of going on indefinitely and had to be waved off the track when unmindful that he had covered the full distance, he kept going at full speed after crossing the finish line.”
Ritola had completed the race in 30:20, cutting an astonishing 15 seconds off his world record time, a full 20 seconds faster than had ever been run by Paavo Nurmi or any other runner for 10,000 meters. Ritola had beaten the great Swedish distance runner, Edvin Wide by 33 seconds. Finnish runners Eero Berg and Vaiano Sipila, came in 3rd and 4th well over a minute behind Ritola. Ritola’s time was a full minute under the old Olympic record set by the great Hannes Kolehmainen of 31:20 in 1912. And the top American, Earle Johnson, finished almost 2 minutes behind Ritola in 8th place.
JULY 7 - 2nd Day of Track & Field: Steeplechase Semi-Finals
On day 2, the only distance event contested was the semi-finals of the 3,000 meter steeplechase. There was no rain, but the track was still soft as it reportedly always is at Colombes according to the article that appeared on today’s events in the Boston Globe.
Willie Ritola was back on the track again, he won the 3rd of the 3 heats in 9:59, easily qualifying for the final by 11 seconds over the 2nd place runner, American Marvin Rick.
But the big story was in the 1st heat, where fellow Finn, Elias Katz, won his heat in a new Olympic record time of 9:43. He thus became the first runner to ever break 10 minutes in the Steeplechase at the Olympic Games.
The 23 year old Katz is a Jewish athlete, and has been the Finnish national champ in the steeplechase in each of the past 2 years (1923 & 1924), although Willie Ritola, who lives in America, did not compete in those championships.
Katz had been a football player (soccer) for Turun Makkabe, a Jewish athletics club in Finland before he took up competitive distance running in the early 1920s.
He then moved to Helsinki where he began training with Paavo Nurmi. Katz credits Nurmi with improving his running form.
NOTE From The Sports Time Traveler™
As a Jewish distance runner myself, who also competed in international track & field meets, I was very exciting when I discovered Elias Katz, on this virtual trip to the 1924 Paris Olympics. I had never before heard of Elias Katz.
It therefore was one of the great sports time travel discoveries I have made to find out that Elias Katz, on July 7, 1924, became the only Jewish distance runner ever to set an Olympic record.
Now back to 1924.
A 3rd Finn, Kale Ebb, finished 3rd in the 2nd heat and made the Finns the only nation to put 3 runners in the finals.
JULY 8 - 3rd Day of Track & Field: 5,000 Meter Semi-Finals
The 3rd day of the track meet had the 5,000 meter semi-finals.
It marked the first appearance of Paavo Nurmi in the 1924 Olympics.
Nurmi won the 2nd of the 3 heats in the 5,000 semis in 15:28, one minute slower than his world record time from 3 weeks earlier.
Another Finn, Eino Rastas, won the 1st heat in 15:22.
But the top time of the day was in the 3rd heat, won by American, John Romig, in 15:14.
In that heat, Willie Ritola, running in his 3rd event in 3 days, ran just hard enough to qualify for the final. The New York Times wrote, “he and his Swedish rival (Edvin) Wide, dropped back content to take it easy behind Romig.” Ritola could take it easy because the top 4 qualified and the 5th place runner was well behind running over 16 minutes. Ritola was comfortably ahead of that pace with a time of 15:32.
JULY 9 - 4th Day of Track & Field: 3,000 Steeplechase Final and 1,500 Meter Semi-Finals
Day 4 of the track meet had the 3,000 meter steeplechase finals.
It seemed that it would be a match race between Ritola and Katz, although the newspapers declared Ritola the heavy favorite.
The New York Times reported, “from the start he (Ritola) broke away from the bunch and lap after lap increased his lead.”
Katz was running in 2nd with 2 laps to go when he tripped and fell over a hurdle. When he got up he was in 4th, but he managed to pass the others and finish with a silver medal in a time of 9:44.
It seems however, that no one was going to catch Ritola who was well out in front and won in a new Olympic record of 9:33.
Willie Ritola now had 2 gold medals before Paavo Nurmi had even run a finals race in the 1924 Olympic Games.
In the 1,500 meter semi-finals, Paavo Nurmi, was in the 3rd heat, holding his stop watch as he ran. The New York Times noted, “He ran against the watch, for he had no opposition to beat and covered the distance comfortably.
Nurmi won the heat in 4:07, 15 seconds slower than his world record time.
4 of the 12 finalists were from Finland.
JULY 10 - 5th Day of Track & Field: 1,500 Meter Final and 5,000 Meter Final
This was the big day for Paavo Nurmi. The 1,500 and 5,000 meter finals.
Nurmi had requested the finals be at least 3 hours apart, and the official schedule, as reported by the New York Times had the 1,500 at 3:45pm and the 5,000 at 6:45pm.
It was also the big day for Willie Ritola. Ritola would be running in the 5,000 meter final against a theoretically tired Nurmi (after completing the 1,500). Although Ritola himself would be competing in his 5th consecutive day.
Ritola would have the opportunity to race head-to-head against Nurmi for the first time in an Olympic Games.
The winner of the 5,000 meters would have the unofficial title of the Finest Flying Finn.
But first it was the 1,500 meter final for Paavo Nurmi.
The 1,500 Final
Nurmi’s biggest challengers in the 1,500 were expected to be as follows:
Douglas Lowe, UK - the 800 gold medalist 2 days ago
Ray Watson, USA - the AAU 800 champion
H.B. Stallard, UK - the 1923 British mile champion
Percy Rudd, writing for the Liverpool Daily Post, described the start of the race, “When the pistol went Lowe dashed to the front, but before the others rounded the bend Nurmi was at the head of the field. Watson, of the American team, went after him, and a gap separated them from the rest of the runners.”
Rudd noted that Nurmi carried his stopwatch in his right hand and glanced at it as he completed each lap.
John J. Hallahan of the Boston Globe also described the race in a front page article in the July 11th paper. In the early going he noted that Nurmi was “going at a terrific pace” at 200 meters.
The London Daily Mirror reported that after one lap Stallard and Lowe were running in 3rd and 4th place, 35 yards behind Nurmi and Watson.
Rudd indicated that Watson was 4 or 5 yards behind after 2 laps in this 3 lap race, no one else was close.
Don Skene, writing in the New York Daily News, noted that after completing the 2nd lap, “Nurmi consulted a tiny stop watch on his right hand, calmly threw it beside the track, and started serious running.”
Hallahan wrote that Watson, “stuck gamely to the heels of the Flying Finn until 300 meters from the tape.”
At that point Watson faded after his great effort, and Nurmi was all alone in front. Hallahan described it, “Watson, as he ran, could not match the machine like strides of the speeding runner ahead of him and wilted so badly near the end that he finished unplaced.” Watson finished in 7th place in a time of 4 minutes flat.
With 250 yards to go in the race the London Daily Mirror reported, “Stallard opened out on a supreme effort.” The British runner started making up ground on Nurmi fast. The Daily Mirror wrote, “Yard by yard he lessened the distance.”
Rudd noted that Lowe moved up with Stallard. And so did little known Will Scharer of Switzerland.
The legendary sportswriter Grantland Rice, reporting for both the Philadelphia Inquirer and the New York Tribune, described the final 200 meters, “Rounding the far turn, Scharer and Stallard came to the front with a rush, with a final but vain hope of closing the gap. But Nurmi calmly looked over his shoulder and increased his stride to open a wider gap, winning without the slightest extra effort.”
Nurmi had won the race in an Olympic record time of 3:53.6.
Rice wrote about Nurmi that as soon as the race was complete, “He then ran off of the track, picked up his sweater and trotted to his quarters.”
Nurmi had expended only the energy necessary to win the race. Rice noted that Nurmi, “could have easily broken his own world’s record 3:52.3 if he had not been faced with the 5,000 meter task.”
No one ever had a hope of catching Paavo Nurmi.
After Nurmi finished first, Will Scharer of Switzerland edged Stallard in the final few yards to take the silver.
Stallard was completely exhausted by his final lap effort, and fell as he crossed the finish line for the bronze and lay there unconscious.
The London Daily Mirror reported on Stallard’s condition:
Paavo Nurmi, on the other hand, looked completely fresh after his gold medal victory.
The London Daily Mirror reported, “He won with such a reserve of power that he could undoubtedly, had he been pressed, have beaten the world’s record that he himself made.”
Here were the final results of the 1500:
1 - Paavo Nurmi, Finland 3:53.6 NEW OLYMPIC RECORD
2 - Willy Schärer, Switzerland 3:55.0
3 - H. B. Stallard, Great Britain 3:55.6
4 - Douglas Lowe, Great Britain 3:57.0
5 - Ray Buker, United States 3:58.6
6 - Lloyd Hahn, United States 3:59.0
7 - Ray Watson, United States 4:00.0
8 - Frej Liewendahl, Finland 4:00.3
9 - Arvo Peussa, Finland 4:00.6
10 - René Wiriath, France 4:02.8
11 - Sonny Spencer, Great Britain 4:03.7
12 - Jaakko Luoma, Finland 4:03.9
Now, Paavo Nurmi, could focus on the unprecedented attempt to double in the 1,500 and 5,000.
Theoretically he should have had 3 hours to rest. But various reports indicate the 5,000 meter final was run just 1 hour later.
In the New York Daily News, reporter Don Skene who was in the stadium, put the time interval at just 50 minutes between races.
And Grantland Rice concurred on the time Nurmi had available to rest, “50 minutes later Nurmi returned to start in the 5,000 meter race.”
The 5,000 Final
Don Skene previewed the race in the New York Daily News, “It was a grudge race between Finland’s two greatest athletes who are bitterly jealous of each other, and are both seeking the athletic crown of Finland.”
The race was expected to be a match race between the two greatest of the Flying Finns - Paavo Nurmi and Willie Ritola.
It was a classic pairing.
Nurmi had just won the 1,500 meter gold medal in an apparently easy effort despite the fact that he was only 1 second slower than the world record.
Ritola had crushed the field in capturing the 10,000 meter gold medal 4 days earlier, smashing the world record in the process, and he had won the 3,000 meter steeplechase gold medal just a day prior.
Neither man could be considered fresh. Nurmi having won his big race just an hour earlier. And Ritola competing for the 5th consecutive day.
Percy Rudd however noted that Nurmi, despite having won the 1,500 an hour ago, “turned out fresh as paint for the 5,000.” He also wrote that Ritola had run, “no fewer than 26,000 metres since the games began.”
Grantland Rice described the beginning of the race, “Almost from the crack of the starter’s gun Ritola, of Finland, and Wide of Sweden, hung to Nurmi’s clock-like effortless spin as if a ghost were in motion. For five laps Ritola led, but then one look at his watch told Nurmi that it was time he was on his way.”
Just as he had in the 1,500 meters, Nurmi could be seen glancing down at his stop watch after each lap in the 10 lap race. The London Daily Mirror wrote, “Watch in hand he studied carefully as he finished each lap, he ran according to a carefully prepared schedule.”
Paavo Nurmi took off at the halfway mark in the race. Wide dropped back, and as expected only Ritola remained on Nurmi’s heels.
The London Daily Mirror commented, “Willie Ritola hung on to him desperately and did everything in his power to usurp the leadership.”
The race remained this way until the final 500 meter lap began.
Rice wrote, “On the final lap Ritola was only two strides away, but still running with valiant courage. Here was a race that was a race, a battle that thousands will hold in memory.”
The crowd of 25,000, the largest since opening day, was witnessing a true classic “Finnish.”
The New York Times described Ritola’s effort on the final lap, “Willie of the iron heart and iron legs… matched stride for stride with his countryman. For a fraction of time, rounding the last turn, it looked as though Ritola might make good his bid for a third victory and shatter Nurmi’s hopes.”
Grantland Rice recounted the final dash to the tape, “struggling with all that he had Ritola could not close that gap, but near the finish as Nurmi turned to look, his rival countryman came within a stride.”
Just as in the 1,500, Paavo Nurmi had the ability to speed up as necessary to remain in front.
Nurmi defeated Ritola by a single stride to win the gold medal.
The New York Times stated that Nurmi, “had reserve enough to keep a stride ahead to the tape in a finish that had the throng on its feet in a bedlam of cheering.”
The time of 14:31.2 was a new Olympic record. Ritola was just 0.2 seconds behind.
No one else had broken 15 minutes.
The London Daily Mirror noted that although Nurmi had only won by 2 yards, “he could have widened the margin had he wished.”
Grantland Rice wrote about Nurmi that immediately after the race, “again he ran for his sweater on the turf nearby, jogging swiftly back to his quarters with a roar of applause following like the thundering of surf in a storm.”
Here were the final results of the 5,000 meter run:
1 - Paavo Nurmi, Finland 14:31.2 NEW OLYMPIC RECORD
2 - Ville Ritola, Finland 14:31.4
3 - Edvin Wide, Sweden 15:01.8
4 - John Romig, United States 15:12.4
5 - Eino Seppälä, Finland 15:18.4
6 - Charles Clibbon, Great Britain 15:29.0
7 - Lucien Dolques, France 15:32.6
8 - Axel Eriksson, Sweden 15:38.0
9 - Léonard Mascaux, France 15:39.0
10 - Frank Saunders, Great Britain 15:54.0
The Greatest Distance Runner of All-Time
The next morning sports writers were besides themselves, one seemingly trying to top another with superlatives to describe what they had seen Paavo Nurmi do in that single hour at Stade Olympique de Colombes on Thursday, July 10, 1924.
The New York Times started with this:
The Times embellished further, “There was no one who could touch him. Such an exhibition of running strength has never been seen before.”
The Sun in Sydney Australia wrote this:
The Liverpool Daily Post started their article on yesterday’s track results with this:
The incomparable Grantland Rice was awed by Nurmi and celebrated him grandly in the Philadelphia Inquirer and the New York Herald Tribune:
The Boston Globe shared this picture of Paavo Nurmi:
With sportswriters around the world bestowing such accolades on Paavo Nurmi it was almost hard to believe that there were still 3 days to go in the Olympic track & field competition.
3 more days in which Paavo Nurmi and Willie Ritola would be running each day.
I will cover the final 3 days of the track & field at the 1924 Paris Olympics in my next episode.
Thanks for reading.
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