PARIS - July 14, 1924
In part 1, I described the first 5 days of this virtual time travel trip to the 1924 Paris Olympics track & field meet at Stade Olympique de Colombes, the Olympic Stadium.
You can read or listen to part 1 at this link:
PART 1
We begin part 2 with the report of my virtual trip back to day 6 of the track & field meet on July 11, 1924.
JULY 11 - 6th Day of Track & Field: 3,000 Meter Team Race Semi-Finals
This was a truly easy day for the Flying Finns. All they had to do was put in just enough effort to ensure they reached the finals in the 3,000 meter team race.
The race required each team to have 3 runners complete the 3,000 meter run and the winning team was based on total place count with the lowest score winning. For example, if a team had runners finish 1st, 2nd and 3rd, their total place count would be a score of 6.
And that’s exactly what happened for Finland in the 1st of the 2 semi-final heats.
Nurmi won the heat in 8:47, Ritola was 2nd and fellow Finn Sameli Tala was 3rd. The Finns punched their ticket into the July 13th final with 6 points. Nurmi’s time would have put him on a pace for a sub 15 minute 5,000 meters, so it was not a truly an “easy” race.
The top 2 teams in each of the 2 semi-finals qualified for the finals. Great Britain, the other qualifier from the 1st semi-final, had 15 points. Norway (27 points), Italy (31 points) and Poland (41 points) did not qualify.
In the 2nd semi-final, Edvin Wide of Sweden won the heat. But Sweden’s other 2 runners finished only 8th and 12th and Sweden’s 21 points was only good enough for 3rd. They were out.
The USA took 1st place with 9 points, and host France was the other qualifier with 18.
Grantland Rice described 1st semi-final heat in the Philadelphia Inquirer. “Nurmi ran with the same ease, grace and flawless rhythm he has shown in every start, without taking an extra breath as he continued to time his pace by inspecting the watch he carried in his right hand at the end of each lap.”
The New York Times wrote, “Paavo Nurmi ran again today as if yesterday’s running had been nothing to him.” He ran, “at the head of his team in the team race and had the reward of seeing two of his countrymen come in behind him.”
It’s not clear if Ritola tried to challenge Nurmi in this somewhat meaningless qualifying race. But Ritola was likely trying to conserve his energy as this was his 6th consecutive day of racing and he still has 2 more days to go.
JULY 12 - 7th Day of Track & Field: Cross Country Race
Today was the 10,000 meter cross country race.
Cross country running in good conditions requires hardiness and ruggedness, especially as it is run in Europe over difficult terrain that challenges the spirit of the athlete.
NOTE From The Sports Time Traveler™
I have had many first hand experiences of what it is like to run cross country races in Europe. In 1983, I was on the cross country team at the University of Kent in Canterbury, England. I ran in many events including the British Universities Sports Federation (BUSF) Cross Country championship in 1983. It was the most grueling running experience I had in 40 years of competition. We ran through knee high water. We had to hurdle, climb over, or stop to open gates. We had to slog up a steep mud hill that had ropes available to help you pull yourself up the slippery slope if needed. If that wasn’t enough, the race was run in a driving rain.
And when we finished we all had tea in the University gymnasium (really!).
Now back to 1924.
The 10,000 meter cross country race was scheduled to start at the height of the day at 3:30pm.
Henry L. Farrell, in a front page article in the Brooklyn Times Union, called the cross country race, “One of the most important on the Olympic program because both individual and team scores count.”
For the two greatest Flying Finns, Paavo Nurmi and Willie Ritola, this meant the opportunity for one of them to win 2 gold medals - one for winning the race and one for the team victory.
On this 7th day of track & field competition at the 1924 Paris Olympics, the conditions and the course layout for the cross country race made the event more rigorous than any of the athletes had likely ever experienced anywhere and at any time before.
The sun was strong and the temperature was at or close to 100 degrees Fahrenheit according to various newspaper accounts.
NOTE From The Sports Time Traveler™
Here in 2024, the website Sport-Olympic (see URL below), indicates that the temperature actually reached 45 degrees centigrade which is 113 degrees Fahrenheit.
Sport-Olympic - 3000 Meter Cross Country Race
Now back to 1924.
In addition to the intense, deadly heat, the course was extremely difficult, it was filled with hills and knee high weeds. The runners also had to traverse stone paths.
They finished with one lap inside Stade Olympique de Colombes, the Olympic Stadium.
Don Skene of the Chicago Tribune wrote, “Thirty-nine perfectly trained athletes representing thirteen nations started this terrific grind under a blazing sun which scorched the grass and blistered the paint on the massive Colombes Stadium.
Only 15 runners were able to complete the race.
Of the 15 that made it across the finish line, Skene watched, “eight of them reeling and staggering over the tape like drunken men.”
The Chicago Tribune posted a banner headline about the race in the July 13th Sunday paper:
The headline was referring to the 24 runners that never even made it to the stadium.
Skene reported that of those 24, “five of them were rushed to the hospital in a grave condition, and three were reported near the point of death.”
Just 7 men finished the race in good condition.
Finishing 1st, of course, was Finland’s Paavo Nurmi.
Skene wrote this about Nurmi, “The Finn superman, won the race, as cool and unruffled as an Eskimo patiently fishing through a hole in Arctic ice.”
Nurmi had destroyed the field in a time of 32:54.
The Daily Mail newspaper in Brisbane Australia described Nurmi’s victory, “The crowd rose as one man to cheer the amazing Nurmi, when, looking as fresh as paint, he emerged from the entrance of the stadium at the conclusion of the 10,000 metres cross-country race. He did not hurry to the finishing tape, because there was nobody near him… he finished in a machine-like trot, sat on the grass, and took off his shoes, and then strolled casually to the other end of the ground, where he gathered his clothes and dressed.”
Willie Ritola finished 2nd, 500 meters and nearly a minute and a half behind Nurmi in 34:19.
Ritola has now competed on 7 consecutive days over a total of 39,000 meters.
3rd place was a total surprise. One minute behind Ritola was American Earl Johnson, who works in the steel mills of Pittsburgh. He ran a time of 35:21.
The AP story that appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette called the cross country run, “the most spectacular Olympic race ever witnessed.” And declared that for Paavo Nurmi the race was, “the most thrilling victory of his career under the most trying conditions any runner ever faced… greater than even his unprecedented capture of two finals in the same afternoon.
Grantland Rice was at the stadium and showed his admiration for Nurmi’s accomplishment by writing this headline in his syndicated column that appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer:
Rice wrote, “If any proof of his infinite running greatness is needed Paavo Nurmi, Finland’s mightiest of all Olympic heroes gave it today. Under a blazing summer sun of flame and heat with most of the others falling unconscious or collapsing, utterly broken along the route, Nurmi, the marvel of the track, won the 10,000 meters cross country race by a margin of 500 meters.
Where others were hovering upon the verge of death, sunstroke or complete unconsciousness, Nurmi again finished running like a flawless machine without the slightest sign of distress - cool, serene and unperturbed.”
Rice also made this statement about the race conditions, “There never has been in the history of track athletics such terrific strain thrown upon the last limit of human endurance.”
Grantland Rice was not exaggerating about the conditions.
John J. Hallahan of the Boston Globe was at the race and wrote this in a page 1 article, “Conditions were man-killing… man after man fell out, while many of those who stuck were running blind and half conscious…
Sweden’s entire team collapsed under the terrible conditions. Wide and Bergstom being taken to the hospital…
Strangely enough, the Finns, from an equally cold climate, were as little bothered by the blistering air as any. Nurmi and Ritola seemingly are made from asbestos.”
Stories about the fate of some of the competitors seemed almost unbelievable. The London Observer reported that Robert Marchal of France, was in such a bad state after entering the stadium that, “having completely lost all sense of direction, he ended up by crashing at full tilt into the stands and was carried off unconscious.”
The London Daily Mirror noted that, “So numerous were the casualties that the ambulances were kept busy for hours bringing in exhausted and prostrate runners.”
Henry L. Farrell, writing for the Brooklyn Times Union wrote in another front page article, “Runners collapsed right and left as they entered the ovenlike stadium for the final lap… the straightaway was strewn with bodies at one time. Ambulances clanged across the center field, hurrying to hospitals with the casualties.”
The AP article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette included this story about two of the runners who were felled by the heat after entering the stadium, “Andia, a Spanish runner, sprawled face downard in sight of the grandstand just as he struggled inside, while Doliques, the French star brought a moan from his countrymen, when, after tottering half way round the track, he fell in a heap in front of the official tribune and in sight of the tape.
Such was the fallout from the race conditions that only 3 of the 13 teams were able to be scored as the scoring required at least 3 of each team’s runners to complete the race.
Here were the final results of the 10,000 meter cross country race:
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
GOLD - Paavo Nurmi, Finland 32:54.8
SILVER - Willie Ritola, Finland 34:19.4
BRONZE - Earl Johnson, United States 35:21.0
4 Ernie Harper, United Kingdom 35:45.4
5 Henri Lauvaux, France 36:44.8
6 Arthur Studenroth, United States 36:45.4
7 Carlo Martinenghi, Italy 37:01.0
8 August Fager, United States 37:40.6
9 Len Richardson, South Africa 37:46.0
10 Gaston Heuet, France 37:52.0
11 James Henigan, United States 38:00.0
12 Heikki Liimatainen, Finland 38:18.0
13 Fabián Velasco, Spain 39:07.6
14 Miguel Peña, Spain) 41:34.0
15 Maurice Norland, France 41:48.3
TEAM RESULTS
GOLD - Finland
SILVER - United States
BRONZE - France
No other teams had 3 finishers to post a score.
Paavo Nurmi won 2 gold medals, one for the individual race and one for the team, increasing his total to 4.
Willie Ritola, won his 3rd gold medal of the games with his team gold.
Hours after the race, the loud speaker in the stadium announced that all the runners were recovering according to the Daily Mail in Brisbane, Australia. The newspaper then added this comment about the runners who had been unable to finish as compared to Paavo Nurmi, “the wholesale collapse emphasizes the apparently supernatural powers of Nurmi.”
Paavo Nurmi and the Flying Finns solidified their legend with this performance in perhaps the most difficult race ever run in the modern Olympics.
JULY 13 - 8th and Final Day of Track & Field: 3000 Meter Team Race and the Marathon
After the heat decimated the runners in yesterday’s cross country race, the running events were moved to later in the day today.
The marathon was started at 5:30pm, instead of the original early afternoon scheduled start. And the 3,000 meter team race did not start until 6:30pm.
It was also, thankfully, not nearly as warm by late afternoon. The New York Times reported on the weather in Paris, “the day, which had been hot, began to cool, with a little breeze blowing.”
The Marathon
When the marathon began at Stade Olympique de Colombes, the 58 starters did not include Paavo Nurmi or Willie Ritola. Both of them were slated to run in the 3,000 meter team race that would take place on the track while the marathon runners were out on the course. That made the marathon the only individual race over 800 meters at this 1924 Paris Olympics that was not won by Nurmi or Ritola.
Without Nurmi or Ritola in the race, the favorite, according to American newspapers, was Clarence DeMar of Melrose, MA, a little suburb north of Boston.
John J. Hayes, the American gold medalist at the 1908 Olympic Marathon in London, penned an article in yesterday’s New York Daily News in which he wrote, “America’s main hopes in today’s Olympic marathon on are pinned to the shields of Clarence De Mar.”
The 36 year old DeMar had won the Boston Marathon in 1911 in record time. He then took a bronze medal in the 10,000 meter run at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics.
Shortly after that he stopped running competitively for many years. When he started up again in 1922, he set another record in winning his 2nd Boston Marathon. And he followed that up with victories in the Boston Marathon in 1923 and earlier this year, 1924.
Finland’s Hannes Kolehmainen, the “original Flying Finn,” who won the 10,000 meter gold medal in 1912 and the marathon in 1920, was entered in today’s marathon, but a leg injury forced him to scratch from the race.
Two other Finns, with no prior Olympic experience, Villar Kyronen and Albert Stenroos, were also considered to be pre-race favorites. They had finished first and second in the Finnish marathon Olympic trials.
At the beginning of the race, De Mar went to the front. He was 3rd leaving the stadium and then took the lead and held onto it through 10 miles.
Then Stenroos made a move and went in front.
John J. Hallahan covered the race for the Boston Globe. He wrote that, “Stenroos jogged to the front and was never headed, running strongly as a horse. DeMar’s efforts to catch him were unavailing.
De Mar eventually was passed by Romeo Bertini of Italy.
Perhaps De Mar was slowed down by cabbage leaf sandwiches. Since you’re not going to believe this, I have to show you the actual newspaper clipping from the July 14, 1924, Boston Globe regarding what the American runners wore during the marathon:
Even though De Mar reported he felt good, he couldn’t make up any ground on Stenroos or Bertini.
Albert Stenroos ran with, “with ease and plenty of reserve strength,” according to Hallahan.
Stenroos entered the stadium with a 6 minute lead. Hallahan wrote, “At the end he burst through the tape and ran half the length of the field just to let himself slow down.” His winning time was 2:41:22.
Bertini finished 2nd and De Mar 3rd, a full minute behind the Italian.
Another Finn, Lauri Halonen, was a minute-and-a-half behind De Mar in 4th.
These were the only 4 runners to break 2 hours and 50 minutes.
Only half the runners finished the race.
The 3,000 Meter Team Race
This was the final distance running event of the 1924 Paris Olympics.
There were no individual medals for this team race, unlike the cross country event from yesterday.
The Finnish team consisted of Nurmi, Ritola and Katz. The Finns had won the semi-final by sweeping the top 3 spots in their heat.
The USA team had won the other semi-final. Their team included the 9-time American mile champion, Joie Ray. Ray chose to focus solely on the 3,000 meter team race in this Olympics.
Ray’s race strategy indicates that perhaps he felt that running fresh against the Finns might be the key to beating them.
The Philadelphia Inquirer described the start of the race, “Meeting the Finnish champion Nurmi for the first time in these games, Joie Ray, the American mile champion tried to match strides with him for two laps.”
The Houston Post reported, “Ray was leading at one kilometer (2 laps on the 500 meter track).
Then Paavo Nurmi shifted into a higher gear at the start of the 3rd lap. The Post continued, “Nurmi joined him and ran him leg weary in one lap. Ray was finished right there.”
The Philadelphia Inquirer noted that Ray’s early race effort, “failed and proved so exhausting for the little American, that Ray was out of the race long before its completion.”
Ray did complete the race placing 18th out of 19 finishers.
Once he dropped Ray, Nurmi was home free.
Paavo Nurmi won the race by 80 yards over Willie Ritola in 8:32. Ritola’s 2nd place time was 8:40.
The Houston Post noted that, “Nurmi and Ritola who finished in that order, were fresh after a hard race in which the Olympic record was broken.”
Nurmi’s time was 4 seconds faster than the old record set by fellow Finn Hannes Kolehmainen in 1912.
Two runners from the United Kingdom, Bertram MacDonald and H.B. Johnston, finished surprising 3rd and 4th and helped the UK to take the silver medal.
Elias Katz finished 5th, in 8:45, thus giving the Finland a total of just 8 points to easily win the gold medal.
The United States placed runners 6th, 8th and 11th for a score of 25 to take the bronze medal. Note, that Ray, even though he didn’t place among the top 3 Americans for scoring purposes, still earned a bronze medal by virtue of being on the American team.
With the gold medal, Paavo Nurmi had now won a record 5 gold medals.
Willie Ritola had 4 gold medals.
And one other Finn, Elias Katz had a distance running gold medal for his part in the 3,000 meter team race.
In The London Evening Standard, William Seagrove, one of the British runners in the 3,000 meter team race, who finished 16th, was quoted saying, “The Finns are not human. A post mortem would reveal they possess turbine dynamos in place of hearts.”
What the Flying Finns, particularly Paavo Nurmi and Willie Ritola did at these Olympic Games was astonishing.
Nurmi ran 7 races in 6 days. He won every race he competed in.
Ritola ran on all 8 days of the competition.
Here is a picture of the 3 Flying Finns who won gold medals in the 1924 Paris Olympics. From left to right: Willie Ritola, Paavo Nurmi and Elias Katz.
The Seattle Union Record declared, “The honors for individual brilliancy undoubtedly should go to Paavo Nurmi and Willie Ritola, the Finns, who dimmed the lustre of all other competitors by their performances.”
POSTSCRIPT
Guy Hickok was the only English speaking sportswriter that was able to interview Paavo Nurmi after the completion of the track & field events on July 13th.
Here was the full extent of the sparse interview as it appeared in Brooklyn Daily Eagle on page 2 on July 14, 1924:
Nurmi let his accomplishments speak for themselves.
And what great accomplishments they were.
Paavo Nurmi’s 5 gold medals at the 1924 Paris Olympics are the most by any track & field athlete in the history of the modern Olympic Games. No other track & field athlete has ever won more than 4 gold medals in one Olympic Games.
Willie Ritola’s 4 gold medals ties him with just 4 other track & field athletes as the only winners of 4 gold medals in a single Olympic Games. The others are sprinters Jesse Owens, Carl Lewis, Alvin Kraenzlein and Fanny Blankers-Koen.
Elias Katz remains the only Jewish distance runner to ever win a gold medal in the Olympics.
Sadly the team events in distance running are no longer a part of the Olympics. This makes is much more difficult for distance runners to earn multiple medals the way sprinters and swimmers can do so.
Share this post