Mr. Ferman; Excellent article; I really enjoy the research you've done on this (and each) article. I've always considered Nurmi to be the greatest of all Olympic distance runners, somewhat better than his fellow Finlander (Viren) and Bikila (Ethiopia). However, how to compare and rank athletes of different eras is a tricky proposition. More art than science, in my opinion. In my book, "SPORTs and BOOMERs: A History of Sports through a Boomer's Eyes", I give it a go. Your pieces on yesteryear athlete's, teams, and games is a joy for those of us who enjoy sports history and want to share our love for them with others. You've done that many times over and for that I want to say, "Thank You Sir".
Lawrence, thanks so much for that feedback. It's a real honor to read those comments coming from you. Regarding the Flying Finns, I never understood how great Nurmi was until I followed the 1924 Olympics day-by-day over the past couple of weeks. As you will see in part 2, I think its a real shame that they stopped running several of the distance events in the Olympics, because the added events enabled runners like Nurmi to collect lots of medals the way swimmers can, and thus receive the accolades due to them. In distance running today you only have a few opportunities to distinguish yourself.
By the way, I've finished the manuscript for my first book from "The Sports Time Traveler." If you have any publisher suggestions please let me know.
Mr. Ferman; Excellent article; I really enjoy the research you've done on this (and each) article. I've always considered Nurmi to be the greatest of all Olympic distance runners, somewhat better than his fellow Finlander (Viren) and Bikila (Ethiopia). However, how to compare and rank athletes of different eras is a tricky proposition. More art than science, in my opinion. In my book, "SPORTs and BOOMERs: A History of Sports through a Boomer's Eyes", I give it a go. Your pieces on yesteryear athlete's, teams, and games is a joy for those of us who enjoy sports history and want to share our love for them with others. You've done that many times over and for that I want to say, "Thank You Sir".
Lawrence, thanks so much for that feedback. It's a real honor to read those comments coming from you. Regarding the Flying Finns, I never understood how great Nurmi was until I followed the 1924 Olympics day-by-day over the past couple of weeks. As you will see in part 2, I think its a real shame that they stopped running several of the distance events in the Olympics, because the added events enabled runners like Nurmi to collect lots of medals the way swimmers can, and thus receive the accolades due to them. In distance running today you only have a few opportunities to distinguish yourself.
By the way, I've finished the manuscript for my first book from "The Sports Time Traveler." If you have any publisher suggestions please let me know.
Best,
Len