Olympic nostalgia, past greats - and some sinister weirdness
Discussion
Just going through an Olympic nostalgia check. I’ve been watching the official and famous 1936 Berlin Olympic Games film "Olympia" on ESPN Classic over the past few evenings – so long they have split it into sections. It is fascinating to see just how good athletes were pre steroids, modern diets, supplements, full time strength and conditioning coaches, professional full time training status etc.
For example, in the high jump - before Mr Fosbery was born - they just run at and simply jump over a bar and land on their feet in a sand pit and can still clear 6' 8"!
Starting blocks for sprint races? Dig a little hole into the sandy track. And Jesse Owens still got a c.10.3 - how good would he have been if he'd competed in this modern era? Well worth a look if you see it repeated.
But the most weirdly sinister thing I’ve seen occurred in the ‘Men's Pentathalon’; in the shooting part of the event, the German's were dressed in what looked like Gestapo uniforms complete with hat. I kid you not. And they were shooting at targets of people lined up against a wall! Guess what? The Germans got the gold with a world record!
For example, in the high jump - before Mr Fosbery was born - they just run at and simply jump over a bar and land on their feet in a sand pit and can still clear 6' 8"!
Starting blocks for sprint races? Dig a little hole into the sandy track. And Jesse Owens still got a c.10.3 - how good would he have been if he'd competed in this modern era? Well worth a look if you see it repeated.
But the most weirdly sinister thing I’ve seen occurred in the ‘Men's Pentathalon’; in the shooting part of the event, the German's were dressed in what looked like Gestapo uniforms complete with hat. I kid you not. And they were shooting at targets of people lined up against a wall! Guess what? The Germans got the gold with a world record!
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