22nd– On this day in 1850 the Much Wenlock Games were held for the first time in Much Wenlock, a small village in rural Shropshire. The Games were one of the early attempts at the revival of the Olympic Movement and were a major influence on Pierre de Coubertin, who visited them in 1889.  Today in 1909 a USA national Javelin record was set by Ollie Sneidigar with a throw of 49.03m at San Francisco. Sheila Sherwood, born Sheila Hilary Parkin today in 1945 in Sheffield is a former international long jumper whose career highlights included a silver medal at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico, and a gold medal at the 1970 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh. She competed in three consecutive Olympic Games (1964, 1968 and 1972) and had a career best of 6.73m. Emil Zatopeck set a new 10,000m world record at 29:21.2 on this day in 1949 at the Vitkovice Stadium in Ostrava.  British twin athletes Graham and Grenville Tuck were born today in 1950. Consistently good international cross-country runners in the 1970/80’s when the UK had already more top class 5k and 10k and cross-country runners than at any other time. The brothers continue to compete in veteran competitions and Park-run events. Belarusian hammer thrower Mikhail Petrovich Krivonosov broke the world record on this day in 1956 at the Olympic trials held at the Spartak Stadium in Tashkent. He was already the WR holder, and had been since August 1955 when he set the record at 64.33, this was his fifth WR, measured at 67.32m. Born on this day in 1957 was East German high jumper Henry Lauterbach. He finished fourth at the 1978 European Championships and sixth at the 1979 European Indoor Championships. He competed at the 1976 Olympic Games, but did not reach the final, at the 1980 Olympic Games however he finished fourth. With a jump of 2.29m he missed out on the bronze medal by 2cm.He was ranked sixth in the world that season by Track and Field News. His PB was 2.30m, set in August 1978 at Potsdam. Lauterbach also competed in the long jump on an international level, winning gold at the 1982 European Indoor Championships, his winning leap was 7.86m. On a national level Lauterbach won silver medals in this event at the East German championships in 1970, 1972, 1976 and 1981. Additionally, he won a bronze medal in 1974. He was East German indoor champion in 1982. His personal best long jump was 8.35m achieved in August 1981 in Erfurt. Michael Christopher Hill, known as Mick was born in 1964, an English javelin thrower who was born in Leeds. He won a bronze medal at the 1993 World Championships and a silver medal at the 1998 European Championships. He is also a four-time Commonwealth Games medallist and represented Great Britain at four Olympic Games. He competed in over 20 major championships between 1983 and 2002, only failing to reach the final twice. He has since coached heptathlete Jessica Ennis. Norway’s Grete Waitz ran a new female World Marathon best time of 2:32:29.8 in winning the New York Marathon on this day in 1978.  Ethiopian long-distance runner Erba Tiki Gelanar was born today in 1987.Her personal best of 2:18:58 is the Ethiopian national record for the Marathon. She won the 2011 Amsterdam Marathon and the 2012 Rotterdam Marathon. She won the gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics with a time of 2:23:07 which was a new Olympic record. On this day in 2006 the Chicago Marathon was won by Robert Cheruiyot from Kenya and Ethiopia’s Berhane Adere in 2:07:35 and 2:20:42 respectively.

                                

23rd  – American athlete Charles Henry Kilpatrick was born on this day in 1874. His best event was the 880yds in which he became the national champion three times and established a long-lived world record time of 1:53.4. Czechoslovakian shot-putter František Douda was born in 1908.He won an Olympic bronze medal at the 1932 Games and in the same year set a world record with 16.20m on 24th September in Prague. The record stood until 21st April 1934, when American John Lyman improved it to 16.48m. on this day in 1911 American sprint hurdler Jack Keller was born. He set world records at both 120yds and 220yds hurdles and won the shorter event at the 1932 Olympic trials but narrowly missed out on an Olympic medal coming a close fourth in the final. Canagasabai Kunalan, Singaporean sprinter, relay runner, former footballer and educator, widely regarded as one of Singapore’s greatest ever athletes, was born today in 1942. Named Sportsman of the Year in both 1968 and 1969, his feat of 10.38s in the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games 100m was a national record that stood for 33 years. Hungarian Olympic champion and world record holding javelin thrower, Miklós Németh was born in 1946. Born in Budapest, he is the son of Imre Németh who won the Olympic gold in the hammer at the 1948 Olympics.Nemeth’s winning effort at the 1976   Games in Montreal was also a world record for the event. His mark of 94.58m came in the first round of the competition; completely demoralizing Nemeth’s dazed competitors. Silver medallist Hannu Siitonen of Finland, whose record, thrown in June 1973, was 93.90m could do no better than 87.92m, more than 6.5m (nearly 22 feet) behind Miklos Németh. He was elected Hungarian Sportsman of the year for his achievement. Nemeth’s gold medal performance stood as the global standard in the javelin until 23 April 1980, when fellow Hungarian Ferenc Paragi launched the spear 96.72m. Soviet runner Vladimir Petrovich Kuts set a new world 5000m record today in 1954 of 13:56.6.  He defeated the favourites Emil Zatopek and Chris Chataway at the European championship final in Prague. He lost the record a few months afterwards to Chataway, only to regain it ten days later. A year to the day later in 1955, Hungarian Sandor Iharos lowered the 5000m WR mark during the Hungarian championships at the Nepstadion in Budapest when he ran 13:40.6. Today in 1974, at the 75th IOC Session in Wien, Vienna – Lake Placid, New York, USA was selected as the host of the 13th Winter Olympic Games for 1980 and Moscow, Russia as the host of the 1980 Summer Games – the  XXIInd Olympiad.

 

                                     

24th – On this day in 1877 a new American national record of 54.0 was set for the 400m by Frank Brown of America at New Haven in Connecticut. On the same day at Mott Haven in New York Edward Merriett of the New York Athletic Club, lowered the USA national mile time to 40:43.75. Jim Peters, British long-distance runner was born today in 1918. He broke the world record for the men’s marathon four times in the 1950s. He was the first runner to complete a marathon under 2 hours 20 minutes – an achievement which was equated to the breaking of the four-minute mile. He achieved this at the Polytechnic Marathon of 1953, a point-to-point race from Windsor to Chiswick, West-London. Later that same year Peters set the first sub-2:20 clocking on an out-and-back course, at the Enschede Marathon in the Netherlands.At the 1954 Vancouver Commonwealth Games he reached the stadium in first place, 17 minutes ahead of the next runner and 10 minutes ahead of the record, but collapsed repeatedly and failed to finish. After covering just 200m in 11 minutes, he was stretchered away and never raced again. “I was lucky not to have died that day”, he later said. His games kit, including plimsolls and the special medal, which following the games the Duke of Edinburgh sent to Jim inscribed “To a most gallant marathon runner.” were given to the Sports Hall of Fame, Vancouver in 1967 for exhibition. After retiring from competitive athletics, Peters worked as an optician. On this day in 1964 the 18th Olympic Games came to a close in Tokyo, Japan. Greek pole-vaulter Christos Papanikolaou set the world record at 5.49m (18 ft 0 in), significant to Americans as the first man to pole vault 18 feet, on this day in 1970, at the City Match held at the Athinal-Beograd Karaiskakis Stadium in Athens. Diane Claire Guthrie-Gresham, born in 1971, track and field athlete from Jamaica, who specialized in the long jump and Heptathlon during her career. Diane holds the National Collegiate Athletics Association championship meet record for women’s Heptathlon, as well as the Caribbean record for the event. Competing for George Mason University, she compiled a total of 6527 at the University of Tennessee’s Tom Black Track in Knoxville, Tennessee, between 2-3 June 1995. She won her second NCAA title with that mark, and also broke Jackie Joyner-Kersee’s NCAA meet record. Joyner-Kersee had set the record of 6390 points in Houston in 1983 when she was competing for UCLA, by 137 points. Today in 1982 the 13th New York Marathon was won by Grete Waitz in 2:27:14 and Alberto Salazar in 2:09:29. American 800m runner Elijah Greer was born in 1990. She was the 800m champion running for University of Oregon at the 2013 NCAA D1 Outdoor T&F Championships. Also born on this day in 1990 Vicky Parnov, in Moscow, and is an Australian athlete who competes in pole vault. She is the current Australian national champion, winning in April 2012. She has strong athletic pedigree, being the niece of Tatiana Grigorieva, who won the silver medal for Australia in the women’s pole vault at the 2000 Olympics, and the granddaughter of Natalya Pechonkina, who won the bronze medal for the USSR in the women’s 400m at the 1968 Olympics. She is coached by her father Alex Parnov, himself a former world class pole vaulter. Her younger sister Liz also competes in Pole Vault and was the Australian national champion in 2010 before she turned 16. Vicky moved to Australia with her family in 1996, at the age of six, and was inspired to take up pole vaulting at the age of nine, after watching her aunt win a silver medal in the event at the Sydney Olympics. Her first international experience came at the age of 14, when she represented Australia at the 2005 World Youth Championships in Marrakesh, coming fourth. At the following edition of the championships, the 2007 World Youths, held in Ostrava, she won gold in the pole vault with a jump of 4.35m. She has also competed in two editions of the World Junior Championships, claiming the bronze medal in 2006, and represented Australia at open level during the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, and the 2007 World Championships in Osaka. When she competed in the pole vault at the 2007 World Championships, she became the youngest athlete to represent Australia at World Championship level, aged 16 years and 305 days. In 2007, she was selected Asics Junior Athlete of the Year. On this day in 1999 Moroccan runner Khalid Khannouchi won the Chicago Marathon in a world best time of 2:05:42, while Kenyan Joyce Chepchumba took the women’s title in a time of 2:25:59. South African middle-distance and the 2009 world 800m champion Mbulaeni Tongai Mulaudzi died today in 2014. His first global medal was a silver at the 2000 African Championships. He later won a bronze at the 2003 World Championships, which came a year after his victory at the 2002 Commonwealth Games. Mulaudzi was the gold medallist at the 2004 IAAF World Indoor Championships and won two further silver medals at the competition in 2006 and 2008. He was runner-up at continental level on three occasions, taking the 800m silver at the African Championships in 2000 and at the All-Africa Games in 2003 and 2007. He carried the flag for his native country at the opening ceremony of the 2004 Summer Olympics, where he became an Olympic silver medallist. His personal best for the 800m was 1:42.86m. He ranked first on time in the 2006 and 2007 seasons, becoming the first Black South African to achieve such a feat. Mulaudzi died in a car crash at the age of 34. He was en route to an Athletics South Africa athletics meeting when his car overturned. His death was confirmed by his manager, Peet van Zyl, who said: “Mr Mulaudzi was surely one of the most decorated track athletes that South Africa has ever seen and unfortunately never had the recognition from the federation for all his achievements, so it is indeed a sad day.”

 

                              

25th-Franklin Wesley “Bud” Held was born today in 1927 in Los Angeles, notable for his performance throwing the javelin. Bud Held however started as a pole vaulter at Grossmont High School near San Diego, where he finished in a 3-way tie for 4th place at the 1946 CIF California State Meet. He switched to the javelin while a student at Stanford University, where he won the NCAA javelin championship in 1948, 1949, and 1950. Held won the AAU USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships six times, 1949, 1951, 1953 to 55 and 1958. Held set six American records in the javelin, and in 1953 became the first American to hold the world javelin record with an effort of 80.42m; in so doing, Held became the first athlete ever to throw the 800gram (1.8lb) javelin over 80m (260ft). He set a second world record of 81.74m or 268 feet 2 inches in 1955, and his career best throw was 82.30m (270 feet 0 inches) n 1956. Polish steeplechaser Henryk Lesiuk was born in 1948. At the 1971 European Championships he failed to reach the final, but in his own country he was a three-time medallist at the national championships – gold in 1975, silver in 1971 and bronze in 1974. Abebe Bikila, double Ethiopian Olympic Marathon champion died on this day in 1973 aged 41. He surprised the world in 1960 in winning the Olympic Marathon, as a complete outsider in world best time of 2:15:16.2, running barefoot. This was only his third race at the distance and the first outside his hometown of Addis Ababa. Four years later in Tokyo he became the first man ever to retain an Olympic Marathon title.  He participated in a total of 16 Marathons, winning 12 and finishing fifth in the 1963 Boston Marathon. In July of 1967 he sustained the first of several injuries that prevented him completing his last two races. On 22nd March 1969 he was paralysed as a result of a car accident, although he regained some upper-body mobility he never walked again. Abebe competed in archery and table tennis at the 1970 Stoke Mandeville Games in London, an early predecessor of the Paralympic Games, while receiving medical treatment in England. He competed in both sports at a 1971 competition for the disabled in Norway, and won its cross-country sleigh-riding event. Abebe died four years later of a cerebral haemorrhage related to his accident.  He received a state funeral, and Emperor Haile Selassie declared a national day of mourning. Many schools, venues and events, including Abebe Bikila Stadium in Addis Ababa, are named after him. The subject of biographies and films documenting his athletic career, Abebe is often featured in publications about the marathon and the Olympics. Finnish sprinter Markus Pöyhönen was born today in 1978. At the 2002 European Championships in Athletics he became the first Finnish male in history to reach the 100m sprint final in an international championship. He finished fifth in the race, though years later Dwain Chambers was disqualified and Pöyhönen’s final position was fourth. He finished seventh in the 60m final at the 2003 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Birmingham. His 100m personal best, also set in 2002, is 10.23 seconds; 0.02 s shy of the Finnish national record. Today at the 1981 New York Marathon Alberto Salazar was victorious for the second time in the race history with a world best time of 2:08:13 and in the women’s race Allison Roe set a new course record with a time of 2:25:29. Asha Philip was born in 1990, an English sprinter and former junior gymnast specialising in mini-trampoline. She was the first British woman to achieve a global 100m title at any age-group, winning gold at the 2007 World Youth Championships aged 16. Following a serious knee injury in gymnastics, and a rehabilitation period of several years, she returned to athletics full-time in 2014, winning gold at the European Athletics Championships in the 4x100m relay for Great Britain, and bronze in the same event at the Commonwealth Games for England. She won her first senior individual title in 2017, claiming gold at the 2017 European Athletics Indoor Championships 60m and with Dina Asher-Smith, Desiree Henry and Daryll Neita formed part of the Great Britain 4×100m relay squad which won an Olympic bronze medal in the 4x100m relay at the 2016 Rio Games, and a silver medal in the same event at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics.  At the 1992 Chicago Marathon, American runner Linda Somers took the women’s title in a time of 2:37:41, while the men’s event was won by Brazilian Jose Cesar de Souza in 2:16:14.  On this day in 2012 the double dip recession in the UK economy ended with a growth of 1.0% in the third quarter of the year, mostly with help from the London Olympic Games.

 

 

                                

26th– Paul Henry Pilgrim, American athlete was born on this day 1883. He competed at the 1904, 1906 and 1908 Olympics and won three gold medals, in 1904 and 1906. At the 1904 Games, he finished sixth in the four-mile team run, helping the New York Athletic Club (NYAC) to win the gold medal. In 1906, Pilgrim travelled to Athens on his own, missing the wave that washed over the deck of the American team’s ship in Gibraltar. The wave injured about half-dozen athletes on-board, including one of the favourites for the 400m, Harry Hillman. Pilgrim made the 400m final and was in third place before coming into the final straight. On that stretch, he passed Wyndham Halswelle of Great Britain and Australia’s Nigel Barker to win in 53.2s. In the 800m, he passed James Lightbody on the final lap and won by about half a metre. This medal does not appear in results or tables published by the International Olympic Committee, which retroactively downgraded the 1906 Olympics and does not consider them to have been true “Games of the Olympiad.” Following his success in 1906 Pilgrim never won another major competition. At the 1908 Games he failed to reach the 400m final.  He worked the rest of his career at NYAC, where he served as Athletic Director from 1914 to 1953. Today in 1884 saw the birth of another American athlete – William “Bill” P. Hogenson, who won the 60m “dash” silver at the 1904 Summer Olympics, beaten by fellow countryman Archie Hahn. He also won two bronze medals, over 100m and 200m, both distances won by Archie Hahn. Today in 1941 Italian discus thrower Adolfo Consolini set a new world record for the event when he threw 53.34m at a National Meeting held at the Campo Giuriati in Milan. The 11th New York Marathon, held on this day in 1980 was won by Alberto Salazar, setting a new course record at the time of 2:09:41. In the women’s race Grete Waitz was victorious for a third time, also setting a new course record of 2:25:42.  On this day in 1986 Toshihiko Seko won the Chicago Marathon in 2:08:27, while the great Ingrid Kristiansen took the women’s crown in 2:27:08. The first person ever to appear in an Olympic spring final in three different Games, Jackson Volney Scholz, died today in 1986, aged 89. Born to Susan and Zachary Scholz in Buchanan, Michigan, Jackson Scholz, nicknamed “The New York Thunderbolt”, competed for the University of Missouri and later the New York Athletic Club. While successful in the Olympics, he managed to win only a single national title, the 220yds AAU title in 1925. His first Olympic appearance was in Antwerp in 1920, where he won gold with the American 4×100m relay team. Individually he came fourth in the 100m. Later that year he equalled the World 100m Record, running 10.6 in Stockholm. Four years later, he was one of the favourites for the sprint titles in both 100m and 200m. He lived up to the expectations in the 20 m, but was beaten to the gold in the 100m by Britain’s Harold Abrahams. Scholz made a third Olympic appearance in1928. As the reigning champion, he came fourth in the 200m.During the 1984 Olympics, an American Express credit card commercial (“Don’t leave home without it”) included Ben Cross and the 87-year-old Scholz. When Cross—who portrayed Abrahams in the film Chariots of Fire—said something about beating Scholz, the latter remarked, “You didn’t beat me!” with mock indignation. Proving he was “still pretty fast,” Scholz beat Cross to the draw in picking up the tab with his credit card. Today in 2008 Tirunesh Dibaba married 2004 and 2008 Olympic 10,000m silver medallist Sileshi Sihine.

 

 

                   

27th– On this day in 1917, Swedish middle-distance runner Arne Anderson was born. Famous for his rivalry with compatriot Gunder Hägg in the 1940s. Andersson set a 1500m world record in Gothenburg in August 1943 with a time of 3:45.0. He set three world records in the mile: the first in Stockholm in July 1942 in 4:06.2; this record was broken in the same year by Hägg when he clocked 4:04.6. Andersson recaptured the record in Gothenburg in July 1943, running 4:02.6, and improved it further in Malmö in July 1944 with 4:01.6. However, Hägg had the last word when he ran 4:01.4 in Malmö in 1945 (Hägg’s record was not broken until Roger Bannister ran the first sub-4 mile in Oxford in 1954). Andersson won the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal in 1943. Andersson won seven national titles: two individual, 1500m, 1943–44 and five in relays, 1940–42. In 1946 he was disqualified for violating amateur rules, together with Gunder Hägg and Henry Jonsson. A new long-jump world record was set today in 1931 by Chuhei Numbu of Japan, leaping 7.98m during a match between Japan and Japanese students held at the Meiji Jingu Stadium in Tokyo. At the very same meet countryman Mikio Oda lowered the triple jump world record to 15.58m. One of Great Britain’s favourite sons, Robbie Brightwell was born on this day in 1939. Born in Rawalpindi, India, he moved to the UK with his family in 1946 and grew up in Donnington, Shropshire. He gained his athletic training at Shrewsbury Technical College and went on to become a sports master at Tiffin Boys’ School in Surrey. He was known for his quarter-mile running races, with his first major race taking place during 1961. He broke the British record for 440 yds as well as taking the European 400m record. During the Toyoko Olympic Games, where he was captain of the men’s Team, running the final stage in the men’s 4x400m, he passed Wendell Mottley of Trinidad & Tobago to finish second to Henry Carr of the USA, while in the individual 400m he finished fourth. His fiancée at that time was Ann Packer who won 800m gold, on the day after the men’s individual 400m final. After winning a silver medal in the 400m Packer had no plans to run the 800m and had a shopping trip planned until Brightwell’s disappointing 400m. She said she ran it for him, breaking the world record in the process. The captaincy of the British Team and his silver medal were the climax of his career. Aged only 24 years early in 1964 he announced that he would retire after the Olympic Games. He and Packer were each awarded the MBE in 1965.Brightwell and Packer were married on 19th December 1964 and had three sons: Gary, and two former Manchester City players Ian and David. Brightwell went into teaching before moving to lecture at the then Loughborough College and before taking up successive directorships with sports companies Adidas UK and Le Coq Sportif UK. He also ran a fishing tackle business for thirty years. Today in 1956 American sprinter Walter Thane Baker set a new world and American National record time for the 200m of 20.6 at a USA Olympic Test event in  the Graber Field at Chaffey High School in Santa Ana, California. At the same meet Leamon King equalled his 100m WR time, set only 7 days earlier in Ontario, of 10.01 Scottish athlete Tom McKean was born in 1963, the winner of numerous gold and silver medals at world and European level. McKean was the winner of the 1990 800m European Championships gold at Split. He also won the 1990 European Indoor Championships final, the 1993 IAAF World Indoor Championships 800m final, and the World Cup 800m race in 1989. In addition, he came first in all European Cup races from 1985 to 1991. However, he failed to reach the Olympic final both in 1988, when he was disqualified for too much physical contact, and 1992. McKean was one of the favourites for the 1987 World Championships 800m, but, in the final, he caught the foot of Stephen Ole Marai, suffering an injury which resulted in him finishing last. In first round of the 1991 800m World Championships, an error of judgement when he slowed up too early before the line, left him in third place, failing to qualify. McKean also won 800m silver in the 1986 European Championships, splitting British teammates Sebastian Coe and Steve Cram, an event memorably described by Ian Wooldridge as being “like three Spitfires coming out of the sun”. He set his personal best in London in 1989 at 1:43.88. McKean represented Scotland in Commonwealth Games, picking up two silver medals. The second of those was in 1990 when he was part of the Scottish 4×400 relay team. On this day in 1968 the 19th Olympic Games closed at Mexico City. Maria Mutola was born today in 1972, a 800m specialist from Mozambique, she is the fourth athlete to compete at six Olympic Games. She is a three-time world champion in this event and a one-time Olympic champion.Although Mutola never broke the world record in her favourite event, she is regarded by many track insiders and fans as one of the greatest 800m female runners of all time due to her consistently good results in major championships and her exceptional longevity which saw her compete at the highest level for two decades before retiring from athletics in 2008 at the age of 35. She is also the only athlete ever to have won Olympic, World, World indoor, Commonwealth Games, Continental Games and Continental Championships titles in the same event. She was a coach and mentor of Caster Semenya, generally regarded as the best female 800m runner in history. On this day in 1974 a new world Marathon record was recorded by Frenchwomen Chantal Langlace. Her time of 2:46:24 was set in Neuf-Brisach in France was one of two world record marks that Langlace held for the event.  Her second WR time came on 1st May 1977 when she recaptured the record from American Jacqueline Hensen in Oiartzun in Spain with 2:35:16. In other Marathon news for this day, in 1985 at the 16th edition of the New York Marathon Italian Orlando Pizzolato took his second victory in the event in 2:11:34, while Norwegian Grete Waitz stormed to her 7th event title in 2:28:34.  Swedish decathlete and heptathlete Björn Barrefors was born in 1987. He attended and competed for the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, Nebraska and was a four time first team NCAA All-America athlete, gaining the honour twice in the outdoor decathlon (2009 and 2012) and twice for the indoor heptathlon (also in 2009 and 2012). Barresfors was the University of Nebraska’s 2013 male student athlete of the year and is the only four-time academic Academic All-American in the institution of higher learning’s history. He graduated from the University in May 2013 with a Masters degree in computer science. At the 1991 Chicago Marathon Sweden’s Midde Hamrin won in a time of 2:36:21 and for the men’s event the victor was Brazilian Joseildo Rocha, who crossed the finish line in a time of 2:14:33.

 

 

 

28th– On this day 1890 a new American national triple jump record was established by Edward Buell Bloss from Boston AA, when he leaped 44 feet 11½ inches or 13.70m at a meet in Boston, Massachusetts. After over five months the 2nd Olympic Games, held in Paris, came to a close on this day in 1900. Born on this day in 1949, Caitlyn Marie Jenner, formerly known as Bruce Jenner, American television personality and retired Olympic gold medal-winning decathlete. Jenner was a college football player for the Graceland Yellowjackets before incurring a knee injury that required surgery. Coach L.D. Weldon, who had coached Olympic decathlete Jack Parker, convinced Jenner to try the decathlon. After intense training, Jenner won the 1976 Olympics decathlon event at the Montreal Olympic Games, gaining fame as “an all-American hero”. Jenner set a third successive world record while winning the Olympics. The winner of the Olympic decathlon is traditionally given the unofficial title of “world’s greatest athlete”. With that stature, Jenner subsequently established a career in television, film, writing, auto racing, business and as a Playgirl cover model. Since 2007, Jenner has appeared on the reality television series Keeping Up with the Kardashians.  Previously identifying publicly as male, Jenner revealed her identity as a trans woman in April 2015, publicly announcing her name change from Bruce to Caitlyn in a July 2015 Vanity Fair cover story. Her name and gender change became official on 25th September 25, 2015. She has been called the most famous openly transgender woman in the world. From 2015 to 2016, Jenner starred in the reality television series I Am Cait, which focused on her gender transition. The 15th edition of the New York Marathon in 1984 was won by Grete Waitz, the Norwegian claiming her 6th victory in a time of 2:29:30. The men’s crown was taken by Italy’s Orlando Pizzolato in 2:14:53. On this day in 1990 one of the most remarkable all-rounders of sport died. Alexsandra Georgiyevna Chudina was 66 years of age at her death, having set world records at three different athletic events during her lifetime, played in the Soviet Union World champion volleyball team as well as excelling at ice hockey, basketball, cycling and tennis. At 1.88m tall and 73kg she stood out among her fellow competitors.  She held the pentathlon world record five times between 1947 and 1955, high jump WR at 1.73m in 1955 and part of the WR 4x200m relay team in 1950. She could well have been even more successful if it were not for the fact that the Soviet Union did not compete in the 1948 Olympics and the pentathlon only became part of the Games in 1964. Her versatility was further demonstrated in Helsinki in 1952 when she took silver in the javelin and bronze at both high and long jump. She was the pentathlon European champion in 1954 and high jump silver medallist in 1946. Chudina won ten World Student Games titles at five events and between 1945 and 1956 won 31 Soviet outdoor individual titles, almost twice as many as the next best ever, including nine at pentathlon and seven each at long and high jump, four at javelin and three at 80m hurdles and one at 400m – PHEW!!!  Also in 1990  the victors at the Chicago Marathon were Martin Pitayo from Mexico and Portugal’s Aurora Cunha in 2:09:41 and 2:30:11 respectively.

 

     

                                     

29th – Canadian athlete and winner of the weight-throwing at the 1904 Olympics, Étienne Desmarteau, died at the age of 32, on this day in 1905. Born in Boucherville, Quebec, Desmarteau was member of the Montréal Athletic Club[ and one of the top competitors in the 56lb (25.4kg) weight throwing event, which is no longer an Olympic event. In 1902 he had won the American AAU championships, beating John Flanagan. Flanagan broke the world record in the event prior to the 1904 Olympics, making him one of the favourites for the event along with Desmarteau. To compete in the Olympics, Desmarteau, a police officer in Montréal, had to ask for a leave of absence to go to St. Louis, but he was denied by his employer. He decided to go anyway, which cost him his job. In St. Louis, his first throw was 34ft 4 in (10.46m), enough for victory over Flanagan, who did not manage better than 33ft 4 in (10.16m) throw. Desmarteau received a hero’s welcome back in Montréal and was rehired as a police officer.The following year, he died, of typhoid fever. A district, a park and a sports arena in Montréal have been named after him; the Étienne Desmarteau Centre, which was used as a venue for basketball during the 1976 Olympics. It is contended that Desmarteau was the first Olympic Games champion from Canada, although 1900 Olympics champion George Orton, who ran for an American university, was also Canadian. Today in 1911 a new World and American National Hammer throw record was set by Matthew J McGrath. The distance of 187 feet 4 inches (57.10m) was registered during the Galways Men’s S and B Association Handicap Games held at Celtic Park, Long Island, New York. Dutch athlete Gerda Johanna Marie van der Kade-Koudijs was born in 1923. She competed at the 1948 Olympics, winning a gold medal in the 4×100m relay, finished fourth in the long jump but was eliminated in a heat of the 80m hurdles. Two years earlier she had won European titles in the 4×10 m relay and long jump and finished sixth in the individual 100m race. Also born on this day but in 1930 was another Dutch athlete, Bertha “Puck” Brouwer, known as van Duyne since 1953. Brouwer claimed her first international notable result in 1950, when she won silver at the European Championships, as part of the 4x100m relay team alongside Fanny Blankers-Koen. She competed at the 1952 Olympics in the 100m, 200m and 4100m relay, as well as winning silver in the 200m. A third silver medal was added in 1954, when she finished second in the 100m at the European Championships in Bern. She also was a member of the Dutch team for the 1956 Olympics; however, the Dutch decided to boycott the Games, and Van Duyne, who was already in Melbourne, had to go home. Disappointed, she retired shortly afterwards. American sprinter, long-jumper and bobsledder Vonetta Flowers (née Jeffery) was born in 1973. Flowers was a sprinter and long jumper at the University of Alabama and originally aspired to make the USA Summer Olympic Team. After several failed attempts, Flowers turned to bobsledding, and found success as a brake-woman almost immediately. At the 2002 Winter Olympics, she, along with driver Jill Bakken, won the gold medal in the two-woman event, becoming the first black person to win a gold medal in the Winter Olympics. After the Salt Lake City Games, Flowers gave birth to twins and took some time off from the sport. In 2003, she returned to competition with new driver Jean Prahm. Flowers and Prahm competed in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, finishing sixth. Flowers also won the two-woman event at the 2004 FIBT World Championships in Königssee. She retired from competition after the 2006 Winter Olympics.In December 2010, she was elected to the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame. She was inducted as a member of the Class of 2011 in May. The 1984 New York Marathon was won by Italy’s Orland Pizzolato (2:14:53) and Norway’s Greta Weitz (2:29:30). The 1989 Chicago Marathon was won by American Lisa Weidenbach in a time of 2:28:15 and Great Britain’s Paul Davies-Hale breaking the tape in 2:11:25.