The Olympic Games brings together
thousands of young, free and single men and women, so it is hardly
surprising that love occasionally upstages sport.
For most athletes a gold medal is their
ambition before competition, but for a handful of sportsmen and women a
golden ring on the finger has been the enduring result.
The most famous instance of affairs of
the heart overshadowing competition came in Melbourne in 1956 in an
incident that briefly melted the Iron Curtain.
American Harold Connolly had already
struck gold in the hammer when Czechoslovakian discus thrower
Olga Fikotova caught his eye.
She had won gold in her event 24 hours
before Connolly's victory, and both met when celebrating their respective
victories and were soon walking hand-in-hand in the Olympic village.
At the best of times the Cold War
love-match would have been a tricky issue.
But 1956 saw relations between the East
and West nose-dive, with the Soviet Union invading Hungary and Britain and
France involved in the Suez crisis with Egypt. Diplomatic obstacles were
huge, but Connolly turned up in Prague 10 weeks after the Games for an
audience with the president.
The president approved the love match and
Connolly and Fikatova wed in a civil service attended by 40,000 people,
and two separate Catholic and Protestant ceremonies.
The Connollys set up home in Harold's
home state of Massachusetts and in 1963 Olga gave birth to a son, Jim,
later an accomplished javelin thrower.
Connolly became the first man to throw a
hammer over 70 meters, while Fikatova competed in four more Games,
including the 1972 Olympics in Munich where she carried the American Flag
at the opening ceremony despite her opposition to the Vietnam War.
Sadly, not every love story has a happy
ending, and the pair divorced in 1973
Copyright ©
Middle East Times
27
марта 1957 года закончился свадьбой олимпийский роман
Ольги Фикотовой
и Гарольда Конноли. Дискоболка из Праги и молотобоец из штата Массачусетс
познакомились в олимпийской деревне Мельбурна. А после трудов олимпийских
(оба завоевали олимпийское золото), разъехались по домам. Следующее
рандеву состоялось через четыре месяца в Прага. Там и сыграли свадьбу. На
следующий день молодая чета отбыла на жительство в США.
Harold (Hal)
Connolly, born on August 01, 1931,
Somerville, Massachusetts
- an American hammer thrower, and Olga Fikotova, a Czechoslovakian discus
thrower, both won gold medals at the Melbourne Games.
If this was
not enough to draw attention to them then their romance at the Olympic
Village and subsequent marriage after the Games was. The two athletes had
met several times during international athletics competitions but it was
not until Melbourne that a romance really developed.
Their
marriage ceremonies presented cold war era diplomats with plenty of
difficulties but finally took place in [March
27] 1957, first in Prague and later in
the United States. [April
24, 1957 Olympic winners Harold Connolly and bride
Olga Fikotova
arrive in
U.S. after Czech government approved emigration].
The pair were divorced in 1973
Hal was America's most successful hammer thrower. In addition to winning an Olympic gold medal, he broke the world record six times, adding almost 13 feet to the previous record.
Hal was the first American thrower to break the 200 foot barrier. He raised the American record 12 times, adding almost 38 feet over a 10 year span. Hal also captured nine national championships, breaking the world record for the second time while winning the 1958 title. Hal was an early supporter of the Relays, capturing the hammer title at the first four editions of the meet. He returned in 1970 to win his fifth Relays championship Copyright © 2003 Mt. San Antonio College. All Rights Reserved
The
63-year-old Connolly [wrote
William
Gildea
on May 31, 1995],
who grew up in Massachusetts, is well suited to work for the Special
Olympics. He has demonstrated a will to overcome a handicap. His left arm
is four inches shorter than his right, and his left hand is two-thirds the
size of his right -- the left arm was damaged badly from a difficult
birth.
He has never
been able to raise his left arm over his head or straighten out the arm or
close his left fist or extend the fingers on his left hand. Since a hammer
thrower uses two hands on the triangular handle, he had to overcome a huge
disadvantage. He did, representing the U.S. in four Olympics, including
the triumph in 1956 in Melbourne, Australia
Connolly and
his second wife, Pat [Patricia
Daniels-Winslow
- three-time Olympian, pentathlon
in
1960, 1964, and 1968],
are the parents of Adam Connolly, a 1994 graduate of Springbrook
High School in Silver Spring who was No. 1 nationally in the hammer throw
among high schoolers and who now attends Stanford. Northern California is
as much a hotbed as there is for the hammer throw. McMahon came out of a
grass-roots field events program in Los Gatos, Calif., directed by Ed
Burke, a four-time Olympian in the hammer
© Copyright 1995 The Washington Post
YOU MIGHT SAY Adam Connolly was bred to be an Olympian. His father, Harold, won a gold medal in the hammer throw at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. His mother, Pat, competed in three Olympics as a runner and pentathlete. (Pat and Harold met at the 1960 Rome games.) Between them, they have produced seven children -- and all but one have made sports a major part of their lives Hammering Dad's Record
Welcome to Hammerthrow.org
Местом
проведения первых Олимпийских Игр современности был выбран, естественно,
г.Афины - столица Греции - пусть Игры начнут свое шествие с исконной родины
этих прекрасных соревнований. Игры открылись 6 апреля 1896 года и собрали
245 спортсменов из 14 стран.
Первым олимпийским чемпионом современных Игр стал американец Джеймс Конноли (James Connoly) (на фото), победитель в тройном прыжке. Немецкий спортсмен Карл Шуман победил в соревнованиях гимнастов в тройном прыжке, а потом выиграл турнир... борцов!
Почти невероятное сочетание для большого спорта сегодняшних дней. Еще интересней пример американца Роберта Гаррета. Он победил в метании диска и толкании ядра.
А в прыжках в длину и высоту занял соответственно второе и третье места. Но самое интересное, что Гаррет вообще не собирался выступать на Играх! Он случайно с друзьями оказался в Афинах в это время, из афиши узнал о соревнованиях, пришел на стадион и... просто записался в число участников.
Но и это еще не самое удивительное. Как помните, Роберт выиграл соревнования по метанию диска. Так вот его друзья утверждали, что спортсмен познакомился с техникой метания и, собственно, самим диском... за три дня до олимпийского турнира! Вот уж действительно: пришел, увидел, победил!
Моурен
Катерина Конноли (Maureen
Catherine Connolly) (17.09.1934, США - 21.06.1969), американская
теннисистка по прозвищу "Крошка Мo", так как она была
ростом лишь 157 см. (5 футов и 2 дюйма).
В 1953 она стала первой женщиной, которая закончила турнир Большого Шлема, выиграв все четыре соревнования. Все ее титулы победительницы девяти чемпионатов и турнира Большого Шлема были завоеваны между 1951 и 1954.
Она также представляла США на Вайтменовском Кубке. Ее карьера закончилась в 1954 после несчастного случая, произошедшего вовремя езды на лошади
Гарольд Конноли. Путешествие за Олимпийским Золотом Глава 01 Глава 02 Глава 03 Глава 04 Глава 05 Глава 06 Глава 07 Глава 08 Глава 09 Глава 10 Глава 11 Глава 12 Глава 13 Глава 14 Глава 15 Глава 16 Глава 17 Глава 18 Глава 19 Глава 20 Глава 21 Глава 22 Глава 23 Глава 24 Глава 25 Главы 26-31