Moments of Melbourne, Part 14 - Friday, December 7th, 1956

While Dawn Fraser had become the female national sports icon of Australia, Murray Rose followed in her footsteps 24 hours later. On the last evening of competition at Melbourne's indoor pool, the 17 year old from Sydney shattered his opponents once more, winning the grueling 1500 meters freestyle to become the youngest sportsman until this day to win three golds at one single Olympics. Before, Rose had also won the 400 meters freestyle and had been a member of Australia's successfull 4 x 200 meters freestyle relay team (picture: The Herald Sun).

Three days earlier, Rose's duel with Japan's Tsuyoshi Yamanaka in the 400 meters final had marked one of the highlights of Melbourne. After Rose had won the race in the world record time of 4.27.3 minutes, edging out Yamanaka by three seconds, he told reporters that the two had met in the Olympic Village shortly before the competition: "I said to him: Tsuyoshi Ymanaka san, I am older than you. I am twelve days older than you and I want you always to respect your elders." Even after years, Rose used to tell this anecdote with a big smile on his face (picture: Olympic). In the 1500 meters, Yamanaka again came in second behind the Australian

Wit, grit and charisma have always been trademarks of Rose, who was born in Birmingham, England. His parents left the country after the beginning of World War II when Murray was still an infant and moved to Sydney. Rose learned to swim in an enclosed saltwater pool at Double Bay.

After the Melbourne Olympics, Rose moved to Los Angeles and studied at the University of Southern California. In 1960 at Rome, he took home another gold in the 1500 meters before concentrating on his career as an actor, TV sports commentator and marketing businessman. It was years after his sporting career when Rose gave up on a special habit he used during his swimming days: He was a strict vegetarian, which earned him the nickname "The Seewead Streak".

In 1994, Murray Rose returned to Sydney, where he died from leukaemia on April 15th, 2012 (picture: Daily Telegraph).

News of the day: In swimming, Lorraine Crapp of Australia wins the women's 400 meters freestyle, while American Patricia McCormick grabs another gold in women's platform diving +++ One day after the bloody match against the USSR, Hungary gets the gold in Water Polo +++ Italian cyclist Ercole Baldini comes in first in the road race, the team competition is won by France.

Moments of Melbourne, Part 13 - Thursday, December 6th

Australia's athlete of the century, as she was later voted for, made Melbourne her Olympics at the evening of Dexember 6th, 1956. On this night, Dawn Fraser grabbed her second gold of the Games with the home country's 4 x 100 meters freestyle relay. At this time, she already had the 100 meters freestyle title in her pocket, and one day later, she added a silver in the 400 meters freestyle, finishing behind teammate Lorraine Crapp (picture: enhancentertainment.com).

For the 18 year old girl who had grown up in the modest industrial Sydney suburb of Balmain, Melbourne was the starting point of one of the most successful and colourful Olympic careers. Dawn Fraser went on to win the 100 meters freestyle and the label of fastest female swimmer in the world two more time, at the 1960 Rome and the 1964 Tokyo Games. She swam 39 world records and in 1962 became the first woman to break the one minute barrier for the 100 meters at 59.9 seconds.

But far from becoming everybody's darling in Down Under, the outspoken Fraser was going to get into the center of a storm at Tokyo in 1964. She quarelled with Australian officials and team head coach Terrence Gathercole. After her gold medal win - maybe in s state of being a little tipsy - she stole an Olympic flag from a pole in the Garden of the Imperial Palace, and was arrested for one night. When officials suspended her for ten years in 1965, her career was virtually over. Nobody seemed to remember what Dawn had gone through in the months before Tokyo: In the spring of 1964, she had a horrific car accident in which her mother died and she was severely injured. It was a real wonder how she came back so successful in such a short time.

That Fraser was a natural born fighter had become clear in the years leading up to her Olympic debut in 1956. Dawn learned swimming at Elkington Park in a pool that later was named after her. At first she was coached by her cousin, before legendary Harry Gallagher took over. Gallagher convinced her father to let Dawn live and train with him. After some hesitating, Fraser senior agreed on Dawn's 18th birthday and sparked her unbelievable run at world class swimming. At first, he and Gallagher (who also advised Australia's 100 meters freestyle champion at the 1956 Games, Jon Henricks) had agreed on a six months trial. It was to become a span of seven higly successful years (pictures: Getty, Yourmemento).

News of the day: Australian swimmer David Theile wins the men's 100 meters backstroke, while Japan's Masaru Furukawa prevails in the 200 meters breaststroke +++ In men's gymnastics, the USSR dominates the team's all-around with member Viktor Choukarine winning gold in the individual all-around. The Russians also win five of six apparatus events. Notable exceptions: German Helmut Bantz shares gold in the vault with Russia's Valentin Muratov and Japan's Takashi Ono grabs gold at the high bar +++ Russia also rules greco-roman wrestling winning five gold medals, while Finland gains two titles +++ France's Michel Rousseau wins the track cycling sprint, Italian Leandro Faggin the 1 K time trial and Australia the tandem competition +++ India's hockey team beats Pakistan 1-0 to win another field hockey gold.

Moments of Melbourne, Part 4 - Monday, November 26th, 1956

Blonde hair, a wild stride with highly lifted knees, and - most of all - a wide open mouth. These were the trademarks of the biggest female star of the Melbourne Olympics. On Monday, November 26th, Betty Curhbert took home the first of her three gold medals in the sprint - at the age of just 18 (pictures: The Australian, The Famous People).

The Australian fans had had high expectations for the women's track events, but they did not really have the "Golden  Girl" from Sydney on their minds. Shirley de la Hunty was expected to be the star of the Games. She indeed defended her title in the 80 meters hurdles, but before that, she had bowed out in the heats of the 100 meters dash. It was a shocking moment for hometown fans, all the more as Cuthbert was considered to be a 200 meters specialist. In this event, she had set a new world record at 23.2 seconds two months before the Games.

But with Strickland sidelined, Cuthbert rose to the occasion, holding off East Germany's Christa Stubnick and teammate Marlene Matthews to capture the gold. Three days later in the 200, the outcome was the same. When Cuthbert anchored her team's relay team to the gold, her status as a natonal heroine was secured. All of her running with that typically wide opened mouth, about which Cuthbert used to say: "Everything I did that required effort, I opened my mouth. Even to catch a ball, I opened my mouth."

The hype that followed was a little to much for a shy and slightly build 18 year old. Cuthbert indeed had no easy time in the years to follow. Hampered by a hamstring injury, she was eliminated in the heas at the 1960 Rome Olympics and retired. Two years later, Cuthbert had a terific comeback, winning the Commonwealth title in the 400 meters. At the same distance, she crowned her career with a fourth Olympic gold in 1964 at the Tokyo Games (picture: ABC).

A fighter that she had been on the track, Cuthbert also was in her later life. In 1974, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis that forced her into a wheelchair. But that did not prevent her from carrying the Olympic torch into Stadium Australia at the opening ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Games, showing off her trademark optimism and perseverance. It was one of many memorable moments of the Millennium Olympics (picture: The Australian).

News of the day: Bob Richards (USA) defends his pole vault title, Tom Courteney (USA) gets the 800 meters gold. +++ Norway's Eigil Daniels wins the javelin throw with a new world record of 85.71 meters. +++ The USA and the USSR continue there weightlifting domination: Tommy Kono (USA/Light heavyweight), Arkadi Vorobiov (USSR/Middle heavyweight), and the "Tennessee Titan" Paul Anderson (USA/Heavyweight) win the last three golds. +++ Fencer Christian d'Oriola of France repeats his win in the individual foil competition.

Moments of Melbourne, Part 1 - Thursday, November 22nd, 1956

With cannon fire and a rather slow version of Australia's most popular song, "Waltzing Matilda", Melbourne opened the 1956 Summer Olympics on a cloudy and cool Thursday afternoon. The ceremony, that started at 3:00 PM local time, had nothing of the modern day pomp and pageantry. The somber mood was apt to the politically turbulent times. Considering the backdrop of the crises in Hungary and in the Suez, many people around the globe considered it to be a success that the Games were held at all. German commentator Dr. Paul Laven wrote: "The Olympic flames saves peace on earth!" (picture: Getty)

A spirit of newness and the unusual sorrounded this opening day. Never before had the Games been staged in the southern hemisphere. Never before had an opening ceremony been held so late in the year, with most of the season virtually over for the top-tier athletes from Europe and America and Melbourne's shop windows already featuring Christmas decoration. Nevertheless, it was the Australian audience and their genuine love for sports that saved the opening day and the fortnight to come.

Queen Elizabeth had send her husband Prince Philipp, the Duke of Edinburgh, Down Under to officially declare open the Games. Before that, the parade of nations had seen the first Summer Olympics appearance of a unified team from East and West Germany. Roaring applause welcomed the team from civil war torn Hungary that had left Budapest at the height of the revolution. Many athletes were unsure about the fate of their loved ones back home when arriving at Melbourne, many were never going to go home again (picture: Getty).

Despite of the boycott by the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, Egypt, Iran, and the Lebanon, 69 nations entered, equalling the record set four years earlier at Helsinki. While young Australian running hopeful Ron Clarke was almost burnt when he lit the Olympic cauldron, his mentor and hero John Landy spoke the oath for all the athletes (picture: olympics.com.au).

While a lot of things were new on this day, there was also one historic last: This opening ceremony was the last in history not to be followed live by a global TV audience. Australian TV ABC had started broadcasting just two weeks before. At the time of the opening ceremony, only 5000 television sets had been sold in the whole country. Tapes from the opening ceremony and the following competitions were carried to Sydney by car, where the footage was refurbished into daily reports. Outside of Australia, only few moving pictures could be seen - and that only three to five days later (picture: abctvgorehill.com.au).

Moments of Melbourne, Prologue - Wednesday, November 21st, 1956

Starting tomorrow, I will look back on the Melbourne 1956 Summer Olympics with daily highlights and news from 60 years ago. Today, I will begin with a prelude about the preparations.

"The friendly Games", as they were dubbed later, had a troubled preseason. Skepticism, financial bickering and political unrest marred the run up to the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. At the eve before the opening ceremony, some clouds had disappeared, but some were still hovering over the first Games in the southern hemisphere.

Melbourne had been planning her bid for the Games since 1946. In July 1949, the IOC session in Rome awarded the Olympics to the Australian metropolis with the slightest possible margin. In the fourth round of the ballot, Melbourne edged out Buenos Aires by one single vote.

What followed was - nothing. The Australians wasted almost four years of preparation time with internal feuding over money. The main point of controversy was the site of the main stadium and who should pay for it. At first, organizers planned to revamp and enlarge Melbourne Showground or Carlton Cricket Ground. But as the government of the State of Victoria declined to give money for the project, the support of the federal government and the city of Melbourne was of no use as well. The whole project was cancelled and it was mainly due to the effort of Victoria State governor John Caine that finally, Melbourne Cricket Ground was enlarged up to 120,000 seats to host the main events.

The pictures show the original design for Melbourne's Olympic stadium - and how the scene finally looked on opening day (pictures: austadiums.com/bryanpinkall.blogspot.com).

But with the stadium question answered, other problems emerged. Due to strict Australian equine quarantine laws, the equestrian events ha do to be relocated to Stockholm in 1954. Instead of staging the Games at the end of October, they had to be held in the Australian summer in November and December, raising great doubts and concerns in Europe and America.

When  IOC president Avery Brundage visited Melbourne in April 1955, he lamented about "confusion" and threatened that the Games could easily be taken away from Melbourne, e.g. to a US city or Rome, which was host of the 1960 Games and far ahead of Melbourne with her preparations. The visit had its effect on the Australians. One year later,  most problems had been solved, especially the building of an Olympic village for 6500 persons at the suburb of Heidelberg (picture: abc.net.au).

Still, the troubles for Melbourne - brilliantly portrayed in the Australian TV documentary "Lies, Spies, and Olympics" - were far from over. The crises in Hungary and at the Suez Canal in the autumn of 1956 resulted in the first wave of Olympic boycotts. Finally, Egypt, Iraq, the Lebanon, the People's Republic of China, the Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland stayed home for different reasons.

The rest of the world came Down Under, but outside of Australia, nobody would be able to see the events. Although domestic TV had its Olympic premiere in 1956, viewers abroad were shut out due to unsolved broadcasting rights issues. The first world wide television Games had to wait for another four years.

Ron Clarke - The Unfulfilled Dream, Part 1

Some of the greatest athletes of the world have tried in vain to win an Olympic gold medal. We portray them in this series.

His first Olympic appearance at the age of 19 was also going to be the most memorable. On November 22nd, 1956, the young Australian middle distance runner Ron Clarke had the honour to light the cauldron at the opening ceremony of the Melbourne Games. In order to make the flame more visible to TV viewers, the organizers had added an extra portion of magnesia to the torch. "It was pure fireworks I was carrying with me", Clarke later remembered. When he lit the flame over Melbourne Cricket Ground, the blaze burnt his face and T shirt (picture: Fairfax Media via Getty Images).

On the track, Clarke was on fire rather late, with the first of his 17 world records coming in 1963 when he was already 26 years old. Before the 1956, he had broken the world junior record for the mile and finished second at the Australian trials. But officials considered Clarke to be to young and instead picked John Landy to run at the Games. Landy finished third in the 1500 meters at the Olympics behind surprise winner Ron Delany from Ireland. Clarke had to sit and wait.

By the time of the 1964 Games, Clarke was considered the favourite to win the 10,000 meters and also entered for the 5000 meters and the Marathon. But it was not going to be. On the home stretch of the 10,000 meters, Clarke was first passed by Tunisia's Mohammed Gammoudi. Then American Billy Mills sprinted past both to capture a sensational gold medal while Clarke had to settle for third. After this shocking defeat, he also played no major role in his other events, finishing ninth in both the 5000 meters and the Marathon.

His defeat in the 10,000 meters was typical for his major problem in championship races: Clarke lacked tactical flexibility, he always was the front runner which often resulted in poor finishing sprints. The fans loved him for his courage, but other runners capitalized on Clarke's main weakness and won the titles that eluded the great Aussie forever.

Nobody expected that his best chance for gold had already gone in Tokyo. Four years later, in the thin air and altitude of Mexico City, the African athletes took over long distance running with Clarke having no chance to fulfill his Olympic dream. He finished fifth in the 5000 meters and sixth in the 10,000 meters. At the finish of the 10,000 meters, Clarke collpased due to lack of oygen. "I was frankly worried that he might die", team physician Brian Corrigan said afterwards. When Clarke had to undergo heart surgery in the 1980s, he blamed the long-term effects of the races in Mexico (picture: The Australian).

Clarke retired from athletics in 1970, went on to work for Canon Corporation and as a TV expert and was elected mayor of his home town of Gold Coast in Queensland. Clarke died on June 17th, 2015.

The Best of Summer - 4th Place: Sydney 2000

On the evening of October, 1st, 2000, Juan Antonio Samaranch one final time used the closing ceremony of an Olympic Games to called them "the best ever". The outgoing president of the International Olympic Comitee had said this many times before. On this night, many TV viewers all over the world may have agreed with him for the first time.

Even if Sydney didn't see the best Games in history, at least they were brilliant, because more than anything else,  they were Australian. The country is one of the few having participated in all Summer Olympics since 1896, her genuine love for sports is legendary and was also the big story of Sydney 2000. The huge crowds and the fantastic atmosphere created a stark contrast to the heavily commercial 1996 Atlanta edition.

Furthermore, the "Games of the New Millenium" - as the local organisers had dubbed them - raised world wide attention for the aboriginal heritage of Australia. When 400 meters runner Cathy Freeman lit the Olympic flame and took home the gold in front of 115,000 roaring spectators, it was the moment when Australia for the first time seemed to come to terms with her own, often neglected past. Without doubt, it was one of the most emotional moments in any Olmpic Games:

 

Besides the Freeman saga, Sydney saw the re-birth of Down Under as a swimming powerhouse. Aussies had ruled the pool from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, featuring icons like Murray Rose, Dawn Fraser,  the Konrads siblings, or Shane Gould.  In the Bassin at Homebush Bay, they rolled over the rest of the world, led by Ian Thorpe. He one two golds on the first day of competition,  including the 4 x 1000 Meter freestyle relay. The United States had always won this event from its inception in 1960, with the exception of the boycott Games in 1980 at Moscow. Before the race,  American swimmer Gary Hall Jr had boasted, hid team was going to "smash the Australians like guitars". When  the hometown boys had won the race and broken tell world record, they played air guitar on the starting block. No wonder the crowd went  wild (picture: The Australian).

But even for the "Thorpedo", not everything went perfect. In the 200 meters freestyle, he lost out to Dutch Pieter van den Hoogenband. Four years later in Athens, Thorpe took revenge in the "Race of the century" that was the first to prominently feature the young Michael Phelps:

While pictoresque settings fot outdoor events - beach volleyball at Bondi Beach, triathlon at the Opera House, and sailing in front of Harbour Bridge - gained acclaim all over the world, Greco-Roman Wrestling saw the biggest upset for decades. Russian super heavyweight Alexander Kareline had not lost a single match in three consecutive victorious Olympics. American Rulon Gardner made "King Kong" loose his grip for one single moment - and Karelines streak was over.

Besides great sports and only few controversies,  Sydney organizers were the first at least trying to stage "Green Games". Not every ecological promise was kept, but a standard for future hosts was set. No wonder the closing ceremony was a big rocking party. Australia had delivered.