Beijing - This day in Olympic history - August 7.
1992 - Spain, which had previously never won a medal in women's
field hockey, beats Germany to win gold in Barcelona. The match ended
1-1 after normal time. In extra time a capacity crowd sees Eli
Maragall, who was a niece of the Barcelona's mayor at the time,
Pasqual Maragall, score the winner.
1989 - The government of New South Wales accepts the
recommendations put forward by the Sydney bid committee to develop an
athletic and aquatic centre in an area called Homebush. This was to
become an integral part of the Sydney Olympic bid, which eventually
secured the 2000 Games.
1932 - Two-time marathon winner Abebe Bikila is born in a village
not far from the Ethiopian town of Mendida. Bikila was spotted by a
Finnish athletics coach who had been hired by the Ethiopian
government to train potential athletes.
Bikila slipped into the Ethiopian Olympic team at the last moment
after another runner broke his ankle playing football. When Bikila
arrived in Rome shoe sponsors adidas had only a few shoes left and
Bikila was given a pair that did not fit him. He then decided a few
hours before the race to run barefoot, as he had trained. Bikila
stunned the field and won ahead of Moroccan Rhadi Ben Abdesselam,
thereby becoming the first black African to win an Olympic gold
medal. When he was asked why he had run barefoot, he said: 'I wanted
the world to know that my country, Ethiopia, has always won with
determination and heroism.'
He repeated his success four years later in Tokyo, but was
prevented from a hat-trick of gold medals in Mexico in 1968 by an
injury. Bikila, who only ran one marathon (Boston 1963) which he did
not win, died in 1973 from injuries received in a car crash four
years earlier.
1948 - Delfo Cabrera wins the marathon at the London Olympics. The
Argentine was running his first marathon race and entered the stadium
in second place behind Etienne Gailly. The Belgian had, however, used
up all his energy and could barely run anymore and was passed by
Cabrera and Welsh nurse Thomas Richards. Gailly almost collapsed 50m
from the end, but somehow managed to stagger over the line to take
bronze.
USA
Your Talkback on this Story