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National Geographic : 1964 Oct
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FKIACHRUOM BY B.ANIHONY 51EWARIV N.,.5.. Winner of the 1908 marathon in London, 78 year-old Johnny Hayes (left) shows author Gould a photograph of Queen Alexandra presenting him the Olympic prize. He became winner after the Italian, Dorando Pietri, collapsed in sight of the tape and was disqualified for being helped to fin ish. Trophies of Hayes's running days surround him in his Englewood, New Jersey, home. THE AUTHOR To UNFOLD the brilliant background of the world-wide modern Olympic Games, the National Geographic Society turned to one of the greatest newsmen of our time Alan J. Gould of the Associated Press. He has covered the games in five countries-at Paris, Amsterdam, Los Angeles, Berlin, and London-and has written or edited more words on the Olympics than any other man, living or dead. In fact Alan Gould, when he retired last year as AP's Executive Editor, had been re sponsible for more words on all newsworthy subjects than any other editor who ever lived. As the far-ranging, fast-writing young General Sports Editor of the Associated Press, he led the day-to-day reporting of a remarkable era in sport-the fabulous 20's and 30's. Then, shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Associated Press picked him to supervise its entire world-wide news report, as well as its news photo services. For 21 years he directed war and postwar coverage as the AP news budget mounted to three million words a day. Though Alan Gould has seen and assessed every great news story for three decades, the subject surest to spark his most vivid recollections is the Olympic Games. his last year in the Italian Army. Only his King and more enthusiastic countrymen ac corded him more than an outside chance as 56 runners from 16 countries started for Lon don from Windsor Castle at a signal from the Princess of Wales, later Queen Mary. But on that July day in 1908, England was steaming in unaccustomed 83-degree heat. Favored British and Canadian runners fell by the wayside, victims of their own killing early pace. Conspicuous among them was Tom Longboat, the Canadian Indian, who dropped out after 20 miles amid rumors, never verified, that he had been drugged. As the race built up to its grand climax at the finish line before a crowd overflow ing the stadium at Shepherd's Bush, it became a duel between Dorando and Charles Heffer on of South Africa, who worked in the prison at Bloemfontein. Nearest to the front runners was a sur prising American contingent running strongly and led by 22-year-old Johnny Hayes, a New York department store clerk. If there had been a script writer at work, pulling out all the stops of his imagination, he could hardly have painted a more graphic word picture than the factually restrained British report in describing the last mile after Hefferon and Dorando had run one-two for nearly seven miles! Even the place name, Wormwood Scrubs, sounds as a marathon runner must feel as he nears the end of that awful ordeal. "The crucial point of this long and des perate struggle arrived when Dorando came in sight of Hefferon in the Old Oak Common Lane," said the report. "... it was in response to a tremendous outburst of cheering from the huge throngs of spectators that Dorando made the fatal spurt which took him past Hefferon before they reached Wormwood Scrubs. Soon afterwards, Hayes passed the South African as well. No Dying in the Queen's Presence "Dorando's premature effort had so ex hausted him that he could scarcely reach the entrance of the Stadium, where nearly a hundred thousand spectators were await ing his arrival.... "Dorando was almost unconscious when he reached the cinder path, and turned to his right instead of his left. The slope from the archway was apparently the final stroke. He collapsed upon the track. "As it was impossible to leave him there, for it looked as if he might die in the very 492
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