1956 Melbourne Olympics photos

[AS]

I just stumbled across an excellent collection of photos from the 1956 games:

http://wiki.prov.vic.gov.au/index.php/1 ... raph_Index

(not all are indexed correctly, so if someone feels like fixing it up...)

[lonewolf]

Great pics..
I naively thought I was pretty savvy about the horizontal jumps but I admit, I cannot deduce the purpose of the vertical triangular contraption at the left front of the LJ/TJ pit or the rails along the pit sides.. too high for screeding.. and the pit does not look screeded.. they resemble the side rails for the Sandboni but do not extend beyond the back of the pit and none is in evidence. The triangle is not present in all photos..
Anyone?

[Athleticsimaging]

Great pics..
I naively thought I was pretty savvy about the horizontal jumps but I admit, I cannot deduce the purpose of the vertical triangular contraption at the left front of the LJ/TJ pit or the rails along the pit sides.. too high for screeding.. and the pit does not look screeded.. they resemble the side rails for the Sandboni but do not extend beyond the back of the pit and none is in evidence. The triangle is not present in all photos..
Anyone?

Answer is clear in this pic - it's a measuring appliance that folds over and aligns to mark with distance measured of rail:
http://wiki.prov.vic.gov.au/index.php/A ... e_her_jump

[kuha]

OK, how many here bought that set of '56 Olympic photo-prints that T&FN was advertising back in the 1960s? I still have mine....somewhere....

[lonewolf]

[Answer is clear in this pic - it's a measuring appliance that folds over and aligns to mark with distance measured of rail:
http://wiki.prov.vic.gov.au/index.php/A ... e_her_jump

Thanks.... old dog, new tricks..

[Per Andersen]

So many great photos bringing back old memories. High Jump and Charles Dumas was very well represented. Photos of Dumas froam angles I had not seen before.
Also expert commentary of the HJ by Australian High Jumper John Vernon who I saw in Bergen, Norway in september 1954 along with distance runner Geoff Warren and Hec Hogan who had equalled the 100m WR earlier in the year.
I also got the answer to a question I have had since Stepanov set the HJ WR with built-up shoe in 1957.
Igor Kashkarov, bronze medallist in the Melbourne HJ, had set a Soviet record in Bergen in 1956, 5 months before the Olympics. I was watching him and he ran faster than any straddler I had seen. He used a different shoe on each foot. I remember that I thought his running gait was sightly uneven. After Stepanov the following year jumped 2.16 I was wondering if Kashkarov had used a built-up shoe in Bergen in June '56 when I watched him.
Well, John Vernon in his excellent report from the Melbourne HJ noted that Kashkarov used a built-up shoe in Melbourne, almost certainly the same shoe he wore in Bergen earlier that year.

[rhymans]

Looks like Kashkarov has a ballet shoe on his right foot and an almost normal shoe on his left. It's difficult to tell for certain, but it doesn't look as built up as the shoe used in '57 by all the top Soviet jumpers. 2 of the finalists have matching shoes (Dumas and Porter), and 4th/5th (Pettersson and Money) have no shoe on their lead leg, only on the plant leg.

[Per Andersen]

Looks like Kashkarov has a ballet shoe on his right foot and an almost normal shoe on his left. It's difficult to tell for certain, but it doesn't look as built up as the shoe used in '57 by all the top Soviet jumpers. 2 of the finalists have matching shoes (Dumas and Porter), and 4th/5th (Pettersson and Money) have no shoe on their lead leg, only on the plant leg.

I could not tell from the photos either. I went by John Vernon's story. He was a leading Aussie HJer around 1953-1954. But no reason to believe Kashkarov did not use the "shoe" in 1957. 2.14 that year. Post the "shoe year" 1957 he was still at 2.11 while Stepanov best was 2.12.

Weird to see a desperate and injured Bengt Nilsson, trying to qualify for the final, with no shoes at all in one jump!

[lonewolf]

I don't know if it was what is being called a "built-up" shoe but many HJers circa 1950-53 wore a shoe on the takeoff foot with a triangular wedge across the sole behind the ball of the foot. .
As I recall the wedge was thicker than 1 cm though.. I have one somewhere around here.. will try to find it..

[Per Andersen]

I don't know if it was what is being called a "built-up" shoe but many HJers circa 1950-53 wore a shoe on the takeoff foot with a triangular wedge across the sole behind the ball of the foot. .
As I recall the wedge was thicker than 1 cm though.. I have one somewhere around here.. will try to find it..

According to Dick Bank in TF&N Les Steers used a piece of leather under the sole of his take-off shoe in the early 40's. But that was under the ball of his foot and not under the front of the shoe.

Ernie Shelton brought a shoe like that to Europe in 1954 and showed it to Bengt Nilsson who liked the idea but said it was wrongly made and the leather was not hard enough and did not cover the front part. Nilsson had one made to his own specifications and progressed dramatically. When Nilsson visited Russia in late '54 the Russians stole the shoe from his hotel room and the rest is history.

I was paraphrasing wildly here but I have read this part many times. It was in one of the last 1957 issues. That, I remember as I bought the 1957 issues many years later.

I watched Nilsson/Shelton in Sweden in 1955 and did not notice anything specific about the shoes. Probably the Russians used a thicker front sole in '57.

[gh]

Looks like Kashkarov has a ballet shoe on his right foot and an almost normal shoe on his left. It's difficult to tell for certain, but it doesn't look as built up as the shoe used in '57 by all the top Soviet jumpers. 2 of the finalists have matching shoes (Dumas and Porter), and 4th/5th (Pettersson and Money) have no shoe on their lead leg, only on the plant leg.

I remember hearing as a kid that Money used to train with a ski boot on his lead leg as a form of resistance training. Then in competition when he stripped down to the bare foot, he had the feeling of having no weight at all to worry about to fling up into the air.

[dukehjsteve]

Anyone remember a weight jacket that was advertised in T&FN back about 1960 ? I bought one. Did not help me one damn bit.

[lonewolf]

I found the shoe.. the leather sole is about 1/4 inch thick, the 3/8 inch thick triangular stacked leather " rocker" is under the ball of the foot, replacing the third pair of spikes.. two front pairs of spikes are about 1/2" long because we were straddle jumping off dirt and grass.. there is no build up at front of sole.

[Per Andersen]

Anyone remember a weight jacket that was advertised in T&FN back about 1960 ? I bought one. Did not help me one damn bit.

I remember that. Didn't Bob Gardner use one?

[dukehjsteve]

Anyone remember a weight jacket that was advertised in T&FN back about 1960 ? I bought one. Did not help me one damn bit.

I remember that. Didn't Bob Gardner use one?

Yes, that's it. And if I further recall there was a Univ. of Michigan connection.... Don Canham ?

[KDFINE]

Didn't John Akii-Bua use a weight jacket prior to his 400H win in 1972? I think he ran over-distance with hurdles and the jacket.

[gh]

I trained for a while with ankle weights. As I recall the brand was "Elmer's"; pretty sure they were advertised in T&FN>

[Master Po]

Thanks for posting these, AS. Great photos! I know that some venerable and fortunate contributors to these boards have been in all/most/many of the OG stadia (sometimes I think some of you have actually attended every modern OG! ) -- however, Melbourne is the only OG stadium I have ever set foot in (on a day when it was not in use). So, it's interesting for me to see it in its glory. Thanks!

[KDFINE]

Re: Weight Jackets and John Akii-Bua. The October, 1972 issue of T&FN reported that "after his win he thought of wearing the 25-lb. weight jacket he wore during his training of hurdling 39-inch barriers for 1500 meters...." I'd recalled the jacket and over-distance for his training but not the higher hurdles.

[kuha]

Thanks for posting these, AS. Great photos! I know that some venerable and fortunate contributors to these boards have been in all/most/many of the OG stadia (sometimes I think some of you have actually attended every modern OG! ) -- however, Melbourne is the only OG stadium I have ever set foot in (on a day when it was not in use). So, it's interesting for me to see it in its glory. Thanks!

I saw an Australian Rules Football match there 15 or 20 years ago--it was a blast. That stadium is gigantic--not a place that I'd actually like to see a track meet in...