Last night I endured the grandiose parade that was the opening ceremony of the 33rd Olympiad in Paris. While it was undeniably an astounding spectacle on the Seine, it left me rather underwhelmed. An extraordinary production to be sure, but it dragged on interminably, with scenes so obscure they might have been devised by a surrealist on a particularly bad day. The singing, seemingly performed in some distant galaxy, bore little relation to the sound, leaving me in a state of bewilderment. Quite the feat, to be sure, but not one I wish to witness again.
These Paris Olympics marks the centenary of the 1924 Games, forever etched in memory by the film “Chariots of Fire.” The story revolves around two British athletes: Eric Liddell, a devout Scottish Christian who runs for the glory of God, and Harold Abrahams, an English Jew determined to overcome prejudice.
Abrahams was coached by Scipio Africanus “Sam” Mussabini, brilliantly portrayed in the film by the late Sir Ian Holm. Mussabini, a professional trainer, faced criticism from the Cambridge college masters who disapproved of an amateur employing a professional coach, deeming it ungentlemanly.
Nevertheless, Abrahams triumphed, winning gold in the 100 metres. This was not Mussabini’s first success; in the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, he trained William Applegarth, a Guisborough man, born in 1890 in Union Street, who rose to become one of Europe’s premier sprinters during the era leading up to the First World War.
At Stockholm, Applegarth was eliminated in the semifinals of the 100 metres but won a bronze in the 200 metres. As the anchor in the British 4 × 100 metres relay team, he clinched a gold medal despite finishing second to the United States in the semifinal. The American team, later disqualified for a baton-passing error, made way for Applegarth’s team. In the final, the world record-holding German team also faltered in passing the baton, ensuring a British victory.
Applegarth went on to dominate the British AAA championships, winning the 100 yards in 1913 and 1914 and the 220 yards from 1912 to 1914. Soon after the Olympics, he equalled the 100 metres world record with a time of 10.6 seconds and set a new world record of 21.2 seconds in the 200 metres at the 1914 AAA meeting. His 200 metres record remained unbroken until 1928.
In November 1914, Applegarth turned professional and emigrated to America in 1922, where he served as a track and football coach in Pennsylvania. He also played for Brooklyn in the American Soccer League. Retiring from sport in 1925, he took up work as a welder at the General Electric Company, remaining there until 1955. He died at the age of 68, in the same year his British 100 yards record of 9.8 seconds was finally broken.
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