faggin leandro - La Gazzetta dello Sport

The Olympic Dictionary
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FAGGIN LEANDRO (cycling, Italy, b. Padua 18/7/1933, d. Padua 6/12/1970). One Olympic
appearance (1956) and 2 gold medals (1 km standing start and team pursuit). He arrived in
Melbourne with bronchitis, and risked being replaced in the pursuit team: in fact he led the team to
the gold medal, beating France in the final. His team mates: Valentino Gasparella (q.v.), Antonio
Domenicali (q.v.) and Franco Gandini (q.v.), plus Virgilio Pizzali in the heats. Two days later he
won the 1 km standing start: he completed the first lap in 25.3, ended the second at 46.7 and
finished in 1:09.8, just 6 tenths above his world record (set 3 months earlier at the Vigorelli
velodrome, with one corner less) and 1.6 less than Czech Foucek. He had tears in his eyes when the
Duke of Edinburgh congratulated him, and he also received the compliments of the Australian
Mockridge, who had won the same race four years earlier and, present at Melbourne as a journalist,
had forecast Faggin’s victory in an article in his paper. In 1954, Faggin had been Italian and world
champion in pursuit, and Italian champion in the kilometre; in 1955 he came third in the World
Championships, and then second in 1956. After having become a professional, he won 3 World
Championship gold medals for pursuit (1963-65-66), plus 3 silver and 3 bronze medals, and 12
consecutive Italian titles (from 1957 to 1968), as well as one in the omnium. He set world records
for the km (1:09.2) and the 5 km (6:15.4) as an amateur, and for the 5 km (6:06.4, then 6:02.4) as a
professional. He also won 9 “Six Day” events. He died of cancer at the age of just 37.
FAMILIES The Hungarian Gyarmati family is the most successful family in the history of the
Olympics. Dezsö Gyarmati (q.v.) won 3 gold medals, one silver and one bronze in water polo from
1948 to 1964; his wife Eva Székely, breaststroke swimmer, won a gold and a silver in 1952 and
1956; their daughter Andrea won one silver and one bronze in 1972 for swimming, backstroke and
butterfly; she married Mihaly Hesz, who won one gold and one silver in 1964 and 1968 in
canoeing. Also remarkable was the Norwegian Lunde family: Eugen began with a gold medal for
sailing in 1924; his son Peder Eugen, wife Vibeke and her brother Börre Falkum-Hansen won a
silver, also for sailing, in 1952. Lastly, Peder jr, Eugen’s grandson, won a gold medal in the Flying
Dutchman class in 1960, and silver in the 1968 Star class: he married Aud Hvammen, who took part
in two Alpine skiing events at the 1964 and 1968 Games.
FASTER HIGHER STRONGER See Olympic motto.
FENCING Is one of the five sports that has always been included in the programme of all modern
Olympics. Fencing is regulated by FIE (Fédération Internationale d’Escrime – www.fie.ch). Cf.
Sports, Section IV.
FERGUSON IAN GORDON (canoeing, New Zealand, b. Taumarunui 20/7/1952). Five
appearances (1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992), 4 gold medals (K1 500 m 1984, K2 500 m 1984 and
1988, K4 1000 m 984) and one silver (K2 1000 1988). 1984 3-0-0, 1988 1-1-0. After two
Olympiads without any medals (in 1980 he reached the final in the K1 500 m and K1 1000 m, but
finished 7th and 8th respectively), he retired for two years: he sold and repaired videogame
machines. He returned to competition when the New Zealand Federation offered him financial
support. After a World Championships silver medal in 1983, he won 3 gold medals at Los Angeles,
a gold and a silver at Seoul, and he reached the K2 1000 m final in Barcelona, at the age of 40,
finishing 8th. In the World Championships, he won 2 gold medals (K2 500 m in 1985, K2 1000 m in
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1987, with Paul MacDonald) and 3 silvers. He was also a great surfer: he won 4 titles in the
Ironman, 4 in the “surf ski race” and 4 gold medals at the 1991 World Master Championships. His
son Steve took part in the 2000 Olympics in swimming, and in the 2004 Games in canoeing: in the
latter sport, he attained a 4th place in the 1000 m K2 in the 2003 World Championships, with Ben
Fouhy, who, also trained by Ian Ferguson, won the gold medal in the K1 1000 m.
FERNANDEZ LISA (softball, USA, b. New York City, New York, 22/2/1971). Three appearances
(1996, 2000, 2004) and 3 gold medals (1996, 2000, 2004). 1996 1-0-0, 2000 1-0-0, 2004 1-0-0.
Cuban father, Puerto Rican mother. She began playing at the age of 8. She was 12 when a coach
told her that, given her build, she could not be a pitcher: but it was in that position that she became
one of the best players ever. In 1996 she came close to the “perfect game” (never seen at the
Olympics) conceding just a home run to the Australian Joanne Brown at the last pitch of the 10th
innings; she then achieved 7, of which 5 consecutive, in the tour before the 2000 Games, and in
Sydney she set a record of 25 strikeouts against Australia in the preliminary league. This did not
prevent the USA from losing their third match in a row, following those against Japan and China,
but Japan, China and Australia were then beaten as the USA progressed towards their second
consecutive gold medal, and in Athens, 2004, they won their third. Fernandez also won 4 World
Championship gold medals (1990-94-98-2002), and 2 college titles with UCLA (1990-92). Elected
best American player for three years running, in 1991-92-93, in 1993 she also won the best all
sports college athlete prize: the first time that a softball player won the award.
FIEDLER JENS (cycling, Germany, b. Dohna, former East Germany, 15/2/1970). Four
appearances (1992, 1996, 2000, 2004), 3 gold medals (individual time-trial 1992 and 1996, team
time-trial 4000 m 2004) and 2 bronze medals (individual time-trial and Keirin 2000). 1992 1-0-0,
1996 1-0-0, 2000 0-0-2, 2004 1-0-0. World Champion in 1991, he won his first Olympic gold
medal the following year in Barcelona, beating Neiwand by 5 centimetres in the first sprint of the
final, and benefiting from the disqualification of the Australian who beat him in the second final.
Though in the following years he never did better than 4th place in the World Championships, at
Atlanta in the semi-finals he once again beat Neiwand, and then in the final (again in 2 sprints,
winning the first by just a centimetre) he beat the American Nothstein; these two cyclists had won
the World Championship gold in 1993 and 1994 respectively. In Sydney he was unable to complete
a hat-trick, because he was defeated by Nothstein in the semi-final, but he won his third gold in
Athens, where the team time-trial was held for the first time at the Games. In World Championship
competitions, he won 5 golds (individual time-trial 1991, team time-trial 1995-2003, Keirin 199899), 5 silver and 3 bronze medals. He was found positive in a doping test (amphetamines) in one of
his last races before retiring, in Manchester, 2005: “A tragedy, an absurdity, due to pharmacological
treatment. I have been tested at least 200 times over the course of my career, and I have never been
found positive”.
FIELD HOCKEY The federation that regulates it is the FIH (Fédération Internationale de Hockey,
www.fihockey.org). It first appeared as an Olympic sport in London, 1908 and was disputed in
1920, even though up until 1928 it was not always included in the programme of the Games.
Women’s field hockey was first included in the 1980 Olympiad. Cf. Sports, section IV.
FIELDS JOHN “JACKIE” (boxing, USA, b. Chicago, Illinois, 9/2/1908, d. Los Angeles,
California, 3/6/1987). One appearance (1924) and one gold medal (featherweight >57,15 kg). Born
as Jacob Finkelstein in Chicago’s Jewish ghetto (“And there you had to know how to fight”), he
began boxing at the age of 14, in Los Angeles, where his family had moved when his father
contracted tuberculosis, and he changed his surname for the ring (there are three versions: he took
his new name from a Chicago shop, or from another boxer, or from his coach). At Antwerp he
became the youngest boxer ever to win an Olympic gold medal, at 16 years and 162 days, beating
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his friend Joseph Salas, two years older than him, in the final. Salas told what happened just before
the match. “We got ready in the same changing room. When they knocked to call us onto the ring,
we embraced and started to cry. Ten minutes later, we were knocking the hell out of each other in
the ring”. In March 1929 Fields became NBA welterweight world champion beating Young Jack
Thompson on points in ten rounds. A month later he was given the unified title because Joe
Dundee’s title was declared as having expired, and in July Field confirmed the title by beating
Dundee himself (disqualified, 2). The next year he lost the title against Thompson (points, 15) and
won it back in 1932 against Lou Brouillard (points, 10). In that year he suffered a detached retina in
a car accident, losing sight in one eye, but he did not tell anyone; and in 1933 he lost the title
against Young Corbett III on points in 10 rounds. After the match the referee, Jack Kennedy, told
Fields’ manager Jack Kearns that he had raised the wrong hand at the moment of announcing the
verdict: Kearns knocked him out right there in the changing rooms with a punch in the mouth.
Fields ended his career with 74 victories 31 KOs), 9 defeats, 2 draws and one “no contest”. He died
in 1987, just 8 days before his friend Salas.
FIGURE SKATING see Ice Skating.
FIJI (Republic of the Fiji Islands, Oceania, capital Suva, area 18.272 km2, population 838.699).
The Olympic Committee was formed in 1949, and it received IOC recognition in 1955. It took part
in the Olympics for the first time in 1956, then missing the 1964 and 1980 editions. It has not won
any medals. Best place: 10th in windsurfing by Anthony Philip in 1992 and 2000.
FILMS See CINEMA.
FINDLAY “CONN” FRANCIS (rowing/sailing, USA, b. Stockton, California, 24/4/1930). Four
appearances (1956, 1960 and 1964 for rowing, 1976 sailing), 2 gold medals (coxed pair 1956 and
1964) and 2 bronze medals (coxed pair 1960, Tempest class 1976). 1956 1-0-0, 1960 0-0-1, 1964 10-0, 1976 0-0-1. After having won three medals for rowing, with three different crews, in 1974 he
took part in the selections for the America’s Cup, on Mariner, with Dennis Conner. Their boat was
not chosen, but Conner took him with him to the Games, two years later, where he won a bronze
medal in sailing. In 1977 Findlay reached his America’s Cup ambitions, as he was part of the crew
of Courageous that successfully defended the Cup against the Australians.
FINLAND (Republic of Finland, Europe, capital Helsinki, area 338.145 km2, population
5.276.895). 298 medals: 101 gold, 83 silver and 114 bronze. Best Olympics: Paris 1924, 14 gold, 13
silver and 10 bronze medals. Best sport: track & field, with 49 gold, 35 silver and 30 bronze medals.
Most decorated athlete: Paavo Nurmi, track & field, with 9 gold medals (10.000 m in 1920 and
1928, 8 km individual and team cross country in 1920, 1500 m in 1924, 5000 m in 1924, 10 km
individual and team cross country in 1924, team 3000 m in 1924) and 3 silver medals (5000 metres
in 1920 and 1928, 3000 steeplechase 1928). The Olympic Committee was formed in 1907 and it
received IOC recognition in the same year. It took part in the 1906 Intermediate Games, and from
1908 it has missed no editions. It hosted the 1952 Olympiad in Helsinki, city to which the 1940
edition was also assigned (in substitution of Tokyo), cancelled due to the Second World War.
FIORAVANTI DOMENICO (swimming, Italy, b. Trecate, Novara, 31/5/1977). One appearance
(2000) and 2 gold medals (100 and 200 breaststroke). The first Italian to win an Olympic gold
medal for swimming. He succeeded in the only edition of the Games in which he took part, Sydney
2000: in the 100 breast stroke he won in 1:00.46, ahead of the Russian Roman Sludnov and the
American Ed Moses, while in the 200 he came first in 2:10.87 ahead of South African Terence
Parkin and his fellow countryman Davide Rummolo. His career came to an abrupt end in 2003,
when a medical check revealed a cardiac hypertrophy that ruled out competition. After having thus
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been forced to retire, he became a sports commentator and a testimonial for the Italian Swimming
Federation. As well as his Olympic gold medals, during his career he won another 8 medals: in the
World Championships, 2 silver (100 breast stroke 2001, 100 short course breast stroke 1999) and
one bronze (50 breast stroke 2001); in the European Championships, 3 gold medals (100 breast
stroke 1999 and 2000, 50 short course breaststroke 2000, 100 short course breaststroke 2000) and 2
silver medals (200 breast stroke 2000, 200 short course breast stroke 2000).
FISHER MORRIS “BUD” (shooting, USA, b. Youngstown, Ohio, 4/5/1890, d. Honolulu, Hawaii,
23/5/1968). Two appearances (1920, 1924) and 5 gold medals (individual free rifle 300 m 3
positions 1920, team free rifle 300 m 3 positions 1920, team prone military rifle 300 m 1920, free
prone rifle 600 m 1924, team free rifle 400-600-800 m 1924). 1920 3-0-0, 1924 2-0-0. He was a
marine who played the violin to relax, but on the day of the individual free rifle competition, in
Antwerp, he was too nervous, and was unable to shoot the first standing shot (the other positions
were prone, and kneeling, or sitting, which he preferred). After 20 minutes the American coach
ordered him to fire whatever, even should he miss the target altogether: he fired, scored some
points, and regained his composure. He also won 6 World Championship gold medals, and he set 5
world records up until 1941, when he left the Marines with the rank of sergeant. He was recalled a
few months later after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour. During the Second World War, he was
an instructor, but unfortunately he lost his only son, William, in the 1945 Battle of Okinawa.
FLANAGAN JOHN JESUS (track & field, USA, b. Kilbreedy, Ireland, 9/1/1873, d. Kilmallack,
Ireland, 4/6/1938). Three appearances (1900, 1904, 1908), 3 gold medals (hammer throw 1900,
1904 and 1908) and one silver (56 lb weight throw, 1904). 1900 1-0-0, 1904 1-1-0, 1908 1-0-0. He
emigrated to the United States in 1896, when he was already world record holder and had won two
British titles in the hammer throw (he had also won 2 second places in the high and long jumps in
the 1895 Irish championships). He had some difficulties changing from the 9 foot (2.74 metre)
regulation circle to the 7 foot (2.13) pattern, but then he won his first Olympic gold, in 1900,
competing for the USA even though he was still an Irish citizen. In 1903 he became a New York
policeman, at the Bureau of Licenses: here he had little to do, and a lot of time for training. In 1904
he repeated his success in the hammer throw, and was beaten by another policeman, Canadian
Desmarteau, in the 56 lb weight throw, and he came 4th in the discus. In 1908 he won his third
consecutive gold at the last throw (51.92, ahead of the 51.18 achieved by another American,
McGrath, ex world record holder). He left New York in 1911 when he was given a new job (he
would have been put on patrol duty in Central Park) and returned to Ireland: he had also won 7
American titles in the hammer throw and 6 in the 56 lb weight throw. He set 19 world records,
which are not included in the official listings because the IAAF did not yet exist: it was founded in
1912, three years after Flanagan’s last record, 56.18, which made him, at the age of 46 years and
196 days, the oldest record holder of a track & field event.
FONST SEGUNDO RAMÓN (fencing, Cuba, b. Havana 31/8/1883, d. Havana 10/9/1959). Three
appearances (1900, 1904, 1924), 4 gold medals (individual épée 1900 and 1904, individual and
team foil 1904) and one silver (foil, amateur/professional open, 1900). 1900 1-1-0, 1904 3-0-0.
After having been initiated into fencing by his father Filiberto, he moved to Paris as a boy, and at
the age of just 11 he won the French foil championship. He was just 16 when he won his first
Olympic gold, also in Paris, and came second in the open competition, behind his master Ayat (who
lost not a single assault in the entire competition, and received a prize of 3.000 francs). In 1904 he
became the first person – and the only person up until today – to repeat the gold in épée that he had
won four years earlier; he won golds in foil and épée, a feat equalled only by Frenchman Gaudin in
1928; and he won the gold medal in team foil with a Cuba-USA mixed team, including American
Van Zo Post. In 1924, at the age of 40, he took part in the Paris Games, almost reaching the épée
final: he was knocked out only in the tie-break in the semi-final round. At the Central American
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Games in 1926, in Mexico, he won foil, épée and sabre; he won both foil and épée in 1930 in
Havana, at the age of 47; and he won in team épée in 1938 in Panama, when he was 55. He also
competed in pistol shooting (winning 44 medals in various competitions), boxing and cycling.
FONTANELLA EMILIO (rowing, Italy, b. 12/7/1881, d. ?). One Olympic appearance, Athens
1906, 3 gold medals (coxed pair 1000 m and coxed pair mile, coxed four). A crew member for the
Bucintoro di Venezia which won a total of three gold medals at the Intermediate Games in Athens.
The year before, at the European Championships in Ghent, he had won a silver in the coxed four,
behind Belgium, rowing at number three with Ercole Olgeni, stroke, Scipione del Giudice and
Antonio Finotti, cox Giorgio Cesana.
FOOTBALL See headings: Soccer, American Football and Australian Rules Football.
FOREMAN GEORGE (boxing, USA, b. Marshall, Texas, 10/1/1949). One Olympic appearance
(1968) and one gold medal (heavyweight >81 kg). He took part at the Games after just 20-odd
games as an amateur. In the first round he defeated the Pole Trela on points, then he won the gold
medal with 3 consecutive KOs, against Romanian Alexe, Italian Bambini and, in the final (TKO 2),
Lithuanian Chepulis. In 1973 he became WBA-WBC heavyweight world champion, inflicting Joe
Frazier’s (q.v.) first defeat (TKO in the 2nd round, announced by the famous words “Down goes
Frazier!” repeated three times by commentator Howard Cosell). He lost the title the year after
against Muhammad Ali (q.v.), with a TKO in the 8th round in the fight in Kinshasa, named “Rumble
in the Jungle”, subject of a book (The fight by Norman Mailer) and a film (When we where kings,
Oscar for best documentary in 1997). He did not fight between 1978 and 1986, lost his 1991 WBCWBA-IBF title challenge against Evander Holyfield (on points, 12) but he won the WBA-IBF title
in 1994 beating Michael Moorer (KO 10) to become, at the age of 45, the oldest heavyweight
champion in history. The WBA later stripped him of his title because he refused to fight Tony
Tucker, and the IBF did the same for having refused a rematch with Axel Schulz, whom he had
beaten (on points, 12) in 1995. His record: 76 victories (68 KOs) and 5 defeats, the last in 1997
against Shannon Briggs, the last match of his career, at the age of 48. However he made more
money (as he himself declared) advertising a grill than in boxing: over 100 million were sold,
earning him 150 million for himself. He called all his 5 sons George.
FOSBURY RICHARD DOUGLAS “DICK” (track & field, USA, b. Portland, Oregon, 6/3/1947).
One Olympic appearance (1968) and one gold medal (high jump). His sports career is associated
with the technique with which he revolutionised the high jump, the head-first, back-downwards
style which, within a few years, had completely replaced the Straddle technique. “When I was at
secondary school, I was jumping with the old ‘scissors’ technique, and couldn’t jump any higher
than 1.62. In order to lower my centre of gravity when I was over the top of the bar, I thought that I
could try jumping it with my head facing upwards. This would mean having to make fewer
movements close to the bar, which is cleared with the body in a horizontal rather than vertical
position, therefore reducing the probability of touching the bar. On my first attempt in an official
contest, in 1963, I jumped 1.78. I reckoned that I had struck gold”. In later years he perfected the
technique, with which he won a national university title and the Trials for the 1968 Mexico City
Games. At the Olympics he started the contest at 2.03 and by 2.22 he was alone with his team mate
Edward Caruthers and the Soviet Valentin Gavrilov, who both failed at 2.24, a height that Fosbury
jumped on his third attempt. He won the gold medal, tried for the world record but did not succeed.
The technique that he introduced, more effective from a bio-mechanical point of view, rapidly
spread worldwide, and in the following months, many American schools prohibited pupils from
trying the Fosbury flop to avoid injuries to their neck and back. Fosbury was unable to continue
competing at those levels. He felt fulfilled with his gold medal, and retired at the age of just 23 to
become a civil engineer.
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FRANCE (Republic of France, Europe, capital Paris, area 543.965 km2, population 61.438.592).
645 medals: 201 gold, 208 silver and 236 bronze. Best Olympics: Paris 1900, with 28 gold, 43
silver and 38 bronze medals. Best sport: fencing, with 42 gold, 39 silver and 35 bronze medals.
Most decorated athlete: Christian d’Oriola, fencing, 4 gold medals (team foil 1948 and 1952,
individual foil 1952 and 1956) and 2 silvers (individual foil 1948, team foil 1956); Lucien Gaudin,
fencing, 4 gold medals (team foil 1924, team épée 1924, individual foil 1928, individual épée 1928)
and 2 silvers (team foil 1920 and 1928). The Olympic Committee was formed in 1894 and received
IOC recognition the same year. It is one of 5 countries to have taken part at all Olympics. France
has hosted the Games twice, in Paris in 1900 and 1924. Unsuccessful candidate cities: Lyon (twice)
and Lille (once). Pierre Frédy, Barone de Coubertin, who revived the modern Games, was French.
FRASER DAWN (swimming, Australia, b. Balmain 4/9/1937). Three appearances (1956, 1960,
1964), 4 gold medals (100 freestyle 1956, 1960 and 1964, 4x100 freestyle relay 1956) and 4 silvers
(400 freestyle 1956, 4x100 freestyle relay 1960 and 1964, 4x100 medley relay 1960). 1956 2-1-0,
1960 1-2-0, 1964 1-1-0. The youngest of the eight children born to a Scottish carpenter who had
emigrated to Australia, she began swimming at the age of 4, even though she had asthma, and began
training for competition at 8, with her lifetime coach Harry Gallagher. Blessed with an imposing
physique (as well as a particularly slow heartbeat), she turned professional when she was just 14,
and to improve her condition, she trained very hard, making a great impression on those who saw
her. She made her mark in 1955, winning the first of her 29 national titles: 7 in the 100 freestyle, 8
in the 200 freestyle, 5 in the 400 freestyle, 2 in the 100 butterfly, one in the 200 medley, 4 in the
4x100 freestyle and 2 in the 4x100 medley. She made her Olympic debut at home, in Melbourne,
1956, winning the first of her 3 consecutive Olympic golds in the 100 freestyle in 1:02.0, in an allAustralian podium, with Lorraine Crapp and Faith Leech, and the gold in the 4x100 freestyle relay
(4:17.1, world record, with Faith Leech, Sandra Morgan and Lorraine Crapp), also winning a silver
medal in the 400 freestyle (5:02.5) behind Crapp. The world record for the relay was one of the 28
records (16 individual and 12 team) that Fraser set in her career. She was also the first woman to
break the one minute barrier for the 100 freestyle (59.9 on 27 October 1962 in Melbourne). At the
1960 Rome Games, as well as her victory in the 100 freestyle (1:01.2), she won 2 silver medals in
the 4x100 freestyle and 4x100 medley relays. The 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, the last of her career,
was the most difficult: before the Games, she was involved in a car crash in which her mother was
killed; she had to wear an orthopaedic collar for weeks, but managed to get back to fitness in time
and win the 100 freestyle (59.5). The day after, she thought she had a free day and went shopping in
Tokyo, forgetting the 4x100 freestyle relay heat; her team mates managed to get through the heat,
and came second in the final (4:06.9, behind the United States) in which Fraser took part, but they
refused to talk to her. A few months later she wrote a book, Below the surface, with journalist Harry
Gordon, in which she lifted the lid on life in the Olympic Village, alleging that athletes were more
concerned with sex, beer and cigarettes than the competitions. She herself admitted: “I’m a heavy
smoker: 20-30 cigarettes a day since I was 19”. The scandal resulted in a 10-year disqualification by
the Australian Swimming Union, and an end to her career at the age of 27. As well as her Olympic
medals, she won 7 gold medals and a silver at the Commonwealth Games. After retirement, she
married, had a daughter, divorced, and was elected to the New South Wales parliament, where she
is involved in ecology and children’s issues.
FRAZIER JOSEPH WILLIAM “JOE” (boxing, USA, b. Beaufort, South Carolina, 12/1/1944).
One Olympic appearance (1964) and one gold (heavyweight >81 kg). In the Trials he was beaten by
Mathis, who then broke his thumb and so left him his place in the team for the Tokyo Games.
Frazier broke his own left thumb in the semi-final in Tokyo, but nonetheless beat the German Huber
in the final on a split decision (3 judges to 2). In 1970 he became WBA-WBC world champion
beating Jimmy Ellis (TKO in round 5). After having successfully defended the title 4 times
(amongst others against Muhammad Ali (q.v). in 1971, won on points in 15 rounds: the first defeat
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of Ali’s career), he lost it to George Foreman (q.v.) in 1973 (TKO, round 2), and lost his 1975
“Thriller in Manila” rematch against Ali (TKO, round 14), who had already beaten him on points in
12 rounds in 1974. His record: 32 victories (27 KO), 4 defeats and a draw, the latter in his only fight
in 1981, having retired in 1976 following another defeat (TKO 5) by Foreman. “Fighting Frazier is
the closest I have ever come to experiencing death. If God called me for a Holy War, I would like to
have Joe at my side” (Muhammad Ali). All three of his children became professional boxers.
Marvis (born in 1960) won 19 of his 21 fights, but he is usually remembered for his 2 defeats, both
by KO at the first round, against Larry Holmes and Mike Tyson (with his father Joe in the corner).
Joe jr. (1962) had a record of 23 victories, 7 defeats and 4 draws. Jacqueline (1961) won 13 fights
and a few titles issued by various boards, but her only defeat, in 2001 (on points in 8 rounds), was
against Laila Ali, Muhammad’s daughter. She was therefore unable to take revenge for her father’s
defeat.
FREDRIKSSON GERT (canoeing, Sweden, b. Nyköping 21/11/1919, d. Nyköping 5/7/2006).
Four Olympic appearances (1948, 1952, 1956, 1960), 6 gold medals (K1 1000 1948, 1952 and
1956, K2 1000 1960, K1 10.000 1948 and 1956), one silver (K1 10.000 1952) and one bronze (K1
1000 1960). 1948 2-0-0, 1952 1-1-0, 1956 2-0-0, 1960 1-0-1. Her 30 and-a-half second win from
Finn Wires in the 1948 10.000 metres is the biggest in the history of Olympic canoeing. As well as
this record in the longest race, which was dropped from the Olympic programme after her second
gold in 1956, another record was the 6.7 lead with which she won the 1000 metres in 1948, ahead of
Dane Kobberup: she was so much better than her opponents that in the heat, when she was only 4th
at the 950 mark, she won with a sprint in the last 50 m. In 1964 she could have taken part in her 5th
Olympiad, at the age of almost 45, but she decided to participate as coach alone. In the World
Championships she obtained 7 gold medals (K1 500 in 1948-54, K1 4x500 in 1948-50-54, K1 1000
in 1950-54), 2 silvers and 2 bronzes, and 71 victories in the Swedish championships.
FRIGERIO UGO (track & field, Italy, b. Milan 16/9/1901, d. Garda, Verona, 7/7/1968). Three
appearances (1920, 1924, 1932), 3 gold medals (3 km 1920, 10 km 1920 and 1924) and one bronze
(50 km 1932). 1920 2-0-0, 1924 1-0-0, 1932 0-0-1. Ex-print shop apprentice at the Gazzetta dello
Sport newspaper, he was Italy’s first gold-winning track & field athlete. He developed a passion for
the champions of his day while typesetting the pages, and as he didn’t have enough money to buy a
racing bicycle, he decided to compete in the walk. He trained in Parco Sempione with two great
champions of the time, both from Milan, Fernando Altimani, bronze in the 10 km walk at the
Stockholm Games, and Donato Pavesi, who won the 100 km walk organized by the Gazzetta six
times. He joined the Unione Sportiva Milanese. In 1918 he won one of the first “Popolarissime”
events organized by the Gazzetta, and in 1919 he won the Giro di Milan, an event included in the
Italian championships. By the end of his career he had won another seven Italian titles: 5 in the 10
km (1920-21-23-24-31), one in the 3 km (1921) and one in the one-hour walk (1920). In 1920 he
was selected for the Antwerp Games: he won the heat for the 10 km in 47:06.4; in the final he
started slowly, in the mid-race he was in the first ten, and after Pavesi was disqualified, he was in
the lead with American Joseph Pearman. Frigerio attacked repeatedly, until the American fell back,
and Frigerio won the gold medal in 48:06.2, 250 metres ahead of Pearman. Four days later he also
won gold in the 3 km: he was so sure that he would win that before the race, he gave the bandleader
the score for a song that he wanted to hear during the race, and during the final, that he won in
13:14.2 ahead of Australian George Parker and American Richard Remer, he waved his arms like
an orchestra conductor every time that he passed the stand. Four years later in Paris, the 3 km walk
was no longer an Olympic event, but Frigerio won the 10 km in 47:49.0 ahead of British Gordon
Goodwin. When the IOC decided to abolish the walk for the 1928 Amsterdam Games, Frigerio
retired, but returned to competition in 1931 to prepare the 50 km walk for the 1932 Los Angeles
Games. In America his task was supposed to be that of pacesetter for his younger team mates, but
they all withdrew, and so he decided to carry on to the finish, where he ended third behind British
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The Olympic Dictionary
Thomas Green and Lithuanian Janis Dalins. After the race he spent 15 days in bed with burnt feet.
After his return from Los Angeles, he retired and set up a cheese-making company. After the
Second World War he was nominated president of CONI for Northern Italy.
FU MINGXIA (diving, China, b. Wuhan 16/8/1978). Three appearances (1992, 1996, 2000), 4
gold medals (platform 1992 and 1996, springboard 1996 and 2000) and one silver (synchronized
springboard 2000). 1992 1-0-0, 1996 2-0-0, 2000 1-1-0. At the age of 9, she travelled a thousand
kilometres from her home to train in Peking; 12 days before her twelfth birthday she won (1990) the
gold medal at the Goodwill Games; at the age of 12 and a half (1991) she became the youngest
female world champion for platform diving in history. In 1992 she won Olympic gold – at that time
she was 1.52 m in height, and weighed just 44 kg – because of a change in rules: while previously
athletes had to be at least 14 at the time of the competition, under the new rules it was enough to
reach the age of 14 in the year of the Games. After one other World Championship gold (1994,
platform) and the two gold medals at the 1996 Olympiad (when she was 5 cm taller and weighed 13
kg more) she retired to study Economics, but returned to competition and won her fourth gold in
Sydney (“Even though the year before I had put on so much weight that I didn’t want to appear in a
swimming costume…”), beating Guo Jingjing, who had beaten her five times in the pre-Olympic
selections, in the last three dives, and equalling the diving records held by Pat McCormick (q.v.)
and Greg Louganis (q.v.).
FUCHS GOTTFRIED (football, Germany, b. Karlsruhe 3/5/1889, d. Montreal, Canada,
25/2/1972). One Olympic appearance (1912). He scored 14 goals in the 6 matches played with the
German national team, of which 10 in the 16-0 win (and in the first 69 minutes) against Russia in
the Olympic consolation tournament, after Germany had been knocked out losing 5-1 against
Austria (Fuchs did not play in that match). The German team finished only seventh, losing 3-1 with
Hungary, but those 10 goals equalled the record set at the 1908 Games by Danish player Sophus
Nielsen, and they remained an absolute record for international matches, up until when the
Australian Archie Thompson scored 13 goals in 2001, in a 31-0 win over American Samoa for the
World Cup qualifying round.
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