Al Oerter

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Al Oerter (born 1936) is the only athlete ever to win a gold medal in the same event at four consecutive Olympic Games. He won gold in the discus in 1956, 1960, 1964, and 1968. Oerter set and broke many Olympic records.

Alfred Adolph Oerter, Jr. was born in Astoria, New York, on August 19, 1936. He grew up in the nearby town of New Hyde Park, a suburb of New York City, and his athletic talent became apparent early. While still in high school, where athletes used a lighter discus than that used by adult competitors, he hurled it 184 feet, 2 inches, setting a national prep record.

After high school, Oerter attended the University of Kansas, where he set an NCAA record. He never won a major international competition, but qualified for the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia, when he was a college sophomore. At the time, he was ranked sixth in the world in the discus.

"Everything Built Up Inside Me"

At the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia, he didn't expect to win, since he was up against some tough competition. He knew he had a chance at a medal, however, and resolved to do his best. "Everything built up inside me," he said, according to Cordner Nelson in Track's Greatest Champions. I really was keyed up and inspired." He looked out over the field, where a flag marked the Olympic record of 180-6 1/2. Then he went into the windup, spun, and released the discus, astonishing his competitors and 100,000 spectators by throwing 184-10 1/2, on his first toss. The distance was a personal best for Oerter, and an Olympic record. The competition was not over, however, and Oerter was still worried about his competitor, Fortune Gordien, who held the world record at the time. "Naturally, I kept my fingers crossed," he said, according to Nelson. "I was always afraid Fortune would beat me. I knew he could."

Gordien's best throw was only 179-9 1/2, more than five feet short of Oerter's mark. Overall, Oerter ended with the three best throws of all the contestants-including Fortune Gordien. "I don't know how I did it," he said later, according to the IAAF Website. "Everything just went right and this throw came out." He also said, according to Ron Flatter in ESPN.com, "I'm not going to quit until I win five gold medals."

Oerter was involved in an almost-fatal automobile accident in 1957, but he fought back, recovered fully, and worked hard to get back in shape. He graduated from the University of Kansas in 1958, and continued to compete under the sponsorship of the New York Athletic Club. At the same time, he was working for Grumman Aircraft, doing information processing. Although it's difficult for many athletes to train, have a family, and work, Oerter balanced all these responsibilities. He alternated weight training and throwing practice, and didn't compete in many meets. Still, he kept improving.

In 1960, he made the Olympic team again, but this time the competition looked even tougher than in 1956. American Richard "Rink" Babka threw a toss that beat Oerter's in the Olympic trials-Oerter's first defeat in over two years.

Returned to Olympics

At the 1960 Olympics in Rome, Oerter did well in the qualifying round, throwing farther than the world record distance of 196-6, but he didn't do as well in the finals. Babka was ahead of him by 15 inches-Babka's best throw was 190-4, while Oerter's was 189-1. Babka was a true teammate, however, and gave Oerter some advice before Oerter made his final throw. He had noticed that Oerter's left arm was not in the correct position before he threw. He advised Oerter to adjust his windup. Oerter thanked Babka for the advice, changed his windup and hurled the discus 194-2, setting a new Olympic record and personal best. He wished Babka good luck, but Babka didn't beat Oerter's throw. Oerter won the gold, and Babka took home the silver.

Although Oerter had set Olympic records, he had never set a world record. This changed on May 18, 1962, when he threw 200-5 in Los Angeles and became the first person ever to throw the discus over 200 feet. He beat his own record in that same year when he threw 204-10 1/2 in Chicago; in 1963, he threw 205-5 at Walnut, California, and in 1964 he threw 206-6 at Walnut. Oerter was still balancing work, family, and training, and at about this time, according to Nelson, he said, "Technique and strength can be maintained over prolonged periods of time with minimum effort. As I become older, it becomes more satisfying to be able to maintain a world class condition while having a wife and family and a job that's rather demanding."

Competed Despite Severe Injuries

Oerter was scheduled to compete in the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, but six days before the competition, he tore cartilage in his lower ribcage during practice. His doctors told him that if he didn't wait six weeks before competing again, he might suffer internal bleeding. He ignored their advice, and headed for Tokyo. He was wrapped in bandages and ice packs to prevent the bleeding, and taking Novocain shots to dull the intense pain, so he was not expected to win; onlookers had transferred that expectation to his rival, Ludvik Danek, a Czech who had won 45 meets in a row.

During warm-ups, the pain was severe, and he thought about dropping out. Despite his injuries, on his first throw during the preliminaries, he threw 198-8, setting another Olympic record. After this, he said of the finals, "If I don't do it on the first throw, I won't be able to do it at all," according to Flatter. In the finals, however, he didn't throw well on his first few tries and was in third place by his fifth throw. Danek was in first place, and David Weill was in second place.

Oerter wound up slowly on his last throw, looking heavy and labored. Inside his mind, however, he had a plan, according to Nelson; he later said, "I was using a slow spin and trying to stretch the tendons to get a little higher. I had been throwing too low and I was trying a very easy turn to correct the problem. The sixth [throw] was to have been my best effort with a faster turn." He didn't have to wait until his sixth throw, however, because his fifth throw flew to 200-1 1/2, a new Olympic record-beating the one he had set during the preliminaries. His gold medal for this event made him only the second person ever to win the same Olympic event three times.

Wons Gold for the Fourth Time

At the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, Oerter was suffering from a dislocated cervical vertebra, for which he had to wear a neck brace, and he had a pulled thigh muscle. During the previous four years, he had not done well, and he was not expected to win. His competitor, Jay Silvester, was expected to take the gold, but Silvester was not as certain. "When you throw against Oerter, you don't expect to win," he said, according to the IAAF Website. "You just hope."

Hope was not enough. During the qualifying round, Oerter took off his neck brace-partly because he knew doing so would ignite fear in his competition-ignored the tremendous pain he was feeling, and hurled the discus to his fourth Olympic record of 212-6. This distance beat his own personal best by over five feet. His other throws included distances of 212-5 and 210-1. Silvester finished in fifth place, with a throw of 202-8. With his gold medal at these Games, he became the only person ever to win a gold medal in the same event in four consecutive Olympic Games.

Oerter's win at Mexico City demonstrated his skill at using what many athletes are only now beginning to harness-the power of the mind. Nelson noted that he said, "Once in the Olympic Village you can't improve on your strength or speed. The only thing still possible is to improve your mental attitude. In the weeks before an Olympic competition, I mentally simulate every conceivable situation for each throw. For example, I imagine that I'm in eighth place, it's my fifth throw, and it's pouring rain. What do I do? An inexperienced thrower might panic or be thinking, "Gees, I hope I don't fall down." [But] I know ahead of time what I will do under every circumstance."

Oerter Retired, Then Came Back

Oerter retired in 1969 to work full-time and raise his young family. In 1976, however, he was divorced, and his two daughters were grown. He planned to return in 1980 at the age of 43 and threw a 227-10 1/2, a new personal best that allowed him to qualify as an alternate on the Olympic team. He might have reached his goal of five gold medals, but that year, because of political tension between the United States and the Soviet Union, where the Olympic Games would be held, the U.S. team boycotted the Games and Oerter didn't get to show what he could do. In 1984, he hoped to compete at the Olympics in Los Angeles but couldn't compete in the trials for the Games because he had a torn Achilles tendon. Less than a year before, he had thrown 222-9, a distance that would have brought him a gold medal if he had been able to attend the Los Angeles Games and do it again. He said he might try again for the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, when he would be 60 years old. He missed the goal-directed life of an athlete, always reaching out for improvement and a new record. "I miss going for something elusive," he said, according to the IAAF Website.

"A Soaring, Creative, Competitive Genius"

According to Cordner Nelson in Track's Greatest Champions,, Oerter once said, "The Olympics are unique, a world community … what men have been trying to achieve for centuries. There is no job, no amount of power, no money to approach the meaning of the Olympic experience. It's unfortunate they only happen once every four years. They are so special." He preferred Olympic competition to world-record-hunting, and once said, "I don't chase world records. If they come during the competition, fine. But the competition is first," according to James D. Whalen in the Biographical Dictionary of American Sports.

Oerter worked for Grumman Aircraft Corporation as a computer specialist for 26 years, then worked for Reebok. In recent years, he has divided his time between Long Island, where he lives in the summer, and Florida, where he spends the winter months.

Oerter once described the reasons he loved competing in the discus throw. "I like the beauty, the grace, and the movement. I can feel myself through the throw and can feel the discus in flight." According to Nelson, Oerter is "a soaring, creative, competitive genius, the like of whom has seldom been seen at any time, or any place, in any sport." He has been elected to the U.S. Track and Field Hall of Fame and the Olympic Hall of Fame.

Books

Biographical Dictionary of American Sports, edited by David L. Porter, Greenwood Press, 1988.

Encyclopedia of World Sport, edited by David Levinson and Karen Christensen, ABC-CLIO, 1996.

Nelson, Cordner, Track's Greatest Champions, Tafnews Press, 1986.

Online

"Al Oerter," IAAF Website,http://www.iaaf.org/athletes/legends/AlOerter.html (December 20, 2000).

"Three-peating Wasn't Enough for Oerter," ESPN.com,http://espn.go.com/sportscentury/features/00016388.html (December 20, 2000).

Quotes:

"I don't compete with other discus throwers. I compete with my own history."

"As long as I can concentrate and remain somewhat calm, I can normally do very well."

Medal record
Men's Athletics
Competitor for the  United States
Olympic Games
Gold	1956 Melbourne	Discus throw
Gold	1960 Rome	Discus throw
Gold	1964 Tokyo	Discus throw
Gold	1968 Mexico City	Discus throw
Pan American Games
Gold	1959 Chicago	Discus throw

Alfred Adolf Oerter, Jr. (September 19, 1936 – October 1, 2007) was an American athlete, four times Olympic Champion in the discus throw.

He is, along with Carl Lewis (long-jump) and Paul Elvstrøm (sailing), the only athlete to win a gold medal in the same individual event for four consecutive Olympics.

In 2005, he was inducted into the Nassau County Sports Hall of Fame.

Contents 1 Olympic athlete 2 Later life 3 Trivia 4 References 5 External links

Olympic athlete

Born in Astoria, Queens, New York City, Al Oerter grew up in New Hyde Park and attended Sewanhaka High School in Floral Park. He began his career at the age of 15 when a discus landed at his feet and he threw it back past the crowd of throwers. Oerter began throwing and eventually earned a scholarship to the University of Kansas in 1954 where he became a member of Delta Tau Delta Fraternity. A large man at 6'4" (193 cm) and 280 pounds (127 kg), Oerter was a natural thrower.

Oerter began his Olympic career at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne. He was not considered the favorite but he felt a rush during the competition and he unleashed a throw of 184'11" (56.36 m) - at the time, a career best. The throw was good enough to win the competition by more than 5'.

It appeared Oerter's career would be over at the age of 20, however. In 1957, an automobile accident nearly killed him. He did recover in time to compete at the 1960 Summer Olympics at Rome. Oerter was the slight favorite over teammate and world record holder Rink Babka.

Babka was in the lead for the first four of the six rounds. He gave Oerter advice before his fifth throw and Oerter threw his discus 194'2" (59.18 m), setting an Olympic record. Babka was not able to beat Oerter's throw and finished with the silver.

During the early 1960s, Oerter continued to have success. He set his first world record in 1962. In the process, he was the first to break 200 feet in the discus. He was considered a heavy favorite to win a third gold medal at Tokyo in 1964.

Injury seemed to have felled Oerter before the Games. He was bothered by a neck injury then he tore cartilage in his ribs shortly before the competition. Competing in great pain, Oerter set a new Olympic standard and won a third Olympic gold medal despite not being able to take his last throw due to the pain from his ribs. As before, he bettered his own record with a throw of 61.00 meters.

Oerter returned to the Olympics in 1968 at Mexico City but he had yielded the position of favorite to teammate Jay Silvester. Many felt that Oerter, at 32, was finished since Oerter had never thrown as far as Silvester did on his average throws. At the Olympics, however, Oerter released another Olympic record throw of 64.78 meters on his third throw. His record held and he became the first track and field athlete to win four consecutive gold medals.

Oerter retired from athletics after the 1968 Olympics. He did make an attempt to qualify for the American team in 1980 but he finished fourth. He nonetheless set his overall personal record of 69.46 meters (227'10¾") that year at the age of 43. When filming for a TV segment, he unofficially threw about 245 feet (74.67 m), which would have set a still-standing world record. In later years, Oerter carried the Olympic flag for the 1984 Summer Olympics, then carried Olympic flame into the stadium for the 1996 Olympic Games.

Later life

As a child, Oerter had frequently traveled to his grandparents' home in Manhattan and admired their art collection. As a retired athlete, Oerter became an abstract painter. Part of Oerter's work was his "Impact" series of paintings. For these works, Oerter would lay a puddle of a paint on a tarp, and fling a discus into it to create splashing lines on a canvas positioned in front of the tarp. If the discus landed painted-face up, Oerter would sign it and give it to whoever purchased the painting. He also helped to organize Art of the Olympians, which has collected the work of 14 Games veterans, including Bob Beamon, Cammy Myler, and Shane Gould. The exhibit travelled to New York City and will find a permanent home in a waterfront gallery in Fort Myers, Florida. Before his death, Oerter was close to obtaining the rights to use the Olympic rings on the gallery building. It would have been one of the few buildings in the world allowed to do so.^{[citation needed]}

Oerter had struggled with high blood pressure his entire life, and in the 2000s, Oerter became terminally ill with cardiovascular disease. On March 13, 2003, Oerter was briefly clinically dead; a change of blood pressure medications caused a fluid build-up around his heart.

As Oerter's condition progressed, he was advised by cardiologists he would require a heart transplant. Oerter dismissed the suggestion. "I've had an interesting life," he said, "and I'm going out with what I have."^[1] Oerter died on October 1, 2007 of heart failure in Fort Myers, Florida.^[2]

Trivia

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (October 2007)

• Loaned his 1968 gold medal to the producers of the 1979 Susan Anton film Goldengirl. It was "ruined," Oerter said later.^{[citation needed]}

References

1. ^ Sports Illustrated, July 2-9, 2007, p. 120.
2. ^ [1]^{[dead link]}

External links

• Al Oerter's personal website
• Al Oerter at Find a Grave
• Obituary, The Times, 3 October 2007
• Obituary, The Independent, 4 October 2007
• Obituary and Public Tribute
• Masters T&F Discus Throw All-Time Rankings

Records
Preceded by Jay Silvester	Men's Discus World Record Holder May 18, 1962 – June 4, 1962	Succeeded by Vladimir Trusenyev
Preceded by Vladimir Trusenyev	Men's Discus World Record Holder July 1, 1962 – August 2, 1964	Succeeded by Ludvík Daněk

v • d • e Olympic Champions in Men's Discus Throw 1896: Robert Garrett • 1900: Rudolf Bauer • 1904: Martin Sheridan • 1906: Martin Sheridan • 1908: Martin Sheridan • 1912: Armas Taipale • 1920: Elmer Niklander • 1924: Clarence Houser • 1928: Clarence Houser • 1932: John Anderson • 1936: Ken Carpenter • 1948: Adolfo Consolini • 1952: Sim Iness • 1956: Al Oerter • 1960: Al Oerter • 1964: Al Oerter • 1968 Al Oerter • 1972: Ludvík Daněk • 1976: Mac Wilkins • 1980: Viktor Rashchupkin • 1984: Rolf Danneberg • 1988: Jürgen Schult • 1992: Romas Ubartas • 1996: Lars Riedel • 2000: Virgilijus Alekna • 2004: Virgilijus Alekna • 2008: Gerd Kanter

v • d • e Pan American Champions in Men's Discus Throw  1951: Jim Fuchs (USA) •  1955: Fortune Gordien (USA) •  1959: Al Oerter (USA) •  1963: Bob Humphreys (USA) •  1967: Gary Carlsen (USA) •  1971: Dick Drescher (USA) •  1975: John Powell (USA) •  1979: Mac Wilkins (USA) •  1983: Luis Delís (CUB) •  1987: Luis Delís (CUB) •  1991: Anthony Washington (USA) •  1995: Roberto Moya (CUB) •  1999: Anthony Washington (USA) •  2003: Jason Tunks (CAN) •  2007: Michael Robertson (USA)

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