Фатех Вергасов
Fatekh Vergasov
Harold Connolly - Гарольд Коннолли
Love is only a heartbeat away at the Olympics
born in 1931
Harold Connolly. Picture from http://www.michtrack.org/past/articles/century/century3.htmThe Olympic Games brings together thousands of young, free and single men and women, so it is hardly surprising that love occasionally upstages sport.
 
For most athletes a gold medal is their ambition before competition, but for a handful of sportsmen and women a golden ring on the finger has been the enduring result.
 
The most famous instance of affairs of the heart overshadowing competition came in Melbourne in 1956 in an incident that briefly melted the Iron Curtain.
 
1956. Мельбурн. Михаил Кривоносов (Mikhael Krivonosov) - серебряная медаль в метании молотаAmerican Harold Connolly had already struck gold in the hammer when Czechoslovakian discus thrower Olga Fikotova caught his eye.
 
She had won gold in her event 24 hours before Connolly's victory, and both met when celebrating their respective victories and were soon walking hand-in-hand in the Olympic village.
 
At the best of times the Cold War love-match would have been a tricky issue.
 
But 1956 saw relations between the East and West nose-dive, with the Soviet Union invading Hungary and Britain and France involved in the Suez crisis with Egypt. Diplomatic obstacles were huge, but Connolly turned up in Prague 10 weeks after the Games for an audience with the president.
 
The president approved the love match and Connolly and Fikatova wed in a civil service attended by 40,000 people, and two separate Catholic and Protestant ceremonies.
 
The Connollys set up home in Harold's home state of Massachusetts and in 1963 Olga gave birth to a son, Jim, later an accomplished javelin thrower.
 
Connolly became the first man to throw a hammer over 70 meters, while Fikatova competed in four more Games, including the 1972 Olympics in Munich where she carried the American Flag at the opening ceremony despite her opposition to the Vietnam War.
Sadly, not every love story has a happy ending, and the pair divorced in 1973
 
Copyright © Middle East Times

27 марта 1957 года закончился свадьбой олимпийский роман Ольги Фикотовой и Гарольда Конноли. Дискоболка из Праги и молотобоец из штата Массачусетс познакомились в олимпийской деревне Мельбурна. А после трудов олимпийских (оба завоевали олимпийское золото), разъехались по домам. Следующее рандеву состоялось через четыре месяца в Прага. Там и сыграли свадьбу. На следующий день молодая чета отбыла на жительство в США.
 
Harold (Hal) Connolly, born on August 01, 1931, Somerville, Massachusetts - an American hammer thrower, and Olga Fikotova, a Czechoslovakian discus thrower, both won gold medals at the Melbourne Games.
 
If this was not enough to draw attention to them then their romance at the Olympic Village and subsequent marriage after the Games was. The two athletes had met several times during international athletics competitions but it was not until Melbourne that a romance really developed.
 
Their marriage ceremonies presented cold war era diplomats with plenty of difficulties but finally took place in [March 27] 1957, first in Prague and later in the United States. [April 24, 1957 Olympic winners Harold Connolly and bride Olga Fikotova arrive in U.S. after Czech government approved emigration]. The pair were divorced in 1973

Hal was America's most successful hammer thrower. In addition to winning an Olympic gold medal, he broke the world record six times, adding almost 13 feet to the previous record.

Hal was the first American thrower to break the 200 foot barrier. He raised the American record 12 times, adding almost 38 feet over a 10 year span. Hal also captured nine national championships, breaking the world record for the second time while winning the 1958 title.
 
Hal was an early supporter of the Relays, capturing the hammer title at the first four editions of the meet. He returned in 1970 to win his fifth Relays championship
 
Copyright © 2003 Mt. San Antonio College. All Rights Reserved

Harold Connolly. Picture was taken from http://www.hammerthrow.comThe 63-year-old Connolly [wrote William Gildea on May 31, 1995], who grew up in Massachusetts, is well suited to work for the Special Olympics. He has demonstrated a will to overcome a handicap. His left arm is four inches shorter than his right, and his left hand is two-thirds the size of his right -- the left arm was damaged badly from a difficult birth.
 
He has never been able to raise his left arm over his head or straighten out the arm or close his left fist or extend the fingers on his left hand. Since a hammer thrower uses two hands on the triangular handle, he had to overcome a huge disadvantage. He did, representing the U.S. in four Olympics, including the triumph in 1956 in Melbourne, Australia
 
Connolly and his second wife, Pat [Patricia Daniels-Winslow - three-time Olympian, pentathlon in 1960, 1964, and 1968], are the parents of Adam Connolly, a 1994 graduate of Springbrook High School in Silver Spring who was No. 1 nationally in the hammer throw among high schoolers and who now attends Stanford. Northern California is as much a hotbed as there is for the hammer throw. McMahon came out of a grass-roots field events program in Los Gatos, Calif., directed by Ed Burke, a four-time Olympian in the hammer
 
© Copyright 1995 The Washington Post

YOU MIGHT SAY Adam Connolly was bred to be an Olympian. His father, Harold, won a gold medal in the hammer throw at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. His mother, Pat, competed in three Olympics as a runner and pentathlete. (Pat and Harold met at the 1960 Rome games.) Between them, they have produced seven children -- and all but one have made sports a major part of their lives
Hammering Dad's Record

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1896. April 06. First Olimpic champion was James Connoly from USA. Первым олимпийским чемпионом современных Игр стал американец Джеймс Конноли (James Connoly), победитель в тройном прыжкеМестом проведения первых Олимпийских Игр современности был выбран, естественно, г.Афины - столица Греции - пусть Игры начнут свое шествие с исконной родины этих прекрасных соревнований. Игры открылись 6 апреля 1896 года и собрали 245 спортсменов из 14 стран.

Первым олимпийским чемпионом современных Игр стал американец Джеймс Конноли (James Connoly) (на фото), победитель в тройном прыжке. Немецкий спортсмен Карл Шуман победил в соревнованиях гимнастов в тройном прыжке, а потом выиграл турнир... борцов!

Почти невероятное сочетание для большого спорта сегодняшних дней. Еще интересней пример американца Роберта Гаррета. Он победил в метании диска и толкании ядра.

А в прыжках в длину и высоту занял соответственно второе и третье места. Но самое интересное, что Гаррет вообще не собирался выступать на Играх! Он случайно с друзьями оказался в Афинах в это время, из афиши узнал о соревнованиях, пришел на стадион и... просто записался в число участников.

Но и это еще не самое удивительное. Как помните, Роберт выиграл соревнования по метанию диска. Так вот его друзья утверждали, что спортсмен познакомился с техникой метания и, собственно, самим диском... за три дня до олимпийского турнира! Вот уж действительно: пришел, увидел, победил!


Моурен Катерина Конноли (Maureen Catherine Connolly) (17.09.1934, США - 21.06.1969), американская теннисистка по прозвищу "Крошка Мo", так как она была  ростом лишь 157 см. (5 футов и 2 дюйма).

В 1953 она стала первой женщиной, которая закончила турнир Большого Шлема, выиграв все четыре соревнования. Все ее титулы победительницы девяти чемпионатов и турнира Большого Шлема были завоеваны между 1951 и 1954.

Она также представляла США на Вайтменовском Кубке. Ее карьера закончилась в 1954 после несчастного случая, произошедшего вовремя езды на лошади


Гарольд Конноли. Путешествие за Олимпийским Золотом
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