Paris was more like an inferno than a fashion capital on that July afternoon of 1924. As the temperature soared to 42 degrees Celsius, one runner after another in the cross-country race succumbed to the heat and collapsed, without reaching the finishing line at the Colombes Stadium.
But, for one man it was just another day at the office. He duly won the gold, beating the competition by a minute-and-a-half. That was Paavo Nurmi’s fourth gold.
A couple of days earlier he had won two — the 5000m and 1500m — within as many hours, with Olympic records in both events. He wasn’t done yet, though.
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On the very next day after the demanding cross-country race, he won the 3000m team gold. Yet, it was a bitterly furious Nurmi that left Paris. Finland hadn’t fielded him in the 10,000m, probably because they wanted to divide the races between the country’s top runners.
Nurmi could easily have won his sixth gold in Paris. One of the most astonishing performances in Olympic history could have been even more astonishing.
There would, however, be more disappointment for the ‘Flying Finn’ at the Olympics. He wasn’t allowed to participate in 1932 at Los Angeles because of his suspected professional status.
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It was alleged to be a political conspiracy by Sweden and it destroyed Nurmi’s dream of bowing out of the Olympics with a marathon gold, like his idol and fellow-countryman Hannes Kolehmainen.
But, he had already become a legend, with nine golds and three silvers from the 12 events he took part in.
Not bad for someone who was forced to be the breadwinner of his family at the age of 12, as an errand boy for a bakery at Turku, in southwest Finland.