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87-490: Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s Laverne Clarence " Verne " Gagne ( / ˈ ɡ ɑː n j eɪ / GAHN -yay ; February 26, 1926 – April 27, 2015) was an American amateur and professional wrestler , football player , wrestling trainer and wrestling promoter . He was the owner and promoter of the Minneapolis -based American Wrestling Association (AWA),

174-401: A face and utilized the sleeper hold as his finisher. His longest reign as champion was for 7 years, from August 31, 1968, to November 8, 1975, dropping the title to Nick Bockwinkel. He would regain the title from Bockwinkel on July 18, 1980, and drop it back to Bockwinkel on May 19, 1981. After his last title lost in 1981, Gagne would wrestle occasionally for AWA until 1986. His last match was

261-457: A 10–0 lead in first the period, they will win by the superiority of points. Only a fall, injury default, or disqualification terminates the match; all other modes of victory result only in period termination. This format replaced the old format of three two-minute periods played best two out of three. One side effect of the old format was that the losing wrestler could outscore the winner. For example, periods may be scored 3–2, 0–4, 1–0, leading to

348-468: A 97-year-old resident of the Bloomington, Minnesota nursing care facility where they both resided. According to Gutmann's widow, who was not present during the altercation, Gagne picked Gutmann up and threw him to the floor, then broke his hip by pulling back on his body. "'The attack happened quickly while the men were at a table', Bloomington Police Chief Jeff Potts said. 'It was more like "a push and

435-470: A U.S. team represented by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at the Empire Stadium. Only one modern pentathlon event was contested, the five component sports– riding, fencing, shooting, swimming, and running- being held over six days. Scoring was by point-for-place system across the five phases with the winner being the athlete with the lowest combined ranking. The sport's international federation,

522-632: A candidate for 1948. Great Britain almost handed the 1948 games to the United States due to post-war financial and rationing problems, but King George VI said that this could be the chance to restore Britain from World War II . The official report of the London Olympics shows that there was no case of London being pressed to run the Games against its will. It says: In June 1946 the IOC, through

609-664: A choice. In the same interview, Greg mentioned that wrestling was a much better paying job at the time than playing football and as a result, Verne chose wrestling over football. By 1949, Gagne had signed with the NFL's Green Bay Packers . He went on to play three preseason games with the Packers before being released. In 1949, Gagne decided to wrestle professionally, starting his career in Texas. In his debut, he defeated Abe Kashey, with former World Heavyweight boxing Champion Jack Dempsey as

696-475: A core discipline. Greco-Roman and freestyle differ in what holds are permitted; in Greco-Roman, the wrestlers are permitted to hold and attack only above the waist. In both Greco-Roman and freestyle, points can be scored in the following ways: As in the international styles, collegiate wrestling awards points for takedowns and reversals. Penalty points are awarded in collegiate wrestling according to

783-582: A gold medal in Helsinki , won bronze in the team jumping event. Seven events were contested, six for men and one for women. Ilona Elek , who had won the women's foil competition in Berlin , was one of only two competitors to successfully defend an Olympic title in London. Elek's sister, Margit, placed sixth in the same event. Edoardo Mangiarotti won three medals, two silver and a bronze, having previously won

870-641: A gold medal in the 1936 Games. Throughout his career the Italian won 13 Olympic fencing medals and 27 world championship medals, both of which remain records. Thirteen nations participated in the field hockey competition. The tournament was ultimately won by India, who defeated Great Britain to claim the country's first gold medal as an independent nation under captain Kishan Lal and Vice-Captain Kunwar Digvijay Singh . Eighteen teams entered

957-410: A medal sport, appearing as an indoor competition for the first time after poor weather disrupted the matches at the 1936 Berlin Games . The event, for men only, was contested by 23 nations split into four pools for the preliminary round; the top two in each pool advanced to the quarterfinals with the other teams entering playoffs for the minor placings. The United States and France reached the final which

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1044-515: A member of the Hungary's world champion pistol shooting team in 1938 when a grenade shattered his right hand – his pistol hand. Takács taught himself to shoot with his left hand and, 10 years after his injury, he won an Olympic gold medal in the rapid-fire pistol event. Eleven events were contested, six for men and five for women. The United States won eight gold medals, including all six men's events, and 15 medals in total. Eighteen nations fielded

1131-409: A pin. Women wrestlers wear a higher cut singlet usually with a sports-bra underneath. Wrestling shoes are light, flexible, thin-soled, ankle-high sneakers that allow maximum speed and traction on the mat without giving up ankle support. The current rules call for laces (if any) to be covered so that they do not come untied during competition. In American high school and college wrestling headgear

1218-468: A postal vote, gave the summer Games to London and the winter competition to St Moritz . London was selected ahead of Baltimore , Minneapolis , Lausanne , Los Angeles , and Philadelphia . London, which had previously hosted the 1908 Summer Olympics , became the second city to host the Olympics twice; Paris hosted the event in 1900 and 1924. London later became the first city to host the Olympics for

1305-540: A regular basis. Gagne's booking strategies for the wrestlers themselves continued to follow more traditional themes than those of the WWF, believing as he did that the top stars should be highly gifted technical wrestlers rather than those with just charismatic personalities. Throughout the mid to late 1980s, the AWA would lose the vast majority of its top stars to McMahon, while ratings and live attendance continued to decline. By 1991,

1392-637: A result of the death as, because of Gagne's dementia, he lacked the mental capacity necessary to be criminally culpable. Gagne was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease (or possibly chronic traumatic encephalopathy caused by a lifetime of head injuries) and had been living in the memory-loss section of a Bloomington, Minnesota health care facility. In January 2012 he was living in the home of his daughter Beth and her husband Will. He continued to make public appearances in his last years, aided by his son Greg . On April 27, 2015, Gagne died in Bloomington at

1479-585: A shove" and it caused Gutmann to fall.'" Neither man had any recollection of the incident. Gutmann was admitted to the hospital, and died on February 14 from complications of the injury. On February 25, 2009, the older man's death was officially ruled a homicide by the Hennepin County medical examiner's office. On March 12, 2009, the Hennepin County Prosecutor's office officially announced that Gagne would not be criminally charged as

1566-469: A six-man tag with his son Greg, and Jimmy Snuka defeating Boris Zhukov , John Nord and Sheik Adnan Al-Kassie on June 29, 1986. As AWA head, Gagne was known for putting on an "old school" show. He sought out wrestlers with amateur backgrounds over the larger, more impressive-looking wrestlers who dominated professional wrestling in the 1980s. This led to a problem with his biggest draw, Hulk Hogan , whom Gagne had acquired after Hogan had been let go by

1653-466: A team in these games, which were ultimately won by Italy, who were undefeated throughout. The tournament was conducted in a mult-tier bracket, with the best four teams from the group stages participating in a final round-robin bracket. Silver was claimed by Hungary, and bronze by the Netherlands. Six events were contested, all for men only. These games marked the addition of the bantamweight class to

1740-782: A third time when the city hosted the 2012 Summer Olympics . Lord Burghley , a gold medal winner at the 1928 Olympics , member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and president of the Amateur Athletics Association was named Chairman of the Organising and Executive Committees. The other members of the committees were: Colonel Evan Hunter, General Secretary of the British Olympic Association , and Chief de mission for Great Britain; Lord Aberdare ,

1827-406: A total of 102 goals were scored; an average 5.66 goals per match. The joint top scorers with seven goals each were Gunnar Nordahl of Sweden and Denmark's John Hansen . Nordahl and Swedish teammates Gunnar Gren and Nils Liedholm went on to play for A.C. Milan and together were nicknamed Gre-No-Li . This was the first international football tournament ever to be broadcast on television, with

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1914-449: A total score of 4–6 but a win for the wrestler scoring fewer points. In collegiate wrestling, the period structure is different. A college match consists of one three-minute period, followed by two two-minute periods, with an overtime round if necessary. A high school match typically consists of three two-minute periods, with an overtime round if necessary. Under the standard rules for collegiate wrestling, draws are not possible; this rule

2001-680: A world champion in North America and is third (behind Bruno Sammartino and Lou Thesz ) for the longest single world title reign. He is one of only seven men inducted into each of the WWE , WCW and Professional Wrestling halls of fame. Gagne was born in Corcoran, Minnesota , and grew up on a farm in Robbinsdale, Minnesota . He left home at the age of 14 after his mother died. He attended Robbinsdale High School , where he went on to win

2088-868: A wrestling promotion of his own. In 1960, Gagne formed his own promotion, the American Wrestling Alliance (later it became Association). Before this, the Minneapolis territory was under the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) umbrella. Setting up to pull away from the NWA, the Minneapolis territory (as it was known), gave a "story-line only" edict to the NWA in May 1960 that unless their NWA World Champion Pat O'Connor defended his title against Verne Gagne with 90 days, Verne Gagne would become recognized World Champion by default. There

2175-424: Is a positionally-based form of grappling , and thus generally prohibits the following: While there is not much equipment that a wrestler wears, it is still highly specialized. A wrestling singlet is a one-piece, tight-fitting, colored, lycra uniform. The uniform is tight-fitting so as not to get grasped accidentally by the opponent and allows the referee to see each wrestler's body clearly when awarding points or

2262-629: Is mandatory to protect the ears from cauliflower ear and other injuries. Headgear is made from molded plastic polymer or vinyl coated energy absorbing foam over a rigid hard liner and strapped to the head tightly. In the international styles headgear is optional. Wrestling is conducted on a padded mat that must have excellent shock absorption, tear resistance, and compression qualities. Most mats are made of PVC rubber nitrile foam. Recent advances in technology have brought about new mats made using closed cell, cross-linked polyethylene foam covered in vinyl backed with non-woven polyester. The countries with

2349-409: Is sometimes modified for young wrestlers. A match can be won in the following ways: While having similar victory conditions with Greco-Roman and freestyle, such as wins by fall , decision , injury , and disqualification , victory conditions in collegiate wrestling differ on some points from the international styles: Dual meet scoring is very similar on the high school level. Amateur wrestling

2436-585: The 1944 Olympic Games had been provisionally planned for London. This was the second time London hosted the Olympic Games, having previously hosted them in 1908 , making it the second city to host summer olympics twice (after Paris). The Olympics would return again to London 64 years later in 2012 , making London the first city to host the games thrice, and the only such city until Paris , who hosted their third games in 2024 , and Los Angeles , who will host theirs in 2028 . The 1948 Olympic Games were also

2523-725: The AWA World Heavyweight Championship ten times and the IWA World Heavyweight Championship once as the IWA World Heavyweight Championship was considered a world championship in Japan. He has also won top professional wrestling promotions World Heavyweight Championships such as the World Heavyweight Championship (Omaha version) five times. He holds the record for the longest combined reign as

2610-545: The Dumont Network , where he wowed audiences with his technical prowess. He was rumored to be one of the highest-paid wrestlers during the 1950s, reportedly earning a hundred thousand dollars a year. On June 14, 1957, Edouard Carpentier defeated NWA Champion Lou Thesz in Chicago. The NWA later overruled the decision of the referee in Chicago and gave the title back to Thesz. However, certain wrestling territories of

2697-583: The Games of the XIV Olympiad and officially branded as London 1948 , were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London , United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus caused by the outbreak of World War II , these were the first Summer Olympics held since the 1936 Games in Berlin . The 1940 Olympic Games had been scheduled for Tokyo and then for Helsinki , while

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2784-541: The International Olympic Committee announced that women's freestyle wrestling would be added to the Olympic games in the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens, Greece with a total of four different weight classes. Until the early 1990s, the majority of women who participated in the sport had no other choice but to join the available men's teams. At the high school level, this may still be required in some areas depending on

2871-644: The International Olympic Committee but appeared on the 1948 Official Report as springboard diving and highboard diving , respectively. All four gold medals, and 10 out of 12 awarded in total, were won by the United States. Victoria Manalo Draves , who won both gold medals in the women's events, and Sammy Lee , who took a gold and a bronze in the men's events, became the first Asian Americans to win gold medals at an Olympic Games. Six gold medals were awarded in equestrian, individual and team dressage , individual and team eventing and individual and team show jumping . Harry Llewellyn and Foxhunter , who would claim

2958-614: The National Wrestling Coaches Association for the past 6 years; the world's top 16 teams compete in this event. In 2004, Missouri Valley College held the first Women's National Wrestling Championships which honored four individual champions. Later, the event would be hosted by the University of the Cumberlands in 2006. 1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics , officially

3045-533: The Royal Family , at 2.45 pm. Fifteen minutes later the competitors entered the stadium in a procession that took 50 minutes. The last team was that of the United Kingdom. When it had passed the saluting base, Lord Burghley began his welcome: After welcoming the athletes to two weeks of "keen but friendly rivalry", he said London represented a "warm flame of hope for a better understanding in

3132-494: The Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne was founded during the Games, on 3 August 1948. Sweden won two medals in the event; William Grut won the gold, with a final points total of 16, and Gösta Gärdin took bronze. American George Moore won the silver medal. Seven rowing events were contested, all open to men only. Great Britain and the United States each claimed two gold medals. The events were held on

3219-623: The United States Marine Corps in 1943. He played on the Marines Football Team with the likes of Elroy "Crazy Legs" Hirsch , Gopher Great George Franck and other NFL Stars. Gagne also served with the U.S. Navy 's Underwater Demolition Team . He chose to return to the University of Minnesota , where, as an amateur wrestler, he captured two NCAA titles. In 1948, he beat Charles Gottfried of Illinois in

3306-554: The University of Cambridge with impressive Olympian good looks. Mark ran a lap of the track – created with cinders from the domestic coal fires of Leicester – and climbed the steps to the Olympic cauldron. After saluting the crowd, he turned and lit the flame. After more speeches, Donald Finlay of the British team (given his RAF rank of Wing Commander ) took the Olympic Oath on behalf of all competitors. The National Anthem

3393-723: The Wembley area instead of an Olympic Village , as were the 1936 Games and the subsequent 1952 Games in Helsinki. A record 59 nations were represented by 4,104 athletes, 3,714 men, and 390 women in 19 sport disciplines . Germany and Japan were not invited to participate in the games; the Soviet Union was invited but chose not to send any athletes, sending observers instead to prepare for the 1952 Olympics. Israel requested to participate (symbolically represented by Raya Bronstein and Frieda Berson-Lichtblau  [ he ] ) but

3480-624: The World Wide Wrestling Federation and who Gagne also felt was not championship material, due to the fact that Hogan was a power wrestler rather than a technical wrestler. Seeing Hogan as the company's top draw, Gagne did, however, let Hogan feud with Bockwinkel. Eventually, as noted on the 2006 Spectacular Legacy of AWA DVD, Gagne agreed to make Hogan his champion after Hogan's feud with Bockwinkel ran its course in April 1983, but only on condition that Gagne would receive

3567-478: The decathlon , Bob Mathias of the United States became the youngest male ever to win an Olympic track and field gold medal at the age of seventeen. The most individual medals were won by Veikko Huhtanen of Finland, who took three golds, a silver and a bronze in men's gymnastics. The United States won the most gold and overall medals, having 300 athletes compared to the United Kingdom's 404. France fielded

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3654-472: The 191-pound class to win his first NCAA championship in Pennsylvania. The next year, he returned to the championships but had moved up a class, to heavyweight. In the final, he met future NWA World Heavyweight Champion Dick Hutton , the two-time defending national champion in the division. The showdown ended in a 1–1 tie, but Gagne was awarded the win because he controlled Hutton for longer periods of

3741-469: The BBC's Television Newsreel programme do also still exist. The 1948 Summer Olympics featured 136 medal events, covering 23 disciplines in 17 different sports and in arts. In the list below, the number of events in each discipline is noted in parentheses. These Games also included Lacrosse and Swedish (Ling) gymnastics as demonstration sports. Empire Stadium was the venue for 33 athletics events at

3828-526: The Cumberlands, Menlo College, Pacific University, and Neosho County CC. Cal-State Bakersfield are other schools that had a number of women competitors that only competed against each other or occasionally against Canadian college teams. As the sport continued to grow, coaches within women's wrestling formed the Women's Collegiate Wrestling Association (WCWA). This group created rules regarding eligibility, bylaws, and elected leaders for this association. Each year

3915-486: The Games was watched by at least one viewer in the Channel Islands . The BBC's official report on the coverage estimated that an average of half a million viewers watched each of their Olympic broadcasts. The BBC paid £ 1,000 for the broadcasting rights. Of the live television coverage, only a small section of the opening ceremony broadcast still exists in the archives. However, various filmed reports shot for

4002-515: The Games; 24 for men and nine for women. Of these, four were making their Olympic debut – the men's 10 km walk, and the women's 200 metres, long jump and shot put. A total of 754 athletes from 53 countries participated in athletics. Fanny Blankers-Koen of the Netherlands, a 30-year-old mother of two children nicknamed "The Flying Housewife", won four gold medals, in the 100 metres, 200 metres, 80 metre high hurdles, and 4 x 100 metre relay. As world record holder in

4089-548: The Greco-Roman team would not be competing. Gagne joined the National Football League (NFL) soon after being drafted by the Chicago Bears in the 16th round (145th pick) of the 1947 NFL draft . In 2006's The Spectacular Legacy of the AWA , Verne's son, Greg , said in an interview that Bears owner George Halas prevented his father from pursuing both football and wrestling, and forced him to make

4176-470: The NWA including Nebraska refused to go along with the decision and continued to recognize Carpentier. Carpentier lost his title to Gagne in Omaha on August 9, 1958, making him the recognized NWA World champion in the NWA territories that had recognized Carpentier, before dropping the belt three months later to Wilbur Snyder . By early 1960, the wealthy Gagne rarely wrestled and turned his focus towards building

4263-790: The Olympic Flag at the Richmond Park camp at an opening ceremony in July as Minister of Works , Charles Key , declared the camp open. These were the first games to be held following the death of Pierre de Coubertin , founder of the International Olympic Committee , in 1937. They were also the last to include an arts competition , which took place at the Victoria and Albert Museum . Nicknamed "relay of peace" due to crossing through several countries in Europe to represent their union after

4350-413: The Olympic programme, the first change to the programme since 1920. The United States won four gold medals, and eight overall; the remaining two gold medals were claimed by Egypt. Rodney Wilkes won the first medal for Trinidad and Tobago in an Olympic games, winning silver and Mohammad Jafar Salmasi won the first medal for Iran in an Olympic games, winning bronze in the featherweight division; gold medal

4437-743: The River Thames at Henley, over the same course as the Henley Royal Regatta . The sailing events at the Games took place in Torquay , in the southwest of Great Britain. Five events were contested, with the United States winning four total medals. One of host nation Great Britain's three gold medals at the Games came in the Swallow class from Stewart Morris and David Bond . In the Firefly class Danish sailor Paul Elvstrøm won gold

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4524-478: The Second World War, the torch relay for these games took place from 17 to 29 July 1948, with a distance of 3,160 kilometres (1,960 mi) and 1,416 torchbearers. The torch was designed by Ralph Lavers. There were three types of torches: the standard one made of aluminum and powered by solid fuel , a special one powered by butane gas (used aboard HMS  Whitesand Bay ) and a third one used in

4611-473: The WWF. McMahon wished to take his promotion "national" and do away with the traditional territorial system that dominated the North American pro wrestling landscape for decades. Unlike most of his contemporaries, by the mid-1980s, Gagne began promoting the AWA beyond the geographical bounds of its traditional territory. In September 1985, ESPN began broadcasting AWA Championship Wrestling , giving

4698-628: The Wembley stadium, made of stainless steel and powered by a magnesium candle. The journey began with the lighting of the flame in Olympia . Due to the civil war in Greek soil , the Greek part of the relay went directly to Corfu , where HMS Whitesand Bay picked the flame to transport it to Bari . From there, the flame crossed Italy, Switzerland, France, Luxembourg and Belgium. After a boat trip from Calais to Dover (aboard of HMS  Bicester ),

4785-419: The age of 89. Amateur wrestling At the middle school and high school levels, wrestlers compete in scholastic wrestling . In collegiate wrestling , there are minor differences in some scholastic wrestling rules. The rapid rise in the popularity of the combat sport mixed martial arts (MMA) has increased interest in amateur wrestling due to its effectiveness within the sport and its consideration as

4872-481: The bulk of Hogan's revenues from both merchandise sales and his matches in Japan, which Hogan refused. In late 1983, Hogan accepted an offer from Vincent K. McMahon to return to the WWF. The Iron Sheik , whom Gagne trained, alleged that Gagne bribed him to inflict career-threatening damage on Hogan's knee after it became apparent that Hogan was leaving for the WWF. What followed was an exodus of major stars from various territories and promotions, including Gagne's AWA, to

4959-513: The current rules, which penalize moves that would impair the life or limb of the opponent. However, the manner how infractions are penalized and points awarded to the offended wrestler differ in some aspects from the international styles. Collegiate wrestling also awards points for: In the international styles, the format is now two three-minute periods. A wrestler wins the match when they were able to get more points than their opponent or 10 points lead in two rounds. For example, if one competitor gets

5046-599: The damage had been done, and the AWA shut down after 30 years. Gagne would eventually end up in bankruptcy court. In April 2006, Gagne was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame by his son, Greg Gagne . He is one of only seven people to be inducted into the WWE , WCW and Professional Wrestling Halls of Fame. In 2018, he was inducted into the Nebraska Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame. On January 26, 2009, Gagne got into an altercation with Helmut Gutmann,

5133-509: The despite the Danish Olympic Committee having misgivings about sending him to compete as the 18-year-old could speak no English. This was the first of four consecutive Olympics with a gold medal for Elvstrøm. Four events were contested, all open to both men and women, although all medals were won by men. In the 50 metre rifle, prone position, only two points separated the top three competitors. Károly Takács had been

5220-567: The first of two summer Games held under the IOC presidency of Sigfrid Edström . The 1948 Olympics came to be known as the "Austerity Games" due to the difficult economic climate and rationing imposed in the aftermath of World War II. No new venues were built for the games (with events taking place mainly at Wembley Stadium , also known as Empire Stadium, and the Empire Pool at Wembley Park ), and athletes were housed in existing accommodation at

5307-569: The first time that a women's canoeing event had been contested in the Olympics. Sweden won four gold medals (two by Gert Fredriksson ) and Czechoslovakia three. Six events were contested – two road bicycle racing events and four track cycling events. No women's cycling events were contested. France won three gold medals and Italy two, while Great Britain captured five medals overall, but none were gold. Four diving events were contested, two for men, and two for women. The events are labelled as 3  metre springboard and 10  metre platform by

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5394-406: The first time. There were twenty of them—one for each Olympic sport and three separate pictograms for the arts competition, the opening ceremony and the closing ceremony. They were called "Olympic symbols" and intended for use on tickets. The background of each pictogram resembled an escutcheon . Olympic pictograms appeared again 16 years later, and were used at all subsequent Summer Olympics. At

5481-646: The flame traveled to several towns in Southeast England until the arrival at Wembley for the Opening ceremony. The cities and towns visited by the Olympic flame were as follows: The Games opened on 29 July. Army bands began playing at 2 pm for the 85,000 spectators in Empire Stadium at Wembley Park . The international and national organisers arrived at 2.35 pm and King George VI and Queen Elizabeth , with Queen Mary and other members of

5568-488: The football competition at these Olympics. Due to the rise of the professional game during the 12 years since the Berlin Olympics the number of talented amateurs for teams to select from was reduced. The gold medal was won by Sweden, who defeated Yugoslavia 3–1 in the final. Denmark defeated hosts Great Britain, managed by Matt Busby of Manchester United , 5–3 to win the bronze medal. In the tournament's 18 matches

5655-423: The leading wrestlers in the Olympic Games and World Championships are Iran, the United States, Russia (and some of the former Soviet Union republics, especially Armenia, Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan), Bulgaria, Turkey, Hungary, Cuba, India, Canada, Japan, Pakistan, South and North Korea, Germany, and historically Sweden and Finland. Because of the successful growth in female participation,

5742-460: The line for the bronze. The decathlon was won by 17-year-old Bob Mathias of the United States. He became the youngest ever Olympic gold medallist in athletics and when asked how he would celebrate he replied: "I'll start shaving, I guess." Categories: sports-related architecture, literature, music, painting, and sculpture. These Olympics were the last time art competitions were considered Olympic events. Basketball made its second appearance as

5829-413: The long jump and high jump Blankers-Koen may have been able to win further medals but, at this time, female athletes were limited to three individual events. Duncan White won the first medal of any kind for Sri Lanka (then Ceylon ) when he finished second in the 400 metre hurdles. Arthur Wint became the first Jamaican to win an Olympic gold medal, in the men's 400 metres; he also won silver in

5916-410: The match. He was also an alternate for the U.S. freestyle wrestling team at the 1948 Olympic Games , after losing a closely contested wrestle-off match to the eventual gold medalist Henry Wittenberg . He earned the starting spot for the U.S. Greco-Roman wrestling team for the 1948 Olympics by finishing second in the U.S. freestyle wrestle-offs, but upon arriving to London, the U.S. coaches decided that

6003-403: The men's 800 metres. Audrey Patterson became the first African-American woman to win a medal, winning bronze in a track and field event. A few days later Alice Coachman became the first woman of colour in the world and the first African-American woman to win a gold medal in track and field in the history of the modern Olympics with a jump of 1.68 m (5' 6 1 ⁄ 4 "). She also

6090-559: The number of intercollegiate programs continued to prosper with the WCWA now recognizing a total of 28 teams. Within these teams there are several who have National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) affiliation and most of them are allowed to compete in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). There is also a national dual meet championship for women's intercollegiate teams that have been sponsored by

6177-477: The number of wrestlers. Brookline High School in Brookline, Massachusetts was the first public school in America to create a varsity girls wrestling team. Girls have at times still competed against boys. University of Minnesota-Morris was the first university to create a varsity women's wrestling team. UMM's head coach, Doug Reese, followed in the footsteps of other schools like Missouri Valley College that pioneered programs for female wrestlers. University of

6264-574: The other British member of the IOC; Sir Noel Curtis-Bennett ; Alderman H.E. Fern; E.J. Holt; J. Emrys Lloyd, who became the committee's legal advisor; C.B. Cowley of the London Press and Advertising; R.B. Studdert, managing director of the Army & Navy Stores ; A.E. Porritt , a member of the IOC for New Zealand who resided in London; S.F. Rous , Secretary of The Football Association ; and Jack Beresford . Olympic pictograms were introduced for

6351-471: The predominant promotion throughout the Midwest and Manitoba for many years. He remained in this position until 1991, when the company folded. As an amateur wrestler, Gagne won two NCAA titles and was an alternate for the U.S. freestyle wrestling team at the 1948 Olympic Games before turning professional in 1949. Gagne was an 11-time world champion in major professional wrestling promotions , having held

6438-411: The promotion national exposure like the WWF. However, the AWA suffered numerous setbacks. ESPN did not treat AWA Championship Wrestling as a priority; the show was sometimes not aired in its regular time slot (occasionally ESPN would change the time slot without advertising the change beforehand), and sometimes it was preempted by live sporting events. This resulted in many fans being unable to tune in on

6525-666: The referee. On November 13, 1950, Gagne captured the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) Junior Heavyweight title in a tournament for the vacant championship. In September 1953 in Fred Kohler Enterprises , Gagne was awarded the newly created Chicago version of the NWA United States Championship . Gagne became one of the most well-known stars in wrestling during the golden age of television , thanks to his exposure on

6612-405: The second largest team, with 316 athletes and finished third in the medal standings. The host nation ended up twelfth. In June 1939, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) awarded the 1944 Olympic Summer Games to London, ahead of Rome , Detroit , Budapest , Lausanne , Helsinki , Montreal and Athens . World War II stopped the plans and the Games were cancelled so London again stood as

6699-520: The state championship for high school wrestling in 1942 and 1943. In 1943, he was recruited to play football at the University of Minnesota as defensive end and tight end, while also continuing wrestling. As a freshman, Gagne won the Big Ten 175 pound wrestling title in 1944 after returning from duty in the Marine Corps. Gagne's football and wrestling career was interrupted by a tour of duty with

6786-774: The time of the Games, food, petrol and building were still subject to the rationing imposed during the war in Britain; because of this the 1948 Olympics came to be known as the " Austerity Games". Athletes were given the same increased rations as dockers and miners, 5,467 calories a day instead of the normal 2,600. Building an Olympic Village was deemed too expensive, and athletes were housed in existing accommodation. Male competitors stayed at RAF camps in Uxbridge and West Drayton , and an Army camp in Richmond Park ; female competitors in London colleges. Lord Burghley unfurled

6873-745: The total medals given. London was the first Olympics to have a political defection. Marie Provazníková , the 57-year-old Czechoslovak President of the International Gymnastics Federation , refused to return home, citing "lack of freedom" after the Czechoslovak coup in February led to the country's inclusion in the Soviet Bloc . For the 1948 Olympics, the Technicolor Corporation devised

6960-488: The two semi-finals, the bronze medal match and the final all being shown live in full by the BBC. Nine events were contested, eight for men, and one for women. In the men's pommel horse, a tie was declared between three competitors, all Finns, and no medals other than gold were awarded in this event. Finland won six gold medals overall, and Switzerland three. Lacrosse was an exhibition sport at these Olympics. An English team composed of players from various universities played

7047-621: The world which has burned so low." At 4 pm, the time shown on the clock tower on the London Games symbol, the King declared the Games open, 2,500 pigeons were set free and the Olympic Flag raised to its 35 ft (11 m) flagpole at the end of the stadium. The Royal Horse Artillery sounded a 21-gun salute to welcome the last runner in the Torch Relay: John Mark , a British track and field sprinter and student at

7134-582: Was denied as the International Olympic Committee did not yet recognize the country, while the Olympic mandate of Palestine expired. This in turn shifted the view of the Arab countries who had intended to boycott the event and now decided to take part. One of the star performers at the 1948 Games was Dutch sprinter Fanny Blankers-Koen . Dubbed the "Flying Housewife", the thirty-year-old mother of two won four gold medals in athletics. In

7221-613: Was never any intention of such a match taking place. At the end of the 90 day period, the AWA was formed in August 1960 and it was announced that because NWA champion Pat O'Connor failed to meet Gagne, that the AWA recognized Gagne as the first AWA World Champion . Some of Gagne's biggest feuds were against Gene Kiniski , Dr. Bill Miller (under a mask both as Dr. X and then Mr. M), Fritz Von Erich , Dr. X , The Crusher , Ray Stevens , Mad Dog Vachon , Larry Hennig and Nick Bockwinkel while champion and title changes. He always wrestled as

7308-414: Was sung and the massed athletes turned and marched out of the stadium, led by Greece, tailed by Britain. The 580-page official report concluded: The opening ceremony and over 60 hours of Games coverage was broadcast live on BBC television , which was then officially available only in the London area. However, the BBC's transmissions could be received much further away in the right conditions, and some of

7395-450: Was the only American woman to win an athletics gold medal during the 1948 Olympics. The marathon saw a dramatic finish with the first man to enter the stadium, Etienne Gailly of Belgium, exhausted and nearly unable to run. While he was struggling, Argentinian athlete Delfo Cabrera and Tom Richards of Great Britain passed him, with Cabrera winning the gold medal and Richards obtaining the silver. Gailly managed to recover enough to cross

7482-410: Was won by Egyptian Mahmoud Fayad , with a new Olympic and World record of 332.5 kg. Sixteen wrestling events were held, eight Greco-Roman and eight freestyle. All were open to men only. Both categories were dominated by two nations. Turkey was the most successful nation with six gold medals followed by Sweden receiving 5 gold medals. These two teams claimed 24 total medals, in other words half of

7569-573: Was won by the Americans 65–21 to claim the gold medal. This was the second of the United States' seven consecutive gold medals in Olympic men's and women's basketball. Brazil defeated Mexico 52–47 to claim bronze. Eight different classifications were contested ranging from flyweight , for boxers weighing less than 51 kg, to heavyweight , for boxers over 80 kg. South Africa, Argentina and Hungary each won two gold medals. Nine events were contested, eight for men and one for women. This marked

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