Remembering legends: Al Oerter

Discus thrower Al Oerter, who won four Olympic gold, is one of the great examples of longevity: he remained in world-class form even into his 50s.

Forty-eight years ago, in the Melbourne Olympics, a world record holder in the discus throw was beaten by an unknown 20-year-old for the gold. The record holder returned home and raised a son, training him to be better than his father. Many years later, at an invitational meet, he sent his son to take on his old rival, who was then 43. The son lost.

The 43-year-old was of course a legend by then. Alfred Oerter. The only track and field athlete (later to be joined by Carl Lewis) to have won four consecutive Olympic golds in the same event. Each time, with an Olympic record. The first to break the 200 feet barrier.

Time, it seems, had no effect on Oerter. On his second comeback, aged 44, divorced, and with two grown daughters, Oerter trained for the 1980 Games. He narrowly missed making the three-man U S team, finishing in fourth, inches outside third.
The man was indefatigable. Four years later he was still hopeful of making it, but missed the trials with an Achilles heel injury. Rest at last? Not for Oerter. He was dreaming of Atlanta.

When Al was "13 or 14" he tried for the Cincinatti Reds baseball team, which was coached by major leaguer Tony Cuccinello. Al pitched and played centerfield. And threw the ball "right over the stadium".

A couple of years later Al, a student at Sewanhaka High School, Long Island Park, was practising the sprints when he noticed the Frisbee-like thing kept skipping onto the track as he ran past. And he'd throw it back…
Within four years would begin one of the most successful Olympics campaigns of all time.

Melbourne, 1956: Al Oerter was standing on the winners' rostrum when he realised he'd just won an Olympic gold. With his first throw; an Olympic record. His knees buckled and he almost lost balance. Second had come Fortune Gordien, the world record holder who would later raise a son, Marcus, to become a discus-thrower himself.

At Rome in 1960 he retained the gold relatively easily, although he did it on his final throw. On May 18, 1962, Oerter became the first discus thrower to break the 200 feet barrier, his first world record.

But it was at Tokyo four years later that his stiffest test came. He was suffering from a chronic cervical disc injury and had to wear a neck harness. Then, one week before the competition, he tore the cartilage in his ribs during practise. Ignoring his doctors' advice, he decided to compete.

After four throws Oerter was in third place, more than seven feet behind world record holder Ludvik Danek and David Weill. On the last throw, when "it felt like someone was trying to tear out my ribs", Al hurled the discus to 200 ft 1 inch, enough to get him the gold and another Olympic record.

And then again, at Mexico City, the legend continued. In fourth place after three throws, Oerter sent the discus past the Olympic record. And into history.
"These are the Olympics," he had once said. "You die for them."

Alfred Oerter
Born: 19 August, 1936
Astoria, New York
Olympic gold (Discus): 1956, 60, 64, 68