Day 6: M 5000M, M 400M

The 5000-metre race was given a prestigious setting, as the Queen of the Netherlands arrived to watch the games on August 3rd. If she imagined she would see Paavo Nurmi and Ville Ritola in top form, she was mistaken. Nurmi had injured his hip while splashing in the water jump during the steeplechase heats. Ritola, in turn, had hurt his ankle in those same first-round races.

Off they went with crazy grit. In the early stages, Nurmi also did his part as a windbreaker, but at the 2600m mark, Ritola started to pull away with a tormented look on his face. Nurmi stuck to his heels. The pace increased, and the back of the pack began to unravel like old, worn-out trousers. The race, however, was only decided on the final bend. Nurmi began to coil alongside Ritola. He intended to settle the matter just as he had in the 10,000. However, Ritola unleashed a blistering kick with a full 150 metres still to go. Nurmi had no answer. Nurmi was running on empty and was so spent after the race that he collapsed onto the grass to lie down.

Run to Exhaustion

Some foreign journalists claimed the finish was a fixed race. If that was the case, Nurmi would have been wise to consider an alternative career on the grand stage of the Finnish National Theatre. A Finnish sports magazine journal also didn't believe in a pre-arranged outcome:

“We have never seen Nurmi in such dire straits, so completely run to exhaustion; no one has.”

The Wolf of Peräseinäjoki had learned his lesson from the 10,000, where Nurmi had attacked at the start of the final straight. This time, Ritola apparently managed to surprise his rival by starting to barrel down the track with 150 meters still to go.

The victory was sweet for Ritola in the sense that the New York-based working man had focused on it. He had been pissed off by a strange race held in Porvoo earlier in the season. He had decided then and there that the embarrassing tactical race would be atoned for in the Amsterdam 5000. The 10,000 was no big deal.

The Amsterdam 5000 was significant for Ritola in that he was able, for the first and only time, to beat Nurmi in a major championship. The race was also one of the carpenter's last outdoor competitions. He competed indoors a few times during the winter of 1930 and tried to make it to the Los Angeles games two years later, but his spring test runs in the marathon ended in withdrawals.

The 1500 Metres Took Its Toll

Edvin Wide, who once again finished third, lamented his choice of events. In addition to the 5000, he had participated in the 1500 and lost strength there. “Damn it, why couldn't I stay out of the 1500,” the blue-and-yellow primary school teacher cursed. “If I had skipped the shorter distance, I would have been all right today. And then you would have seen something different.”

A Finnish sports journal, whose attitude towards Wide was strangely hostile,  curtly dismissed the Swede's comments: “It’s easy to talk big in hindsight and pick at facts that have already happened.”

The Finnish sporting public and press demanded a lot from their long-distance runners in the 1920s. A one-two finish in the 5000 wasn't quite enough. A one-two-three should have been secured. A reporter for the sports journal Urheilulehti complained that Eino Purje was run into the ground in the 1500, which caused him to drop out of the 5000. The real reason for his withdrawal, however, seemed to be the wounds he sustained during the European mile.

Audiovisual

• Film (IOC)

Results and Reports

• Olympedia

• Wikipedia

Born in Brooklyn but called the Arkansas Bull thanks to his home university (where he also played American football), Ray Barbuti thundered along the inside lane to victory in the 400.

The 23-year-old chap faded on the home stretch and was afraid he wouldn't die. However, he managed to beat by a couple of meters Canada's Jimmy Ball, who was tearing down the final straight with his tail on fire, adding to the fine success of the hockey country in the Amsterdam sprints.

“Damn it, why did that boy have to start his final kick so late,” cursed a Finnish Urheilulehti columnist, lamenting the Canadian's defeat in a fit of objectivity.

“Run, kid, run”

The American media considered the even one-lap race to be the best of the games. And no wonder, as it was the only individual running victory for Uncle Sam's fellows in Amsterdam. Barbuti explained the race to his hometown paper, the New York Times:

“I didn't watch the others. I just kept telling myself, ‘run, kid, run’. I don’t remember anything of the last 100 meters except a mad desire to get to the tape.”

Barbuti, who had prepared for the race with sherry and an egg toddy, found his path to gold considerably smoothed after Emerson Spencer, who had clocked a world record of 47.0 earlier that spring, had messed himself out of contention in the American trials. That said, Barbuti had already trounced Spencer earlier in the spring at the IC4A university championships.

During World War II, Barbuti served as a bomber pilot. A true sportsman, he organized an Allied track and field competition in Libya, in which Air Force fighter aces participated.

Audiovisual

• Film (lane order: Barbuti, Rinkel, Büchner, Storz, Ball, Phillips)

Results and Reports

• Olympedia

• Wikipedia