article by Nicola Pucci
Both Norwegianthe one 30-year-old champion already well established for having won an Olympic silver in Cortina 1956 and a gold (over 10,000 metres, first skater to break the 16 minute barrier) and a silver at the Squaw Valley Games 1960, the other novice still 20 years old with immense talent, Knut Johannesen and Per Ivar Moe launched a 5000 meter speed skating challenge at the 1964 Innsbruck Olympics, destined to remain in history.
All’Olympic speed skating rink of the Tyrolean city we compete on February 5th, and for the skaters the five kilometer race is the revenge of the short 500 meter race staged the day before and in which the Norwegians, expected at the performance, had to swallow the bitter pill of the victory of the American Richard McDermott, who by just 5 tenths he overtook Alv Gjestvang, forced to share the second step of the podium with the two Soviets Evgenij Grišin (legendary champion with 4 golds between Cortina and Squaw Valley in the 500 and 1500 meters) and Vladimir Aleksandrovič Orlov. This time, however, the Scandinavians have every intention of not letting the gold medal slip away.
Norway, in fact, brings the ace up his sleeve onto the track, Johannesen himself, who not only already has three Olympic medals around his neck, but was also the all-round world champion (i.e. considering all the speed disciplines) in 1957 in Ostersund and will also be in the current year in Helsinkito which add the second place in 1963 in Karuizawa (beaten by the Swede Jonny Nilsson, author of the new world record for the distance, 7’34″3) and six medals at the European Championships, including two golds in Gothenburg in 1950 and in Oslo in 1960. And if Nilsson himself is the most accredited rival, the Soviet Viktor Kosichki, holder of the Olympic title won four years earlier by beating Johannessen, certainly cannot be excluded from the prediction, with the young Moe (third in the European Championships held a couple of weeks before the Games in Oslo) and Fred Anton Meier, someone capable of finishing third in the time trial at the national cycling championships in 1957, playing good cards at the medal table. Otherwise, the much vaunted “skating revolution” of 1963 imposed by the Norwegians, what purpose would it have served?
42 skaters take part in the 5000 meter race, and already in the third heat the Austrian Hermann Strutz improves the Olympic record, clocking 7’48″3, 4 tenths better than what the Soviet Boris Zhilkov was able to do at Lake Misurina for the Cortina Games. The Habsburg’s chronometer, which has no international pedigree, nevertheless holds up for a short time, just enough for Kosichki, involved in the fourth series, to improve in 7’45″8. But when it’s Moe’s turn, in the next series, you get the feeling that the revolution is really underway, col Norwegian who signs the second performance ever over the distance, 7’38″6which represents a reference time that will not be easy to exceed.
In fact, the world record holder and world champion Nilsson fails to do so, who in the seventh heat does not do better than 7’48″4 which will only earn him the sixth place finish, the third Norwegian of the lot, precisely Maier, comes close, however, who in the tenth series stops the clock at 7’42″0 which credits him with the provisional second time, waiting for Johannesen, who will skate in the 14th relay together with Great Britain’s Terry Malkin. And it is here that a memorable page in the five-circle history of speed skating is written.
Johannessen transits later than Moe at all intermediate revelations (2 seconds behind at 600 and 1000 meters, 3 seconds at 1400, 1800, 2200 and 3000 meters, 1 second at 3400 and 3800 meters). But its pace is progressive, it grows as the laps go byat 4600 meters the two contenders are practically equal and Knut, making a sort of final sprint, pushed by the public in excitement for the competitive beauty of the challenge, he crosses the finish line with the illuminated scoreboard announcing a time of 7’38″7, which is one tenth higher than Moe’s.
The young Norwegian only has time to cradle the dream of Olympic victory, because a few seconds later the scoreboard changes Johannesen’s chronometer, and upon opening his eyes he notices the correct and definitive 7’38″4 which consecrated him as the gold medal of the 5000 meters of the 1964 Innsbruck Games. Moe, who will have no other Olympic opportunities to win but will be world champion in 1965, leaving skating two years later to dedicate himself to studies, we are sure, would really want to cry.
Irony of fate, not only did the official scoreboard in Innsbruck initially fail, but also the Austrian television ORF, which proclaimed Strutz the silver medal. This isn’t the case, because in reality the skater is fifth in the rankings, so there you have it a generous Viennese viewer arrives and sends a precious gold coin to the television station with the promise of giving it to Strutz as partial consolation for the denied medal. The stories of Olimpia are beautiful but also mocking, right?
2024-01-27 17:42:00
#RECORD #PACE #CHALLENGE #KNUT #JOHANNESEN #IVAR #MOE #METERS #INNSBRUCK #GAMES #SportHistoria
