BARCELONA ’92 OLYMPICS : Summer Stunners : Billy Mills Was Most Improbable Winner, but There Have Been Plenty of Other Surprises

Billy Mills still doesn’t believe his victory in the 1964 Olympic Games was an upset.

Forget that many consider his dramatic come-from-nowhere triumph in the 10,000 meters at Tokyo the greatest individual shock in Olympic history.

Mills says he told many of his intentions.

“I wrote my brother a letter, telling him I was going to win the gold medal,” Mills said recently. “He threw the letter away.”

On the bus to the stadium, hours before William Mills sent chroniclers scrambling for his story, a Polish athlete asked him if he was competing.

Mills said yes, in the 10,000 meters.

“Today’s the final, isn’t it?” she said. “Who do you think is going to win, (Ron) Clarke or (Pyotr) Bolotnikov?”

Mills slumped in his seat.

“I just wanted to cry,” he recalled. “I was devastated. “She kept tapping me on the shoulder, ‘Who’s going to win, Clarke or Bolotnikov?’ I said, ‘I think I’m going to win.’ ”

The words never reached her.

Mills, who is 7/16th Sioux Indian, was the loneliest man in the Olympic village.

One day, a reporter burst into his dorm, looking to interview two U.S. athletes who weren’t there.

The reporter then asked if Mills had seen Al Oerter, the discus thrower.

Mills had not.

What about Jim Ryun, the runner?

“Nope,” Mills said.

“My God,” the reporter replied. “I’m on deadline, I’ve got to interview somebody. If I can’t find any of those guys I’ll come back and ask you some questions. What’s your name?”

Mills told him.

The reporter never returned.

With each snub, Mills grew more determined.

When Mills asked a shoe company representative for some new running shoes, the man said they were available only for medal contenders.

How could he not be offended?

On the track, though, Mills was a sensation.

He knocked 47 seconds off his personal best in the 10,000, enabling him to streak past Australia’s Ron Clarke and Tunisia’s Mohamed Gammoudi down the stretch and win by three yards.

Mills, now 54, slowly snapped his fingers over the phone from his office in Sacramento, explaining that each snap represented the fraction needed per lap to make up the time difference.

Two months before his run, Mills had written in his workout book the time he thought it would take to win: 28 minutes 25 seconds.

His winning time was 28:24.4.

After setting a world record in the six-mile run in 1965, Mills retired at 27, well before his prime.

Mills, though, ran for more than medals.

“I ran track to find out what makes me different from a non-Indian person,” he said. “The pursuit of excellence allowed me to understand me.”

Sudden fame left Mills with feelings of exhilaration and emptiness.

“It was the hurt of how I went in America from being an Indian to a gold medalist,” he said. “Nowhere in America did the majority of people know me as an individual.”

Mills remains a sensitive man who still devotes himself to Indian causes. He is convinced, though, that his heritage has undermined his legacy.

“I’ve never been looked upon as a great distance runner,” he said. “I’m looked upon as a man who created a great upset.”

Mills remains the greatest of unsung heroes.

But there were others:

1896--ATHENS

Edwin (Teddy) Flack of Australia was an accountant visiting London on business with Price Waterhouse when he decided to pop over to Greece for a little sun and shish kebab.

Flack was no waltzing Matilda back home, having scored some successes in the mile run. How tough could the world be?

He entered the 1,500-meter run and outsprinted American Arthur Blake at the finish for the gold medal. Two days later, he won the 800 meters in a closer finish, holding off Hungary’s Nandor Dani.

Flack was so full of himself that he also entered the marathon, challenging the Greeks on the course Pheidippides supposedly ran in 490 BC to relay some good news from the battlefront.

Pheidippides ended up dead on arrival, and so, almost, did Flack. He held a comfortable lead halfway through the race, but faded near the end.

Flack fainted two miles short of the finish and was hauled away in a Red Cross carriage.

1900--PARIS

If Jim Thorpe is the legend time forgave, then Ray Ewry is the legend time forgot.

Ewry, from Lafayette, Ind., was confined to a wheelchair as a child with polio and was thought to be paralyzed for life. Not only did he walk again, but he stunned the world in 1900 when he swept gold medals at Paris in the standing high jump, standing long jump and standing triple jump.

Ewry won eight gold medals in three Olympic Games but faded into memory when his events were discontinued after the Games of 1912. He is now a standing footnote.

Honorable mention: Frank Jarvis became the upset winner in the 100-meter run when favorite Arthur Duffey pulled a leg muscle down the stretch. Duffey later became a columnist for the Boston Post.

1904--ST. LOUIS

An edict was issued before these games allowing dogs in the city pound to be provided as food for some Olympic participants.

With that to digest, Thomas Hicks became the United States’ first marathon winner, even though Hicks had been born in England.

Ten miles before the finish, Hicks believed he could run no farther. The course included seven hills and enough dust on the roads to choke an elephant. When you considered the exhaust from the surrounding horseless carriages, it was a wonder anyone survived.

Only 14 of the 32 starters finished. One runner was found lying near death on the course, the walls of his stomach scorched from inhaling dust and automobile fumes.

Hicks begged to quit, but his supporters wouldn’t allow it. Instead, they injected him with a mixture of strychnine sulfate and raw egg whites, then made him wash it all down with brandy.

Such conduct today would lead to a lifetime banishment, but Hicks was not so much as disqualified.

Riding the strychnine-brandy high, Hicks staggered home to victory.

Afterward, he announced his retirement.

Honorable mention: Gymnast George Eyser, who had a wooden leg, won three gold medals.

1908--LONDON

Who could make the queen proud? The candy man could. Dorando Pietri, a taffy-twister from Italy, stumbled into the Olympic Stadium after 26 miles as the unexpected leader of the marathon.

But those last 385 yards were a killer.

Pietri was so disoriented he started running the wrong way. Officials pointed him in the right direction, but it was no use.

Dorando fell repeatedly on the final lap. The British were appalled when the next man into the stadium was not an Englishman, but rather American John Hayes.

Fat bloody chance.

When Pietri fell for the fifth time, just before the finish, a British track official carried the runner across the finish line.

The Italian flag was quickly raised in victory. Pietri was carried away on a stretcher. Later, Hayes was declared the rightful winner. When Pietri recovered, he insisted he could have finished on his own.

Dorando Pietri became the world’s most famous loser. Queen Alexandra presented him with a special gold cup.

American composer Irving Berlin wasn’t so sympathetic, writing a song entitled, “Dorando, He’sa Gooda for Not.”

1912--STOCKHOLM

High jumper Alma Richards was the Gomer Pyle of the U.S. team. On the boat ride to Sweden, the 22-year-old Mormon from Utah was derided as a “country boob.”

Well, surprise, surprise.

Richards, who had never cleared 6 feet 4 inches, sailed over that height, winning the gold medal from Germany’s Hans Liesche.

Before his winning jump, Richards had made a deal with God, promising he would lead an exemplary life if allowed to win the gold.

Honorable mention: A 26-year-old American Army lieutenant placed fifth in the modern pentathlon and might have won the gold had he not been such a poor shot. The soldier, who later fired wild shots at German war planes from his Jeep, finished 21st in a field of 32 in the shooting division.

George S. Patton Jr. could have slapped himself for losing.

1920--ANTWERP, BELGIUM

Sometimes you need luck to become an unsung hero. Allen Woodring made the U.S. team as an alternate in the 200 meters, but was rushed to the front when teammate George Massengale of Missouri had to withdraw after an attack of rheumatism.

Woodring stunned the world when he beat Charles Paddock at the tape for the gold.

Paddock was the most spectacular sprinter of his day, a showman who finished his sprints with “flying leaps” at the tape.

Woodring was sure Paddock had allowed him to win. Paddock had to convince the upset winner that his victory was legitimate.

1924--PARIS

Albin Stenroos, a 35-year-old woodworker from Finland, had run one marathon since 1909 when he stepped to the starting line in Paris. So much for practice making perfect. Stenroos moved into the lead at 19 1/2 kilometers and ended up winning by almost six minutes.

Honorable mention: A Yale junior helped row to victory in the men’s eight-oared shell with coxswain. Before “Star Trek,” this most famous Spock was not Mr. but Dr. Benjamin, the baby doctor, who in 1945 wrote the classic “The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care.”

1928--AMSTERDAM

USOC President Douglas MacArthur (yes, that MacArthur) called the U.S. team “the greatest in our athletic history,” then watched the group gorge itself on the boat ride to Europe, consuming the entire ice cream supply in a matter of hours.

The men’s track team, once dominant, claimed only one gold medal.

Unsung honors were left to Canadian sprinter Percy Williams, who hitchhiked from Vancouver to Toronto to try out for the team, working part-time on the trip as a waiter in a dining car.

Williams won gold medals in the 100- and 200-meter races. He was treated like a king upon his return to Canada, making a whistle-stop tour of the country. Among the gifts he received were a gold watch, a blue Graham-Paige sports car and $14,500 for his education.

Honorable mention: 16-year-old Betty Robinson, in only her fourth competition, won the 100 meters in the first Olympic event contested by women.

1932--LOS ANGELES

Who said unsung heroes can’t be fascists? Luigi Beccali was one of “Benito’s Bambinos,” so named in honor of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. Jules Ladoumegue was the favorite in the 1,500 meters but was disqualified for accepting payment in previous meets.

That opened the door for Beccali, who passed Canada’s Philip Edwards down the stretch at the Coliseum and won the gold. On the victory stand, Luigi gave the fascist salute and became a national hero.

The next morning, Italian teammates covered his bungalow with flowers and chanted his name. Despite Prohibition, the Italians were allowed to bring alcoholic beverages to the Games.

It must have been some party. Beccali later emigrated to New York and got into the wine business.

1936--BERLIN

A tale of two cities: The Games of Berlin were marred by the oppressive stamp of Adolf Hitler, and Tokyo’s war machine had overrun Korea and subjugated its best athletes. Korean Sohn Kee-Chung was one of them.

The Japanese changed Sohn’s name to Kitei Son. And when Sohn won the marathon, he was forced to endure the raising of the Japanese flag.

Sohn, a fervent nationalist who always signed his Korean name in Berlin, bowed his head in silent protest when the Rising Sun was hoisted. He told reporters of Japanese atrocities against his people, but few seemed interested.

Honorable mention: Mack Robinson, the younger brother of Jackie, won a silver medal in the 200 meters after coaches had made him sign a disclaimer absolving them of blame if Robinson’s heart was damaged.

1948--LONDON

Harrison Dillard was the world record-holder in the 110-meter hurdles. But at the Olympic trials in Evanston, Ill., he hit three hurdles and did not qualify for the team in his best event.

Dillard had finished third in the 100 meters but was a considerable underdog in London in the shadow of USC’s Mel Patton, the world record-holder in the 100-yard dash, and Barney Ewell, who had defeated Patton in the U.S. trials.

After a false start, Dillard jumped to an early lead that he would not relinquish. Ewell believed he had passed Dillard at the tape, but the finish-line photo showed Dillard to be the winner.

Honorable mention: Karoly Takacs of Hungary was a champion shooter in 1938 before his right hand was shattered by a grenade during World War II. Ten years later, he won a gold medal in London, shooting left-handed.

1952--HELSINKI

For the first time in Olympic history, four women were allowed to compete against men in equestrian’s individual dressage. Lis Hartel was one of them. In 1944, she had become a victim of polio. Eight months later she was walking with crutches. Eight years later, she won the silver medal for Denmark. She remained paralyzed below the knees and had to be helped on and off her horse.

Honorable mention: Lindy Remigino, who had never won a major championship and barely qualified for the U.S. team, was the upset winner in the men’s 100 meters.

1956--MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA

Everyone knows Al Oerter now. But in Melbourne, he was a 19-year-old longshot in the discus.

Before Oerter stepped onto the field, then-UCLA trainer Ducky Drake pulled him aside.

“He said, ‘Look, I don’t want you talking to anybody, kid,’ ” Oerter recalled recently. “He said ‘I don’t want anybody talking to you, either. You’re good. Just get that first throw under your belt.’ ”

Oerter’s first throw--184 feet 11 inches--won the event.

Oerter learned a few things in his Olympic debut.

“I found out you shouldn’t shoot your big mouth off,” he said.

In a post-victory press conference, Oerter said he liked winning so much he wanted to win five gold medals.

After Oerter had won his fourth gold medal at Mexico City in 1968, a reporter reminded him of his Melbourne prediction: “Well, you’re 80% there.”

Oerter’s response: “How the hell do they remember all that?”

1960--ROME

Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia wore out his shoes before the marathon in Rome and couldn’t find another pair that felt comfortable.

So he ran barefoot.

He and the favorite, Morocco’s Rhadi Ben Abdesselem, ran side by side for miles, never looking at one another. With less than a mile to go, Bikila pulled away and won the race, becoming his country’s first Olympic champion.

In 1964, he repeated as marathon champion in Tokyo. In 1970, he was paralyzed in a car accident and confined to a wheelchair. He died of a brain hemorrhage Oct. 25, 1973, at 41.

Honorable mention: Bill Nieder failed to qualify for the U.S. team in the shotput, but a wrist injury to a teammate landed him in Rome as the alternate. Nieder won the gold. Also: Pakistan ended India’s 30-game Olympic winning streak in field hockey.

1964--TOKYO

Mills recently sold his insurance business in Sacramento to devote more time to writing and public speaking.

He jogs about three miles a day, four days a week, and still runs an occasional 10-kilometer race.

He has no desire to run competitively.

“I don’t have the time,” he said. “But I can sure jump into a race as a healthy person and run hard, not injure myself, and get the same feeling I got when I was going after Clarke down the stretch at the Olympic Games. It’s incredible. At 54 years old, I’m probably carrying 18 or 19% body fat. I should be down to 12%.

“In a 10K run with 5,000 runners, I might be 3,600th, toward the back of the pack, but my mind still thinks world records. I’ve conditioned the mind so it still thinks elite status. That’s a beautiful feeling.”

Honorable mention: A butcher’s apprentice from Philadelphia was a last-minute substitute for Buster Mathis in the heavyweight boxing division.

Gold-medal winner Joe Frazier made the most of it.

1968--MEXICO CITY

Anyone who runs three distance races with a gallbladder infection is definitely some kind of hero.

Kenya’s Kip Keino, an inexperienced Nandi tribesman, pulled off that trick in Mexico City. In the 10,000 meters, he collapsed in pain on the infield and was disqualified, but insisted on finishing the race.

Four days later he won a silver medal in the 5,000 meters. Before his 1,500-meter showdown with Jim Ryun, whom he had never beaten, Keino got stuck in traffic and ran the last mile to the stadium. There, he withstood Ryun’s famous kick and won the gold.

Honorable mention: Mexico’s Felipe Munoz upset Vladimir Kosinsky in the 200-meter breaststroke and was hoisted out of the pool and carried around the arena in a wild victory celebration.

1972--MUNICH

Olga Korbut of the Soviet Union stole our hearts, despite finishing seventh in the all-around competition.

Yes, seventh.

Olga messed up her routine on the uneven bars, allowing teammate and archrival Lyudimila Tourischeva to win the gold.

Korbut, who now lives in Atlanta, said she almost spoiled Tourischeva’s dream and the Soviets’ script.

“There was incredible resentment from the whole team,” Korbut said recently. “They plan who will win. Maybe it was because I suddenly became everything in gymnastics.”

Korbut went on to win individual gold medals on the balance beam and floor exercises, but discounts the suggestion that she was an unsung hero.

“You can’t call it sudden,” she says. “It was the result of 10 years’ hard work.”

Korbut has started a foundation in Seattle to treat children from her home republic, Belarus, which was contaminated by fallout from the Chernoybl nuclear disaster.

Korbut’s husband, a folk singer, and her son, a child actor, are more famous in the former Soviet Union than Olga.

1976--MONTREAL

Waldemar Cierpinski knew everything an East German could know about his marathon idol, Frank Shorter. The unknown Cierpinski, a converted steeplechaser, dogged the footsteps of Shorter, the defending marathon champ.

When Cierpinski finally pulled even with Shorter and glanced over, he realized that Shorter had no idea who he was. Later, Shorter admitted that he had thought Cierpinski was Carlos Lopes of Portugal.

Cierpinski seized what he considered the psychological advantage and pulled away. When he reached the finish line, Cierpinski became confused and thought he had to run another lap around the stadium track and was surprised to find Shorter at the finish line to congratulate him.

Cierpinski repeated as marathon champion at Moscow in 1980.

Honorable mention: Japanese gymnast Shun Fujimoto broke his leg at the knee in his floor exercise routine, but, with his team in fierce battle against the Soviets, didn’t tell anyone. He scored a 9.5 on the side horse and 9.7 on the rings, which concluded with a vividly painful dismount.

1980--MOSCOW

This was where the Polish pole vaulter stuck it to the Russians.

The pro-Soviet crowd jeered Wladyslaw Kozakiewicz before each vault to distract him and improve the chances of the local, Konstantin Volkov. The louder the crowd booed, the higher Kozakiewicz vaulted. He didn’t miss a jump on his way to the gold. After his winning leap, Kozakiewicz turned to the crowd and made an obscene gesture.

He then raised the bar to 18 feet 11 1/2 inches and set a world record.

Kozakiewicz later defected to West Germany, where he remains and teaches today.

Honorable mention: Viktor Markin of the Soviet Union was the upset winner in the 400 meters. His name was not even listed in the Soviet Union’s 300-page book of Olympians.

1984--LOS ANGELES

Until 1984, no U.S. athlete had won an Olympic medal in Greco-Roman wrestling. Super-heavyweight Jeff Blatnick was the unlikeliest candidate to become the first. In 1982, it was discovered that he had Hodgkin’s disease, a form of cancer that required the removal of his appendix and spleen.

It was no wonder that when Blatnick defeated Sweden’s Thomas Johansson, 2-0, for the gold, he dropped to his knees and sobbed.

In 1977, Blatnick’s brother David had been killed in a motorcycle accident. Before Jeff’s gold-medal match, his mother whispered to him, “For David, Jeffrey, for David.”

In 1985, Blatnick’s cancer returned and it took 28 chemotherapy sessions to beat it again. Seven years later, Blatnick is alive and well, spending much of his time making motivational speeches.

1988--SEOUL

After Anthony Nesty had won the 100-meter butterfly, his country renamed a stadium after him. Surinam, a small tropical nation off the east coast of South America, had only one Olympic-size pool, so Nesty had done most of his training at the University of Florida, where he was a student.

With his one-inch victory over the favorite, Matt Biondi, Nesty became the first black swimmer in history to win an Olympic medal and returned to Surinam a hero. His motorcade was stopped outside the airport by cheering mobs. Later, a stamp was issued in his honor.

Nesty is in Barcelona to defend his title.