Emil Zatopek: The Czech Locomotive in Helsinki
At the Opening Ceremony of the 1952 Summer Olympics the Olympic torch was brought into the Helsinki Olympiastadion by legendary Finnish long distance runner Paavo Nurmi, with his fellow legendary…
Bobby Pearce: The Sculler Who Stopped For Ducks
Australia has a remarkable heritage in the sport of rowing, dating back to 1876 when Parramatta quarryman Edward Trickett won the single sculls world championship on the Thames River, Great…
Song Kee-Chung: Korean To The Core
One of the most dramatic and enduring moment of any Olympic Games opening ceremony is when the Olympic flame is brought into the main stadium during the opening ceremony. There…
Daley Thompson: The Decathlete Legend
In the track and field program at a Summer Olympic games the title of best all round male athlete resides with the man who collects the gold medal for the…
Billy Mills: Running Brave in Tokyo
The burden of being the favourite in an Olympic Games event can be both a boon and burden. Over the 112 years of the modern Summer and Winter Games many…
Thorpe Versus Hall: Whose Guitars Got Smashed?
Several countries in the modern Olympics would look to one sport and perceive it to be ‘their’ domain, the place where their Olympians traditionally excelled against the opposition. For the…
Vladimir Salnikov: The 15 Minute Man
In Olympic sport there have been several events which have had a time, distance or points barrier which seem impenetrable until that one unique Olympian achieves that breakthrough. In gymnastics…
Teenage Boys of the 1940s
A series of photographs of teenage boys in Des Moines, Iowa, 1945, by LIFE photographer Nina Leen. Is it just me or were they much cuter in the 40s than…
Teenage Girls of the 1940s
We had a glimpse of teenage boys in the 1940s; don’t worry, there were girls too! St. Louis, Missouri, 1944. By Nina Leen. Teenage girls in blue jeans drink Coke…
Passover in Berlin, 1946
Sometimes context makes all the difference. These photographs show Passover at home and at the synagogue– in Berlin, 1946. (note: the captions incorrectly say 1945; this of course can’t be…