When Clay is found free of E. Audisio Fifty years ago the issue that many stars in a climate crowned by Dolce Vita. The champion of the marathon was enthralled from the Arch of Constantine. The boxer won forgetting racism. Back in the U.S., they gave him the negro.
Rome did not make the stupid that night. And the world said yes. Enchanted and fell in love. Of the Games, the city of sport. It was not yet time for mixed mating, especially in America, where athletes blacks competed with whites, but did not enter the same bar and even in hotels. For those who had dark skin was the other entry, that of service. As Ralph said Boston, who won the long jump, "In a world citizen, but not in Mississippi, where I live and drink at the fountains for blacks." Rome races mingled with his laziness and conflicts, the rest made history and Dolce Vita. Cool tensions, given the abbreviations of the human world of the East, from the USSR, which looked far and March.
Television promoted the birth of the myth, the whole world could finally see. For the first time. And the cobblestone passage made it clear that the man came from far and each one had to respect humanity. Even though poor, hungry, barefoot. Africa is projected and magnified his shadow with Abebe Bikila *, that continent's first black to win an Olympic marathon, the first night, the first to start and finish outside the stadium. A discovery: there was an Ethiopian 28 years old, barefoot and unknown, the guardian of the Imperial family of Haile Selassie, in the role of the ancient Roman Empire. Bikila passed by quell'obelisco of Axum that fascism had seized Ethiopia in '37 and took a quiet revenge on behalf of his people. "For almost enchanted me to look at the Arch of Constantine, I have never seen anything so wonderful and I'm glad I saw during the best night of my life." Appia Antica torches made less dark the night and the Arc of Constantine was illuminated with spotlights yellow and red. Bikila, a dancing skeleton on the black earth, did not give up and won. It showed that our Africa was mainly theirs. Without shoes, but not submissive: legs and lungs to go away. She'd just be in a position to run free.
Another black rose on top of the world. His name was still Cassius Clay, he was 18, competed in the lighter weights. He came from Louisville, was afraid to fly so much that he traveled with the parachute. And he had never seen a bidet, mistook him for a bizarre water dispenser, in fact, began to drink and wondered why it was so low. Soviet journalist who asked him why could not go into restaurants in a fierce Clay replied that in America everyone eats a lot and that cars were beautiful. He was proud of his medal, never let it, we even went to bed. Then on the return journey home he was like eating a burger and a vanilla shake. But the service was refused. "I'm Cassius Clay, the Olympic champion, here's my gold medal." The owner responded with a resounding, "No niggers." A motorcycle gang came to make the concept more violent. Clay and a friend fought, defended themselves, they won. But on the bridge Clay threw his medal into the Ohio River. "I looked at her with indifference. Rome was far away, and I was no longer an all-american boy. "
But Rome was made primarily to pick up women. The Australian revealed, those that were swimming in the things of this world. Dawn Fraser, 19, first woman to defend Olympic title won four years ago, went undefeated. It came from a working-class environment, was the youngest of eight children, could take off, and swearing. He took a pillow unwelcome companion, there was a plate of spaghetti before the race, which of course he won, he went to buy a wedding dress without having to marry, ended up in jail for stealing a flag. A talent from 42 beats per minute and a phenomenon of bullying. Rome at the end mixed up mess and feelings, suppressed many mixtures at the table, gave to his normal lazy, slow down every dangerous incubation. It was not stupid at all.
----------------- * One thing that fascinates me the figure of Bikila is the technique used in the races. The Ethiopian brings a new way to run a marathon: attack, knowing that it has sufficient reserves to complete the race in a reasonable condition. Breaks with the tradition of the marathon at the defensive Dorando Pietri. It is curious that Bikila
actually hires a challenge against a ghost. His goal is to not let it escape the number 26 Rhade, which instead starts with the 185. Bikila being in the group on the run, does not see it and thinks it is ahead of him.
