Took longer than they normally do
to come up with the official decision,
and I've never been convinced that I was defeated.
I think that it should've been a tied race because
the timers gave me the same time
as they'd awarded to Eddie Tolan.
(BEING SECOND)
(LOS ANGELES '32)
(LOS ANGELES, 1ST AUGUST 1932, 3:30 PM)
(FOX FILM CORPORATION PRESENTS)
(OLYMPIC GAMES 1932)
(LOS ANGELES, USA)
In the name
of the President of the United States
I proclaim open
the Olympic Games of Los Angeles,
celebrating the 10th Olympiad
of the modern era.
(DAVID WALLECHINSKY)
(UNITED STATES)
(OLYMPIC HISTORIAN)
Hello?
The 1932 Olympics were held in Los Angeles.
Unfortunately, there was a global depression at the time,
and the combination of the world financial situation
and the relative remoteness of Los Angeles
really cut back on attendance.
There were fewer than half as many athletes
taking part in the 1932 Olympics
as had taken part
in the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam.
However, the 1932 Olympics, being in Los Angeles,
also had the glitz and glamour of Hollywood.
A lot of the athletes got to meet the famous stars.
So, on the one hand you had some athletes
who were so poor that they were hitch-hiking to the Olympics,
and then taking food home to their family,
and on the other hand,
you had athletes meeting Mary Pickford
and other famous actors.
First thing to know is that Tolan and Metcalfe,
the two favourites from the United States,
were African-American, they were black athletes.
Amongst the other runners was Takayoshi Yoshioka,
who was from Japan and famous for being a quick starter,
and in fact in the Olympic final
he dashed out into the lead from the very first step
and held the lead for the first 40 metres before fading.
Then there was Daniel Joubert, who was from South Africa.
He had travelled 38 days to get to the Olympics.
So it was quite an achievement that he was even there.
Eddie Tolan was unusually short for an athlete
by American standards.
He was called "5 Foot 7",
and he wore glasses which he kept together by tape.
You know, he was not a man from a wealthy family.
So he was kind of considered...
How can I put it? ..stocky and very strong.
He chewed gum while he ran. He had glasses,
he was short, and he chewed gum.
Ralph Metcalfe was taller,
he seemed to be more
the way you would imagine a sprinter to look.
Metcalfe, as an athlete,
he had come on strong in the Olympic year.
He was famous for his finish -
he would come on strong at the end
and kind of nip people right at the line.
And so when, for example, when the race...
the Olympic final actually took place in 1932,
Tolan and Metcalfe appeared to
reach the finish line at the same time.
And it took judges...
Seven judges had to view a film of the race -
which was an Olympic first,
to start using photo-finish cameras
and technical innovations to decide who won.
A lot of the people who were in the stadium
thought that it was a dead heat, a draw.
(LINDY REMIGINO)
(UNITED STATES)
(100 METRES - 4 x 100 METRES RELAY)
Hello? This is Lindy.
If you see that finish,
it's very difficult to understand
that Metcalfe did not win.
But the judgment was that Eddie Tolan won the race,
and the way they understood it,
to win the race in those days,
you had to go through the finish line.
If the current rules had been used,
the rules that later came into force in the Olympics,
then it's quite possible that Metcalfe
would've been given the victory.
So they gave Eddie Tolan the victory.
Eddie Tolan was a good sprinter
because he also won the 200.
He still won gold, he proved that he was the fastest,
but Metcalfe never accepted that all his life.
He said, "I won that race."
This is the world's fastest human,
Eddie Tolan of the United States,
who tied the world's record and broke the Olympic record
in winning the 100 metre dash in 10.3 seconds.
Lots of fortune,
and I happen to be the fortunate one this time.
I think what was very difficult for Metcalfe was that
four years later he was back in the Olympics
and he finished second again,
this time to the famous runner Jesse Owens,
so here was Metcalfe twice almost winning the gold medal
in the 100 metres, but not quite.
(DWIGHT STONES)
(UNITED STATES)
(TV COMMENTATOR AND FORMER LONG JUMP ATHLETE)
This is Dwight.
Timing is everything in sport,
and in individual sport, timing certainly is everything.
And the same goes for Ralph Metcalfe -
a great sprinter, just at the wrong time
in that he was at the same time as Jesse Owens,
and Jesse Owens, what he did in 1936,
especially when you consider the political atmosphere
and the location of the Olympic Games that year,
that kind of a back story - and really it's a front story -
is so compelling that you forget everything else.
Ralph Metcalfe, one of the great sprinters
this country has produced - and we've produced many -
just had a timing problem.
(EDDIE TOLAN BECAME THE FIRST BLACK MAN)
(TO WIN THE 100 METRES RACE AT THE OLYMPIC GAMES)
(TOLAN WON 300 RACES AND ONLY LOST 7)
(RALPH METCALFE WENT INTO POLITICS)
(AND HAD A SUCCESSFUL CAREER AS CONGRESSMAN)