(ON THE LINE)
I was the fastest cowboy stuntman actor
that's ever been in the movies.
And I could ride, run and jump with anybody.
I've got John Wayne pictures all over my front room,
(JOHN WAYNE WESTERNS)
I've got medals and trophies.
And I worked for over 45 years,
working for John Wayne.
I did ten movies with John Wayne.
I did The Alamo,
I did Rio Bravo,
I did McLintock!, El Dorado, True Grit.
(COWBOY RUNNER)
(HELSINKI, 21ST JULY 1952, 5.20 PM)
(STARTER)
Hello!
(UNITED STATES - 4 x 100 M RELAY)
How are you?
It was very exciting.
They had all these great politicians
and people from all over the world there at the Games,
and the Cold War was going on.
Hello, this is Lindy.
(UNITED STATES - 4 x 100 M RELAY)
When the time for the Olympics arrived,
you had the opening day ceremonies.
Do you know what happened? It rained. Hard, hard rain.
The head coach said, "Lindy, and Finis Dean Smith
"and anybody..." He said, "You are not to be marching."
So Finis Dean Smith and I sat together watching the parade,
and it poured, and it rained,
and the tears come down our face,
because we wanted to march out there
with the rest of the Americans.
Here come the Russians in their white suits,
with their red ties.
They had no hats on.
Now, at that time, we were at the part of the ceremonies
where they turned out all the pigeons, the birds of peace.
They dropped their droppings on those Russians
and messed up those white suits.
It was a damp, cold day.
I got a real good start.
I got an even start and I ran.
I think I was just a hair ahead, about 60 or 70 yards.
And what I never did quite understand
is that somewhere about 75 or 80 yards
McDonald Bailey, from Great Britain, got in my lane.
It was the closest finish of Olympic history.
At 80 metres, I was in front by one yard.
Then I said, "I'm gonna win, I'm gonna win,"
like, it's open.
You know what I did? I did something really stupid.
I started putting my chest out.
You know what happens when you put your chest out?
You feet get slower and slower. Your stride gets shorter.
And I almost blew it.
At the finish line, I thought McKenley had beaten me,
because... well, he went past, he went right by me,
he was finishing so fast.
I felt a little bit frustrated because it took about an hour
for them to discover who won,
how the finish of the race was.
And it was so tight, and so close,
that we really didn't know, but now...
they didn't have those photo-finishes
quite like we've got now.
Remigino first,
Herb McKenley from Jamaica second,
McDonald Bailey from Great Britain was third;
Finis Dean Smith, USA, was fourth;
Vladimir Sukharev was fifth;
and John Treloar, Australia, 10.5.
(SPAIN TRACK AND FIELD JUDGE)
Looking at the photo-finish,
you can see the athletes
were awarded the correct finishing positions,
although nowadays each athlete's time
would probably be different.
For Remigino, 10.77;
McKenley, 10.79;
Bailey, 10.83;
and Smith, 10.84.
Therefore, Dean Smith was correctly given fourth place
and does not deserve the bronze medal for this race.
After all these years, I've looked at this race
and I can tell you that
I should have been awarded the bronze medal.
I remember going to the movies there
and seeing "Gone with the Wind" in Finnish.
It was the most beautiful theatre you ever saw.
I had to get a job, I had to get in the movies.
I had a friend and he got me in the movies.
I've had one hell of a run, one great life. I did good
and I could ride, run and jump with anybody that ever lived.
It was really exciting doubling
all these leading men and women,
John Wayne or Gary Cooper
or Jimmy Stewart or Richard Widmark.
I felt I had to do stunt work in order to survive out there,
but the longer I got established as a stuntman,
the more reputation I had.
I was lucky I didn't have any brain damage from all my falls.
I was the fastest cowboy stuntman actor...
..that's ever been in the movies.
You know, I've had about 64 years since then
and I wish I could run that race over.
I think I could win it this time.
(DEAN SMITH SHOT MORE THAN 60 ACTION MOVIES AS A STUNTMAN)
(THAT FINAL IS STILL THE TIGHTEST RACE
(IN THE HISTORY OF THE OLYMPIC GAMES)
(MORE THAN HALF A CENTURY LATER, DEAN STILL THINKS
(HE DESERVES THE BRONZE MEDAL)
(THE END)
I'm bragging on you now. Have a good day!
(ON THE LINE)