Not Just Olympic Medals

[DoubleRBar]

Happy 55th birthday today (Wednesday) to an Olympic champion who also owns two World Championship gold medals and five World Indoor gold medals, none of which came from the hurdles.

This athlete competed in three Olympic Games and won a total of two Olympic medals.

All three of those Olympics were held on three different continents.

Martin Luther King, Jr. and approximately 25,000 people marched from Selma, Alabama to Montgomery, Alabama, in support of voting rights for African-Americans on the same day that our birthday athlete was born.

One of the nine medals mentioned in the first two sentences came with a new world record.

Our birthday champion was born about 5,455 miles (8,778 km) from the Olympic stadium where this person won that Olympic gold medal.

You might know that this athlete shares the same initials as a famous author who was born about 18 years before our birthday person.

The famous author mentioned above was born in the same country where our birthday athlete won that Olympic gold medal.

That shouldn't be too scary.

Name our birthday athlete on this final Wednesday of March.

[gmak]

It must be Stefka Kostadinova.

[DoubleRBar]

Happy birthday today (55) to Stefka Kostadinova. Very good, gmak. Kostadinova jumped at her first Olympics in South Korea (1988) where she took the silver medal in a very exciting women's high jump competition. She was the big favorite in Seoul because she had won the World Championships in Rome the previous year (1987) with a new world record (2.09). That world record is getting very close to being 33 years old. She was fourth place in her next Olympics (1992) and then she won the Olympic gold medal in Atlanta (1996).

[bambam1729]

I was always quite impressed with Kostadinova. About 1988 I made a bet with Scott Davis that she would jump 7 feet before any man would get to 8 feet, a bet I obviously lost. Still, she seemed that good. Never did pay Scott - wish I still could.

[Pego]

I was always quite impressed with Kostadinova. About 1988 I made a bet with Scott Davis that she would jump 7 feet before any man would get to 8 feet, a bet I obviously lost. Still, she seemed that good. Never did pay Scott - wish I still could.

I also predicted a WR for her. Not quite 7 feet, my prediction was only 210.

[noone]

The Stephen King clue gave it away!

[DoubleRBar]

Maybe I should have just talked about "The Running Man" and "The Green Mile".

[Master403]

I was always quite impressed with Kostadinova. About 1988 I made a bet with Scott Davis that she would jump 7 feet before any man would get to 8 feet, a bet I obviously lost. Still, she seemed that good. Never did pay Scott - wish I still could.

I hate to go so far off topic, but after one of our cross country championships, Bill Roe mentioned that Scott Davis's favorite beer was Arrogant Bastard. I had a few 22-oz bottles that I snuck in to the post-party. Bill and I toasted Scott for an hour or two, then the local staff noted some empties in the recycle bin that they were not serving, and pointed in our direction. Bill and I exited gracefully. I miss Bill. And I hope Scott overlooks your failing to pay a debt and focuses on those of us who tried to pay his respects.

[bambam1729]

I hate to go so far off topic, but after one of our cross country championships, Bill Roe mentioned that Scott Davis's favorite beer was Arrogant Bastard. I had a few 22-oz bottles that I snuck in to the post-party. Bill and I toasted Scott for an hour or two, then the local staff noted some empties in the recycle bin that they were not serving, and pointed in our direction. Bill and I exited gracefully. I miss Bill. And I hope Scott overlooks your failing to pay a debt and focuses on those of us who tried to pay his respects.

Elgin Scott and I used to speak on the phone about every 3-4 weeks for about an hour each time. We spoke about 3 weeks before he died and he said he was fine. I spoke to Cheryl Davis (Mrs Elgin Scott) shortly after his death and he said he did the World Juniors up in Sudbury, Ontario, got sick there, and deteriorated quickly. Seemed so sudden although he had been fighting the melanoma for several years at that point. Even though I considered him a great friend, we only met about 5 times over the years, but every time was fun.

[bambam1729]

And by the way, Scott's name was not Elgin Scott, but he always called me Elgin Bill and I always called him Elgin Scott. I'll let you guys try to figure out why.

[tandfman]

Elgin Scott and I used to speak on the phone about every 3-4 weeks for about an hour each time. We spoke about 3 weeks before he died and he said he was fine. I spoke to Cheryl Davis (Mrs Elgin Scott) shortly after his death and he said he did the World Juniors up in Sudbury, Ontario, got sick there, and deteriorated quickly.

The World Juniors where he got sick were in Moncton, New Brunswick, not Sudbury. I was there and saw that by the end of the meet, he was sub-par.

[catson52]

[QUOTE=tandfman;n1642533]

Elgin Scott and I used to speak on the phone about every 3-4 weeks for about an hour each time. We spoke about 3 weeks before he died and he said he was fine. I spoke to Cheryl Davis (Mrs Elgin Scott) shortly after his death and he said he did the World Juniors up in Sudbury, Ontario, got sick there, and deteriorated quickly. /QUOTE]k
The World Juniors where he got sick were in Moncton, New Brunswick, not Sudbury. I was there and saw that by the end of the meet, he was sub-par.

RIP. Moncton, nice little place in summer. Some years back, we stayed in the univ. dorms, very nice rooms/apartments, good cafeteria. Now if only the Univ. of Toronto had even a tiny fraction of those arrangements back in 1964-1970. Memories of looking for suitable accommodation fairly close to College and St. George St. campus, leave much to be desired.

[mcgato]

The Stephen King clue gave it away!

Except Kostadinova was born in 1965, while King was born in 1947. 1965 - 1947 = 18.

[bambam1729]

The World Juniors where he got sick were in Moncton, New Brunswick, not Sudbury. I was there and saw that by the end of the meet, he was sub-par.

My bad, I was going on memory and thinkng it was Sudbury

[tandfman]

The WJC were in Sudbury in 1988.