All That Jazz

[DoubleRBar]

Happy birthday today (Monday) to an Olympic champion who celebrates 73 years today.

Our birthday athlete competed in three Olympic Games and not in the hurdles.

This champion won gold at the first of those three Games and silver four years later and was not the favorite for that gold medal.

You might like to know that this individual won the Olympic gold medal approximately 1,834 miles (2,952 km) from this person's place of birth.

Who is this Olympic champion with a birthday on this second Monday of January?

[noone]

Most clues point to Frank Shorter, but I seem to remember he was born in Germany.
I am therefore taking a stab at Madeline Manning although I don't remember her competing in Montreal

[DoubleRBar]

Happy birthday (73) today to Madeline Manning (Mims). Good work, noone. Madeline Manning won the women's 800 in Mexico City (1968). Some of you might remember that Vera Nikolic (Yugoslavia) was the favorite after breaking the world record about three months before the Mexico City Olympics. Nikolic dropped out of her semi-final race in Mexico City and never made it to the final. Manning set a new Olympic record of 2:00.9.

Four years later in Munich, Manning did not make the 800 final, but she did run the second leg on the silver medal U.S. four by 400 relay team.

In Montreal (1976), Manning did not make the 800 final.

Thank you, noone.

[J Rorick]

And the "All That Jazz" clue?

[wamego relays champ]

Likely something to do with her later accomplishments as a gospel singer.

http://www.okjazz.org/index.cfm?id=137

[DoubleRBar]

Yes. Definitely something to do with being in the Oklahoma "Jazz & Gospel" Hall of Fame. She's probably one of the most famous singers to win an Olympic gold medal in track & field.

[tandfman]

I never thought of her that way, Unlike the person I think of as the most famous concert pianist to win an Olympic gold medal in track and field.

[gh]

I never thought of her that way, Unlike the person I think of as the most famous concert pianist to win an Olympic gold medal in track and field.

maybe gm will know the answer to that one

[Ghosttowner]

I never thought of her that way, Unlike the person I think of as the most famous concert pianist to win an Olympic gold medal in track and field.

Wow! I actually know that answer! That's a first! If the initials are M. O.

[Tuariki]

Likely something to do with her later accomplishments as a gospel singer.

http://www.okjazz.org/index.cfm?id=137

Listening to Madeline Manning singing her rendition of the national anthem reminds me what defines what makes the USA great, and not the events of the past week.

[Tuariki]

Wow! I actually know that answer! That's a first! If the initials are M. O.

Gold medal performances in shot and discus are not exactly activities that spring to the mind when discussing a world renowned pianist.

[El Toro]

Gold medal performances in shot and discus are not exactly activities that spring to the mind when discussing a world renowned pianist.

Not to mention an OG bronze in HJ, oh, and Euro bronze in 80H. She was nothing if not versatile in sport and in life.

Related to French literary demi-god V. Hugo.

There doesn't seem to be that much of her music on a dominant video platform, but here's a Rachmaninoff piece in a comeback concert after she had been retired for a decade or so. https://youtu.be/WU4DSc9DjQI

[Olli]

This is fascinating. I am not sure if I have ever heard of her.

[Olli]

After the Rachmaninoff, this may be something of an anticlimax to some, but Tapio Rautavaara, who won the javelin in the same Olympics as Ostermeyer, was one of the most popular singers in his home country (=mine). Here is "The Vagabond and the Cat" for example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1Wzp_4KL_8

[noone]

I have MO's autobiography in French.