100 Olympic Tidbits: Games of the Great Depression
The 1932 Los Angeles Olympics was held right smack in the middle of the Great Depression. As such, the number of athletes that competed was down more than half from 1928’s record attendance. But despite a less-than-ideal economic scenario, these Games were the first to offer a glimpse into how future Olympics would be staged. The opening ceremonies were held at the lavish Coliseum Olympic stadium in front of a crowd of 100,000. Also, unlike the previous Olympiads whose events were spread out over two to three months, organizers fit the events into a compact 19 days.
American Mildred "Babe" Didrikson shone in athletics, bagging gold medals in the women's javelin throw and 80m hurdles and a silver in the women's high jump. Meanwhile, the eight-man Philippine contingent came home with three bronze medals, courtesy of Simeon Toribio in the men's high jump, Teofilo Yldefonso in men's 200m breaststroke, and bantamweight boxer Jose Villanueva. Thirty-two years later, Villanueva's son Anthony would win a silver medal in Tokyo as a featherweight. (Source: Olympic.org)
Editor's Note: To celebrate the 100-day countdown to the London Games, we will be publishing 100 tidbits about the Olympics. Come back to Yahoo! PH Sports, as we publish a new tidbit every day.
