By Alejandra Ocampo
When thinking about the 1924 Olympic Games, that took place in Paris, the mind goes inmediatly to “Chariots of Fire”, that extraordinary movie realeased in 1981 and winner of the Oscar as the best movie of the year. The film was based on the story of two exceptional British athletes, Harold Abrahams (English) and Eric Liddell (Scottish), who claimed Gold Medals running in 100 and 400 metres, respectively, winning over the fastest men in those days, the Americans. But in addition to Abraham’s and Liddell’s heroics, the 1924 Olympic Games marked a significant achievement for Argentina as well as polo – on July 12 1924, polo gave Argentina their first every Gold Olympic medal in history. A fact few people know, actually.
Today, a century later, Paris will host the Olympic Games, through July 26 and August 11. There will be plenty of athletes trying to emulate Abrahams’ and Liddell’s achievements, indeed. But unlike in 1924, there won’t be polo this time. The last time polo was an Olympic sport was in Berlin 1936; back then, Argentina overwhelmed England 11-0, to capture the second Gold Olympic medal for the country.
The path to the first ever Olympic Gold Medal for Argentina, started in 1922, when an Argentine polo team, supported by the Jockey Club, went to England to play the British Open. And against all odds, they were victorious. Up next, they were invited by the United States Polo Association (USPA) to take part of the US Open. And Argentina also won the US Open.
Encouraged by the remarkable achievements, the Argentine Olympic Committee, established on December 31 1923, with Ricardo Aldao as the President, decided to include polo among the Argentine Olympic delegation who were due to participate in the 1924 Olympic Games. It’s worth to notice that Paris 1924 saw an Argentine Olympic delegation for the first time ever. The expenses, as well as the stay in St. Clouds for the polo players, were included on a budget of $ 250.000, provided by the then President of Argentina, Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear, and approved by the Committee. The polo players were among the 93 sportsmen, who would participate in eleven different disciplines.
The 1924 Olympic Games in Paris, that were held through July 5-27, would see polo for the fourth time, being the first in Paris in 1900, with games held at Bagatelle. The winners of the gold medal in 1900 were the Foxhunters Hurlingham, a lineup composed by British and American Players. Polo remained as an olympic discipline in London 1908 and Antwerp 1920.
The Argentine 25-goal foursome due to participate in Paris 1924, was made of Juan Nelson 7, Juan Miles 7, Enrique Padilla 6 and Arturo Kenny 5. The substitutes were Guillermo Brooke Naylor and Alfredo Peña. “The horses preceeded us in the trip and they were kept at St. Cloud, close to the grounds in Bagatelle, where we played our practices”, wrote Juan Nelson in the book “Polo in Argentina”, by Francisco Ceballos. “The contenders were United States, Spain, France and Argentina”.
Argentina had a very strong start, earning an impressive 16-1 against Spain; up next they defeated the powerful American team, in a very tough and hard fought game that was played on July 6, and under very poor weather conditions – hot, humid and under heavy rainfalls. Juan Nelson produced the goal to secure the narrow 6-5 victory. The late, prestigious polo historian, Dr. Horace Laffaye, wrote in his book, “Argentine International Polo”, that Juan Nelson brought the ball with which he scored the crucial goal, and today is on display at the Argentine Polo Association. The ticket to the match for the Gold Medal came after the win over England (9-5), on July 9. France was already waiting in Garches St. Cloud, for the much anticipated game, due on July 12 1924.
At the end of the day, the final match was a walk in the park for the Argentine lineup – they overwhelmed France with a heavy 15-2 victory, that gave Argentina their first ever Olympic Gold Medal.
A short account written about the Argentine polo team’s performance in the 1924 Olympic Games, can be found in Horace Laffaye’s book: “The Argentine players are magnificient in the handle of the polo stick. They are not as strong as the Americans, but they indeed have cold blood, are very determined, and display plenty of accurate tactics. All the players are very fast, and are very confident and well aware of the position of each team member on the ground”.
The polo players were greeted cheerfully upon their return to Argentina, and no wonder – they already claimed a very significant achievement in 1922, and in 1924 they put the ice on the cake when they brought the first ever Olympic Gold Medal to Argentina.
As a matter of fact, perhaps we should wonder whether the Argentine heroes of polo in the 1924 Olympic Games, in Paris, would have the opportunity to bump into the British heroes of athletism, inmortalized in “Chariots of Fire”, Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell… We’ll never know, but one thing is for sure: it would have been the meeting of some of the greatest sportsmen in history, indeed.
Video – Argentina during the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris
Video courtesy of Santiago Bachmann.