First U.S. Olympic Team

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

The ones who started it all were14 intrepid U.S. Olympians who competed in the very first modern Games, held in April 1896 in Athens. Little was expected of this group of American pioneers, but they stunned the world by earning an astounding 11 Olympic championships and essentially creating the U.S. Olympic movement. In his recent book “Igniting the Flame: America’s First Olympic Team,” Jim Reisler tells the engrossing tale of how this unheralded team won event after event in Athens and, in doing so, captivated the world. Below, he answers questions about the book and two of the most important weeks in U.S. Olympic history.

Princeton track foursome Francis Lane, Herbert Jamison, Robert Garrett and Albert Tyler, who competed in the 1896 Olympic Games in Athens as part of the first U.S. team. (Getty Images)

Fourteen athletes. Eleven Olympic championships. An astounding performance!
The American team left for Athens in complete indifference from the U.S. public and without the support of their amateur athletic officials or even their colleges. Thrown together at the last minute, they had the look and feel of a playground pick-up team. Then they achieved a level of excellence that stunned everyone, including themselves. Virtually anonymous one minute, they became overnight sensations and created a storm of sudden attention in Europe and back home. Had they not succeeded, it’s very likely the American Olympic movement would have died a quiet death or at least been delayed for years.

Thomas Curtis, an MIT-trained engineer who took the Olympic final in the 100-meter high hurdles. (Getty Images)

Why have their contributions been overlooked?
Coverage of the first modern Games was spotty and inconsistent. There is an interesting item deep in the archives at Princeton’s Mudd Library. It is a telegram from UPI in London addressed to members of the U.S. team, asking them—anyone—to cover the Games. Imagine the modern equivalent: “Hey LeBron, if you aren’t particularly busy, could you send us a report of the game?”

Cameras of the day were not equipped for action photography, there are few images from these Games beyond a few static shots and some nice profiles of the athletes. Nor was record keeping of much good: times and distances were recorded for the first five or six finishers in each event, not for anyone else. As a consequence, we know little of the performances of some athletes. Take the lone U.S. swimmer, Gardner Williams, for whom one report has him finishing far back, well out of medal contention, while another report has him jumping out of the water during competition and complaining it was too cold. I suspect Williams swam, but we just don’t know for certain what really happened.

Aother reason had to do with the personalities of the U.S. athletes themselves. These were humble men—and other than a few post-Olympic celebratory banquets, they went back to school and to work and got on with things without much talk of their accomplishments in Athens. Track and field is like that anyway, with athletes tending to be in the public eye one day and out of it the next. Nothing like baseball players, whose performances are chronicled for months and years.

Read on: http://www.history.com/news/remembering-the-first-u-s-olympic-team?cmpid=Social_Google_Hith_07202012_1