Muhammad Ali’s great star rose 64 years ago today at the Olympic Games in Rome. The boxing legend’s triumph almost didn’t happen
Muhammad Ali is considered the greatest sportsman of all time. The boxer’s glorious career, which was accompanied by a lot of politics, was unique. His success began at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome.
In the Italian capital on September 5, Ali was crowned Olympic champion in the light heavyweight division – it was the beginning of his development into an absolute superstar.
As significant as the triumph was for him, the story behind it is incredible. After all, Ali almost didn’t make the trip back then.
His refusal was due to the fact that the then 18-year-old was terrified of flying. There had been severe turbulence on his way to the Olympic qualifying tournament in Los Angeles, which had caused the young man great anxiety.
Ali wanted to take the train from America to Italy
This is why, even though he had qualified for the Olympic tournament, he didn’t want to travel by plane again. Instead, he asked the national Olympic association whether he could come to Italy in another way
His suggestion: either by boat or by train. While those responsible considered the first option to be hardly reasonable, the second was simply impossible. “Too bad – then I won’t be going to the Games,” replied Ali, who still went by the name Cassius Clay at the time.
His coach Joe Martin did not want to let this decision stand. He had trained Clay since he was twelve years old and shaped him into the boxer who fought everything in amateur boxing. Now a harmless airplane was not going to stop the US heavyweight champion from making his grand entrance on the world stage.
In a long conversation in Louisville’s Central Park, Martin finally convinced him that he first had to win the Olympic Games in order to be ready for the world title. That argument should have been enough for Ali, who was now ready to put his foot in the machine.
The “Louisville Tornado” conquers the games
A trip on which Ali is said to have screamed with nervousness. Others claim that he jumped all over the plane and predicted the medal chances of almost every athlete present.
Once in Rome, the “Louisville Tornado”, as they would later call him, immediately drew attention to himself. In the first round, the Belgian Yann Becaus was outclassed, whose name is said to have caused great laughter among Ali.
The same fate was to befall Gennady Shatkov, the 1956 Olympic middleweight champion. Next up on the road to gold was Australian Tony Madigan, who was clearly beaten on points by Ali.
Ali then faced Zbigniew Pietrzykowski in the fight for gold and stated afterwards that he “absolutely had to win without leaving any doubt”. A controversial decision in another weight class had previously caused confusion when the American Eddie Crook also won on points in a Polish-American duel
A self-confident goal for the 18-year-old Ali, as the Pole, who was eight years older, was much more experienced and had already had 230 amateur fights at the time. It was Pietrzykowski who irritated Clay with his unorthodox punches and was to retain the upper hand until the end of the second round.
Olympic champion Ali becomes “Mayor of the Olympic Village ”
In the third and final round, the tide turned completely. Ali’s combinations poured down on the overtaxed Pole who, to the amazement of the spectators, did not give up and stood firm. The result was indisputable: the 18-year-old Ali was the Olympic light heavyweight champion and had also become the darling of the Games with his euphoric, sociable manner.
“Cassius was by far the most popular athlete in the village”, journalist Dave Kindred later wrote and was therefore later declared the ‘Mayor of the Olympic Village’ by athletes and officials.
Ali was also immensely proud of his medal, which he was not to take off for the time being. “I didn’t take the medal off for 48 hours,” explained Ali, who, however, slept worse as a result: ”I even wore it to bed. I didn’t sleep very well though. I had to sleep on my back, which I usually never did, otherwise the medal ribbon would have cut my neck. But I didn’t care, I was the Olympic champion after all.”
However, the Olympic victory was only to be the birth of Muhammed Ali, a champion that the whole world would soon know forever.
