Ten Greatest American Summer Olympians: No. 8 Al Oerter
Sure, Al Oerter isn’t a name you’ve heard often and it doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, but the Astoria, New York native was one of the most dominant athletes in Olympic history. Oerter owned the world of discus throwing for more than a decade.
Oerter backed into field events. He was a sprinter and mile runner at Sewanhaka High School, and claimed he discovered the sport when a discus landed at his feet one day. He threw it back where it came from but it sailed so far the track coach made him a discus thrower immediately. He set national high school records and wound up heading to the University of Kansas, where he attended classes with Wilt Chamberlain.
The burly Oerter stood 6-foot-4 and nearly 300 pounds at his heaviest, and won two NCAA championships for the Jayhawks. He began his Olympic career at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne and wasn’t considered a medal contender. Out of nowhere, Oerter unleashed a personal-best throw of 56.36 meters, good enough to win gold by almost 1.5 meters. Along with Fortune Gordien (silver) and Desmond Koch (bronze), he led an American medal sweep in Melbourne.
In Rome at the 1960 games, Oerter’s teammate Rink Babka was the world-record holder and favorite. Babka led most of the way, and actually gave Oerter advice before his fifth throw. On that hurl, Oerter launched the discus 59.18 meters, setting an Olympic record. Babka settled for silver, while fellow American Dick Cochran took home the bronze.
Oerter set his first world record in 1962, and became the first man to top 200 feet in the discus. He entered both the 1964 and 1968 Olympics as a contender but not a favorite. In each instance he beat the world-record holder to win gold, setting Olympic records (61.0 meters in Tokyo, 65.78 meters in Mexico City) at both games. In doing so, Oerter became the first track and field athlete to win four consecutive gold medals in an event. To this day, only Carl Lewis has duplicated the feat. Lewis won the long jump at the 1984, 1988, 1992 and 1996 games.
In the 1968 games in Mexico City, Oerter found himself locked in a duel with Germany’s Lothar Milde. Milde smashed Oerter’s Olympic record by more than two meters in the second round with a heave of 63.08. When Oerter stepped up for his third throw, he launched a 64.78-meter throw that shattered Milde’s new mark and became his personal best by more than five feet. Just for good measure Oerter proved it wasn’t a fluke in the fifth and sixth rounds as he broke the 64-meter barrier with each throw.
At 32 years old, Oerter had once again shown his dominance with the discus. He tried to make comebacks for the 1976, 1980 and 1984 Olympics but fell short of qualification. Still, many consider him the greatest field performer in history.
What many didn’t know was that Oerter performed injured many times, including at the 1964 Olympics. He tore rib cartilage on his right side six days before the Tokyo games after falling on wet concrete. Doctors urged him to pull out of the competition but he refused. At the time he was quoted as saying “These are the Olympics. You die before you quit.”
Oerter earned a business degree from Kansas and was an executive for the Grumman aircraft company in between a few comeback tries. During his attempted comeback in 1980, he had a career-best throw of 69.46 meters, which was the second-best mark in the world that year. But at the Olympic trials he finished fourth, which wouldn’t have mattered because the United States boycotted those games in Moscow as a protest of the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan.
Oerter showed up to try out for the 1984 Olympics as a 47-year-old, but he tore a calf muscle after making the finals. He retired for good in 1987, claiming the “drug culture” had taken over the sport. He wound up competing in over-40 meets and, naturally, dominating them.
At 59, Oerter was recognized for his achievements by being chosen to carry the torch into the Olympic Stadium during the Opening Ceremony for 1996 games in Atlanta. He was a motivational speaker in his later years, while also helping found Art of the Olympians in 2006, a program that assists Olympians in promoting their artwork.
Oerter passed away on October 1, 2007 of heart failure at the age of 71. He had long had heart problems, but dismissed doctors when they said he needed a heart transplant, claiming, “I’ve had an interesting life, and I’m going out with what I’ve got.”
Oerter was one of the most colorful and successful American athletes of the 20th century. He was an amazing physical specimen but also one who overcame injuries and phenomenal competition to achieve an Olympic first. He’s certainly one of America’s greatest Summer Olympians.
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