Word: nurmi
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Dates: during 1920-1929
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...whispered about a certain passenger. There he sat, slim, blond, eating-for breakfast, two apples, a triple helping of oatmeal, a big cup of coffee, three slices of buttered toast; for lunch, vegetable soup, roast beef, sweet potatoes, rolls, two cups of coffee, vanilla ice cream. He was Paavo Nurmi, on his way from Manhattan to compete in the Illinois A. C. handicap meet. The famed express ended its run, the passenger, well-fed, well-rested...
...went a pistol in the Chicago Coliseum a few hours later. Three runners leapt forward; fast they went, though they had a mile and three-quarters to go. In front was a light skinny one, this Nurmi; behind him came Joie Ray, Fred Liewendahl. Lap after lap they padded. At the tenth they were only two; Liewendahl had quit. At the twentieth Nurmi looked over his shoulder at lurching, wavering Ray. Then he set his eyes on the tape, flashed through it, trotted off to his dressing room. Eighty yards behind came Ray, crossed the finished, collapsed into the arms...
This time, however, there were no ogling blacks, no steaming coffee, no apples, no diner. What to do? Nurmi's retainers noised his plight about the train. A New York Central brakeman, famed as a heavy eater, sidled up to the famished Finn modestly offered three succulent sandwiches. The engineer gave a bottle of milk, a conductor an apple. Thus was the breach filled. Nurmi left no crumbs. Fed, he stated that he disliked Chicago. He had three grievances: 1) Without notice to him the Coliseum track had been reduced from ten to twelve laps to the mile...
...Manhattan race was a 2,000-metre handicap over a flat (unbanked) track. Off sped Nurmi, round and round, after runners who had started many yards ahead of him. Twice, on the sharp turns of the track, he slipped, lost his stride, yet when he broke the tape, he broke also the world's indoor* record for this distance, his time 5 min. 33 sec. After him panted Gunnar Nilson, who had started with a 125-yard handicap...
...Before Nurmi's race, a rival Finn, Willie Ritola, started from scratch, padded five long miles, four times tapped the field of wearying runners, lowered by eight seconds the world's indoor record. Ritola's time...