An Ivy Olympic Look at August 20
1920 — The United States epee team, which included Harvard’s William Russell and Princeton’s Henry Breckinridge, was in action at the Antwerp Games. Breckinridge would serve as Charles Lindbergh’s attorney during the Lindbergh kidnapping trial and would defeat President Franklin D. Roosevelt — opposing the New Deal — in the 1936 New Jersey Democratic Primary. He would lose badly elsewhere and ultimately endorse Republican nominee Alf Landon in the general election. It didn’t help.
2004 — Tora Harris of Princeton failed to qualify for the high jump finals in Athens, a disappointing turn of events for the nation’s top high jumper in 2002. Harris had never lost a Heps championship, indoor or outdoor, capping his career with a clearance of 7-7 at outdoor Heps at Navy in 2002. He actually didn’t begin to jump until all his competitors were finished. Harris also won at the Penn Relays that year, leaping 7-6 1/2 in front of more than 45,000 fans. He failed to make the U.S. Olympic team this year. He would have been a huge hit in Beijing, given that he speaks Chinese fluently. Below is Harris’ all-time best clearance of 7-7 3/4 at the USA Nationals in 2006.
