According to The Guinness Book of Athletics Facts and Feats, Peter Matthews’ 1982 treasure trove of track and field miscellanea: “The smallest crowd to watch a world record was possibly 48 at John Muir College, Pasadena, on 11 July 1953, to see Fortune Gordien (USA) throw the discus 58.10m/190ft 7in.”

Naturally, given the volume of global marks set going back so far in time, it would be difficult to verify the claim with absolute exactitude. Still, it would be entirely fitting.

Gordien was a giant of the discus in the 1940s and early 1950s. He also happened to be a gregarious showman who earned a living as a bit-part Hollywood actor, and as an escape artist and illusionist.

Like Al Oerter, Gordien was a four-time world record breaker and six-time US champion. Unlike his compatriot, arch-rival, the acknowledged all-time colossus of the discus, however, Gordien has become a largely forgotten, little-known figure in track and field history.

Oerter, of course, earned legendary status courtesy of his unprecedented four Olympic gold medals. Gordien took part in three Olympics, finishing third in London in 1948, fourth in Helsinki in 1952 and second in Melbourne in 1956.

He always claimed that the as-yet unheralded Oerter “stole” the gold medal from him in Melbourne.

Gordien was 34, the world record-holder, and the heavy favourite. Oerter had turned 20 two months previously. He had made the US team with the fortuitous help of a sudden gust of wind that blew his discus back within bounds at the trials.

By that time in his career, Gordien had been holder of the discus world record for seven-and-a-quarter years, with the exception of a three-week spell in 1953.

His first global mark came on 9 July 1949. Competing at an international meet at the Jose Alvalade Stadium, he threw 56.46m, eclipsing the 55.33m mark set in Milan the previous year by Adolfo Consolini, the Italian who won the Olympic title in London in 1948.

Gordien improved his record to 56.97m at Hameenlinna in Finland the following month. He held it for four years until his US teammate Sim Iness threw 57.93m at the NCAA Championships in Lincoln, Nebraska, on 26 June 1953.

At home in Pasadena

Three weeks later came the All Comers Meet at the Sports Ground of John Muir College in Pasadena which attracted that select band of just 48 spectators.

Seventy years on, it is difficult to imagine a world record being watched by so few souls. Even elementary school sports days attract larger crowds.

Not that it mattered to a beefed-up Gordien. He had been hitting the weights hard during winter training, increasing his weight from 90kg to 101kg (198lb to 223lb).

Gordien’s style involved a running hop across the circle. It was described thus by the celebrated US team coach Payton Jordan in his book ‘Champions in the Making’: “Gordien was an extremist who threw his all into his work, as well as the whirling turn in the discus circle. He employed far more lack of balance than ever before, but when it was tamed and working smoothly, his form increased the centrifugal drive to maximum proportions.”

Gordien achieved a smooth blend of power and technique with his second throw that afternoon in Pasadena. He hurled his discus out to 58.10m, regaining his fleeting-forfeited world record.

Five weeks later, he returned to John Muir College, Pasadena to set his fourth world record, 59.28m. It lasted for six years, until the Pole Edmund Platkowski ventured tantalisingly close to the 60-metre barrier with 59.91m in Warsaw in 1959.

No out-psyching Oerter

So when Gordien made the trip to Melbourne in 1956, he was the world record holder and the man to beat. Consolini was expected to be his closest rival.

At the training track five days before the competition, Gordien unleashed a monster throw that was measured at 60.65m, 1.37m beyond his world record distance. The watching Oerter concluded: “If he just holds his stuff together, nobody on earth in going to get near him.”

Gordien – a brash, forthright individual – was of the same opinion. He made sure everyone knew how far he was throwing and that the gold medal was going to be his.

On his excellent website Al Oerter Back to Olympus (www.aloerterbacktoolympus.com), Andrew Pettit relates how Gordien tried to intimidate the rookie Oerter at a subsequent training session three days before the event.

“Gordien was right behind me the entire time,” Oerter recalled. “He was constantly saying, ‘Come on, come on, get in the ring, move it, let’s go, let’s go.’

“Until, one time, I got in the ring a bit too hurried and was in the act of throwing. Unknown to me, Gordien had entered the cage area behind me, so intent on his next throw.

“I was turning and about to release when I slipped on the wet surface, causing me to launch the discus rearward with great force. It bounced off the cage right behind Gordien’s head.

“The man’s blood drained out of his body. I don’t know how the discus missed him. He got out of the cage and, from that moment on, he didn’t push me anymore.”

‘You could tell something was wrong’

On the afternoon of the final at the hallowed Melbourne Cricket Ground, there were 100,000 spectators packed into the stands – 99,052 more than there had been in attendance at John Muir University to see Gordien regain the world record three years previously.

As the 16 contestants prepared to enter the arena, the favourite was performing card tricks. If his confidence bordered on the arrogant at times, he was naturally ebullient too. On bus rides with teammates, he would play a variety of tricks, pulling coins from their ears.

What Gordien had not reckoned for in Melbourne was his fledgling teammate trumping him with an ace.

When the competition began, Oerter noticed that the showman was somewhat flustered in the heat of battle. “You could tell something was wrong,” Oerter recounted. “He was herky-jerky, animated, impatient.”

Gordien hurled a respectable 54.75m with his opening throw but then Oerter, inspired by the competition and the buzz generated by the huge crowd, unleashed a mighty 56.36m. With his first effort, he had smashed Iness’ Games record (55.03m) and broken the spirit of his rivals.

The stunned Gordien could only manage 49.18m in the second round. He had to dig deep to improve upon his opening mark, finally doing so in the sixth round with 54.81m, but it wasn’t enough to get near Oerter.

Gordien regained his poise sufficiently to congratulate Oerter. It was a third successive Olympic disappointment for him.

In London in 1948 Gordien took bronze with 50.77m, behind the Italian duo Consolini (52.78m) and Guiseppe Tose (51.78m). He travelled to Helsinki in 1952 as world record-holder (with 56.97m) but could only manage 52.66m and finished out of the medals in fourth place behind Innes (55.03m), Consolini (53.78m) and US team-mate James Dillon 53.28m).

The Melbourne misfortune hastened Fortune’s retirement from top-level discus competition.

‘Some good days and some bad ones’

Born in Spokane, Washington, and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Gordien had learned his sporting craft under the guidance of coach Jim Kelly at the University of Minnesota.

He became a track and field coach himself, at San Bernadino Valley College in California. He also coached his son Marcus, a 65.28m discus thrower and 20.52m shot putter. At the Pepsi Invitational at UCLA in Los Angeles in 1978, the 23-year-old Gordien Jr. was beaten by the 43-year-old Al Oerter.

The elder Gordien enjoyed some success in masters’ competition, winning the discus title at the first US Masters’ Championships in San Diego in 1968.

In the immediate years after the Melbourne Olympics, Gordien earned a living as an escape artist and illusionist. His father had been a professional magician.

Gordien himself extended his showbiz range as an actor. While still competing at international level, he played a minor role in the 1954 film The Egyptian, alongside Hollywood stars Jean Simmons, Victor Mature and Peter Ustinov.

After his career, he performed roles in the US television series The Cisco Kid and Not for Hire. He also appeared in the films North to Alaska, Prince Valiant and The Winning Way.

In later life, Gordien combined his college coaching career with cattle ranching. He died in Fontana, California, in 1990, aged 67.

“I don’t remember myself as anyone great,” he once said in an interview with the Minneapolis Tribune. “I just remember myself as an athlete who had some good days and some bad ones.”

Simon Turnbull for World Athletics Heritage

Fortune GORDIEN

Fortune GORDIEN