Exhibit Features the Modern Olympic Games and Highlights Penn State Participants
"Faster, Higher and Stronger: The Modern Olympic Games," featuring the personal Olympic collection of Penn State Alumnus Harold (Hal) Wilson '51, is on display in the Frank and Mary J. Smeal Foundation Exhibits Hall, 104 Paterno Library, through September 17.
Mary Ellen Clark, Penn State '86, was an American diver who won
two Olympic bronze medals. The first was in diving at the
1992 Summer Olympics and the second was in diving
at the 1996 Summer Olympics. Clark was
"voted one of the top-10 women athletes in the country
by the United States Olympic Committee in 1996.
Wilson, a library leader, has developed a substantial Olympic Games Collection that includes programs, tickets, brochures, maps, pins, mascots, and medals from the 1912 Stockholm through the 2006 Torino games. Among the most notable items in Wilson's collection are a relay torch used in the 1984 Los Angeles games and a plush mascot, "Amik," from the 1976 Montreal games. The exhibit also includes Penn State University Archives collection materials about Penn Staters who competed and participated in the Olympic Games.
Related special events include a lunchtime presentation by John Lucas, professor emeritus, Exercise and Sport Science and Official Olympic Historian, Wednesday, July 9, noon to 1 p.m., Mann Assembly Room, 103 Paterno Library.
A gallery talk by Wilson, is scheduled for Thursday, August 7, 4 p.m., in 104 Paterno Library, in conjunction with First Thursday State College.
The modern Olympic Games are an international, multi-sport event held every four years, alternating between summer and winter competitions. Founded by French nobleman, Pierre Fredy, Baron de Coubertin, the first modern games were held in Athens, Greece in 1896.
The2008 games are in Beijing, China, and consist of 302 events in 28 sports. The Olympic Creed states "the most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well."
The most recognizable Olympic symbol is the Olympic rings: the rings represent unity of the five inhabited continents. The five colors: red, blue, green, yellow and black were chosen to represent at least one color from each national flag.
For more information, contact Jackie R. Esposito, Penn State University Archivist, jxe2@psu.edu, 814-863-3791