On June 28, 1926, in Piacenza, the legend of race walking was born, a symbol of elegance in sport and in life. The comb used to style hair before the victorious arrival at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.
Below is the memory by Fausto Narducci, editor-in-chief of the Gazzetta dello Sport, written for Fidal.
There are many ways to make the history of a specialty, a discipline, or any sport. But no one has done so, as Pino Dordoni did before crossing the finish line at the Helsinki 1952 Olympics, fussing over his hair with a comb. Anecdotes, quirks, and the brilliance of the undisputed Knight of Race Walking (even though he officially held the title of Commander) come flooding back as Italian sport celebrates the 100th anniversary of the birth (June 28, 1926, in Piacenza) of a champion who served as a link between two eras of the heel and toe – first Ugo Frigerio, roughly contemporary Abdon Pamich, and later the Damilano brothers – accompanying the evolution of athletics’ most successful discipline. Dordoni, who is still studied today by those who want to walk correctly without incurring disqualifications, was the “master” of generations of walkers, and it matters little if his rigor and determination sometimes made him appear gruff. It’s no coincidence that after his competitive career, he took on the role of team leader of the Italian race walking team for 25 years, a role he held, with one brief interruption, almost until his death on October 24, 1998.
But let’s return to the triumphant day of July 21, 1952, when the Italian athlete, who combined the elegance of his racing style with the aplomb he displayed in everyday life, achieved a career-spanning success. The details of the episode, which has become a sports anecdote – also recalled in the recent presentation of Sandro Damilano’s statistical book at the Milan Arena – are due to former Italian athlete Piergiorgio Andreotti (nephew of life senator Giulio), who had the merit of obtaining a film clip from a German television documentary on Helsinki ’52, which shows the Olympian, clearly in the lead, just before the marathon gate, receiving a comb from a person standing upright in a convertible following him, which he immediately used to style his hair. Reconstructing the episode many years later with the person concerned, who remembered it well, Andreotti discovered that Dordoni had received the comb from the Swiss race judge, Armando Libotte, who at that time served as president of the 50 km walking jury but had also been a good walker during the war, a journalist, and the creator of the Lugano Trophy in 1961.
Some time later, it was the Olympic champion himself who recounted the episode that has gone down in history as “Dordoni’s comb”: “Armando was a friend of mine, and seeing him nearby while I was framing the stadium tower, I said to him, ‘Listen, Armando, would you mind holding my sunglasses and my cap? You can’t win the Olympics with your head covered and your glasses on. And then, while you’re at it, hand me the comb too, I want to make myself presentable.’” It was then that the photographers and camera operators went wild to capture the scene. Imagine, someone who marches and combs his hair even though he already has very little hair. Those who arrived late asked me to repeat the combing scene, but I only did it once and said, “Guys, I don’t want to lose the gold medal for you.” I did well because the Czech Josef Dolezal who was chasing me was a real old dog: of the eight minutes I had on him, in the end I only had two.”
For the record, Dordoni won in 4:28:07.8 (an Olympic record), ahead of Czech Dolezal (4:30:17.8) and Hungarian Roka (4:31:27.2). But the comb incident isn’t the only incident for which the race is remembered. It’s said that Dordoni, who had lived through the war with his brother Aldo, also a race walker with the Salò Social Republic, sang nostalgic songs to keep himself going during the toughest moments. He himself recounted how he almost didn’t start: “At the Perugia training camp, to save my racing shoes (I only had one pair), I trained with basketball shoes. The rubber toecap gave me a blister under my nail. Result: infection with fever and pus.” At the instigation of coach Giorgio Oberweger, Dordoni underwent minor surgery at a Milanese doctor’s office. He left for Finland without the nail on his big toe, and after a 50-hour train ride from Milan to Helsinki, he was taken into care by the canoeists’ medical director, who performed a final miracle. In the race, the Italian, fresh from winning the European title two years earlier in Brussels (but with a much faster time: 4:40:43), was chased for 35 km by Dolezal and Roka, as well as by the Ljunggren brothers (John finished eighth, Verner retired), but then walked alone to the finish line.
In post-war reconstruction Italy, it was easy to identify with the humility of the walkers who advanced through the crowd, much like the Giro d’Italia riders today in the mountain stages. Giuseppe Dordoni, known as Pino, was one of them, but he paid the price, as he himself admitted, for having fought on the wrong side of the war. When he was hired by Snam in 1953, after winning Olympic gold, he explained the experience to Enrico Mattei thus: “I volunteered at 18, I lost the war, and in Malè di Trento I turned myself in to the Carabinieri. It was the saddest day of my life, but I paid for crimes not mine.” Only later did it become known that Dordoni had been transferred in 1945 for six months to the Coltano concentration camp, a hamlet in the municipality of Pisa, where other famous figures such as Dario Fo, Raimondo Vianello, Walter Chiari, Ugo Tognazzi, Enrico Maria Salerno, and Enrico Ameri were interned. That “wrong” choice not only forced him to repeat his military service but in 1949 led to the cancellation of the job he had already announced at a credit institution.
In his career, Pino Dordoni, in addition to the Olympic (1952) and European (1950) titles, both in the 50 km, won 26 Italian titles: 11 in the 10 km, 10 in the 20 km, and 5 in the 50 km. He competed in a total of 332 races, winning 232 times, and wore the Italian national team jersey 18 times. His career began at age 15, in 1939, during school, thanks to former race walker Guido Rizzi, who initially steered him towards middle-distance running but later became his race walking coach. On March 8, 1942, Dordoni won his first race, the Modena Popular Trophy over the 10 km in 54:04. Forced to take on various odd jobs to support himself, training only in the evenings, he earned a spot in the 1948 London Olympics, where he finished ninth in the 10 km (48:19.2), just behind fellow Italian Gianni Corsaro, complaining that the course was too short for him. He had even decided to emigrate to Venezuela when his coach, Guido Rizzi, convinced him to participate in the 1949 Gazzetta Cento Kilometri, which awarded 100,000 Italian lire to the winner. A legendary race that started from Gallarate at 4a.m. and was accompanied by kilometers-long bicycle processions. The “caliphs” of the Trophy did not look favorably on this 23-year-old newcomer, but he beat out competition from the French bricklayer Claude Hubert, a multiple winner, and with the check he also earned his place in Italy.
It was only after his Olympic gold medal that Giulio Andreotti himself helped him find a job at Snam. Subsequent participations in the Games (9th in 1956 in the 20 km and 7th in 1960 in the 50 km) and the European Championships (retired in 1954 in the 50 km, 6th in 1958 in the 20 km and retired in the 50 km) did not bring the desired results. He had a special relationship with the Coppa Città di Sesto, just outside Milan, of which he won the first three editions (1957, 1958, and 1959). In Sesto San Giovanni, which named the municipal stadium after him in 2002, he also began his love story with his wife Graziella, whom he married in 1961. The final race took place on November 19, 1961, at the Olympic Stadium in Rome, with the definitive handover to Abdon Pamich, who set the 50 km world record there. Three years later, he redeemed himself with the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics after winning the bronze medal at Rome ’60. In 1962, Dordoni was appointed head of the FIDAL race walking sector.
His wife Graziella and daughter Isabella were always close to him.
100 years after his birth, Pino Dordoni remains a symbol of elegance, in sport and in life.