The Peerless Four
a novel
by Victoria Patterson
Counterpoint
Berkeley, CA
2013
212 pages
The Peerless Four is a fictional account/novel about the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics when women were first allowed to compete in track and field on a very limited basis. As we know from earlier reportings in this blog, the opening of events to women was done with great reluctance and trepidation by the men who ruled the Games. Because of this reluctance, women had already organized a world games for themselves without the approbation of the old boys' clubs that ran the world. Pierre de Coubertin who is given credit for founding the modern Games was very hesitant, and thought women should only be present to hand out awards. The ancient Greeks banned women entirely even from spectating on threat of death. So it was a major concession to men's tradition when women were allowed to compete in the 100 meters, 800 meters, high jump, shot put, discus, and 4x100 meters. Why the 200 and 400 meters were left out is a mystery, and God forbid anything over 800 meters should even be considered.
The novel follows the pre-games life of four Canadian women loosely disguised in fictional names, who justly earned their way to the Games and were sent to Amsterdam under close supervision to represent their country. The real women of the fictionally depicted in the novel are Ethel Catherwood, World Record holder in the high jump and beauty known affectionately as Saskatchewan Lily , Bobby Rosenfeld, an immigrant from Odessa in the Ukraine, and later a journalist for the Toronto Globe and Mail, Myrtle Cook, who would later write a sports column for the Montreal Star. The fourth girl in the book is a caricature of Jean "Jenny" Thompson who finished fourth in the 800 meters. Victoria Patterson gives life to these young athletes with all their confidence, fears, and flaws as well as life to the people around them, the coaches, chaperone, and promoter who is there to make a few bucks after the Games only to fall in love with the chaperone. The coach does the same with one of the athletes. Percy Williams, the Canadian man who won the 100 and 200 at Amsterdam also is fictionally portrayed, including his later suicide. The Canadian official who votes against giving women the right to continue running the 800 after 1928 is treated as the chaperone's husband, a doctor, who stays at home and doesn't witness what he votes to discontinue. The drug of choice is the hip flask that is carried by the men and the chaperone and with liberal imbibing at all times of day. It's 1928, remember and women are just getting out from under the boot of some the old rules. They are allowed to vote, corsets are out of style, they smoke, and drink. The public can see their ankles in modern fashion. Why shouldn't they be allowed to step on a track in shorts and sleeveless tops and compete like men? Okay but with that exception of nothing longer than the 800 and eventually for the next 35 years nothing longer than 200. Gotta save those ovaries and uteri for breeding. My acquaintance, Diane Palmason, a long time world class masters distance runner has the best comment on that thinking. "If women can't run long distance because of protecting reproductive abilities, why should men be allowed to run the hurdles?"
Women's rights or lack thereof along with sexism are the themes of the book. I overwhelmingly support the author in those aspects. At the end of the book there is an index of women's achievements in the early days of sport as well which is greatly appreciated. However the book fails in an attempt to be spot on with details of the sport. The writer seems only to have a superficial knowledge of track and field that could have been acquired in the scanning of a basic coaching book. Perhaps being spot on was not a goal in this work. Tim Johnston wrote a nonfiction track book titled "Otto Peltzer, His Own Man", and he made it as exciting as a novel. Peltzer, a world class runner and homosexual was as controversial as any athlete in the 1932 and 1936 Games. For this reason I cannot recommend The Peerless Four to a reader who is a fan or serious and knowledgeable participant in the sport. In reality there were 6 women on that first Canadian team known affectionately as "The Matchless Six". The title cops a plea and calls itself The Peerless Four. No way. No thank you.
The author and publisher get away with the standard disclaimer, "Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used ficticiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental." Okay your covered, but it is a disappointment to this reader. The cover has a nice picture of Ethel Catherwood clearing the bar in Amsterdam, but the newspaper clipping under it is not real.
Among the journalists who lambasted the 'collapsing women' after the 800 meters in which the first four broke the world record was William L. Shirer who would write the popular Rise and Fall of the Third Reich and John R. Tunis who later worte a lot of boys books (fiction). I guess this 'journalistic work was somewhat fictional as well. In Amsterdam, Paavo Nurmi was flat on his back after one of his races, but that was okay. He was a man. Probably some old boy collusion between the organizers and the journalists.
Here are links to brief bios of each of the six Canadian women on that team from Sports Reference.
Ethel Catherwood HJ 1st HJ WR
Jenny Thompson 4th 800
Bobby Rosenfeld 2nd 100 5th 800 1st 4x100
Myrtle Cook 5th 100 1st 4x 100
Florence "Jane" Bell 9th 100 1st 4x 100
Ethel Smith 3rd 100 1st 4x 100
Women's rights or lack thereof along with sexism are the themes of the book. I overwhelmingly support the author in those aspects. At the end of the book there is an index of women's achievements in the early days of sport as well which is greatly appreciated. However the book fails in an attempt to be spot on with details of the sport. The writer seems only to have a superficial knowledge of track and field that could have been acquired in the scanning of a basic coaching book. Perhaps being spot on was not a goal in this work. Tim Johnston wrote a nonfiction track book titled "Otto Peltzer, His Own Man", and he made it as exciting as a novel. Peltzer, a world class runner and homosexual was as controversial as any athlete in the 1932 and 1936 Games. For this reason I cannot recommend The Peerless Four to a reader who is a fan or serious and knowledgeable participant in the sport. In reality there were 6 women on that first Canadian team known affectionately as "The Matchless Six". The title cops a plea and calls itself The Peerless Four. No way. No thank you.
The author and publisher get away with the standard disclaimer, "Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used ficticiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental." Okay your covered, but it is a disappointment to this reader. The cover has a nice picture of Ethel Catherwood clearing the bar in Amsterdam, but the newspaper clipping under it is not real.
Among the journalists who lambasted the 'collapsing women' after the 800 meters in which the first four broke the world record was William L. Shirer who would write the popular Rise and Fall of the Third Reich and John R. Tunis who later worte a lot of boys books (fiction). I guess this 'journalistic work was somewhat fictional as well. In Amsterdam, Paavo Nurmi was flat on his back after one of his races, but that was okay. He was a man. Probably some old boy collusion between the organizers and the journalists.
Here are links to brief bios of each of the six Canadian women on that team from Sports Reference.
Ethel Catherwood HJ 1st HJ WR
Jenny Thompson 4th 800
Bobby Rosenfeld 2nd 100 5th 800 1st 4x100
Myrtle Cook 5th 100 1st 4x 100
Florence "Jane" Bell 9th 100 1st 4x 100
Ethel Smith 3rd 100 1st 4x 100