THE SUPER ATHLETES  

 

I've enclosed two Xerox pages from a book titled The Super Athletes by David P. Willoughby (it's subtitled, "A record of the Iimits of human strength, speed and stamina."). In his account of juggling, he credits Enrico Rastelli with doing 12 balls and 8 plates. Even the Guinness Book of World Records only credits Rastelli with doing 10 balls. I've read a lot of Willoughby's stuff (going back almost 20 years) and he's usually a very reliable researcher. However, I'm going to write to him and ask what source materials he used for this section of his book. I'll keep you informed of the results.  -DENNIS SOLDATI

 

EDITOR'S NOTE: Dennis Soldati telephoned recently to report that Mr. Willoughby's source for stating that Rastelli did 12 balls was Walter Umminger Supermen - Heroes and Gods - The story of sport through the ages (Translated from the German by James Clark). New York, McGraw-Hill, 1963, pages 213-214.

 

Willoughi'y, David P, 1901­

The super athletes; a record of the limits of human strength, speed and stamina. Cranbury , N.J. , A. S. Barnes, 1970.   665 p. illus., 26 cm.  $15.00 Bibliography: pp. 624-629.      ISBN 0-498-066517   72-88302

 

EDITOR'S NOTES:

Page 325  - It was Ernest Clarke, not Alfredo Codona, who first performed the triple somersault on the flying trapeze (See: Fred Bradna, THE BIG TOP, 1952, pp. 167-168.).

 

Page 329  - Nicolai Olkhovikov (b. 1922) was a soloist in 1967, not a member of the IRISTON HORSEMEN; in 1971 he became head of a teeter-board act called RUSSIAN TROIKA.