Delfo Cabrera Gómez (April 2, 1919 – August 2, 1981) was an Argentine athlete, winner of the

marathon race The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair di ...

at the

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and also known as London 1948) were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, England, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus ca ...

in one of the most dramatic finishes in athletics history.

Biography

Born in Armstrong,

Santa Fe Province The Province of Santa Fe ( es, Provincia de Santa Fe, ) is a province of Argentina, located in the center-east of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise Chaco (divided by the 28th parallel south), Corrientes, Entre R� ...

, Delfo played football as a youth, but decided to turn to athletics after Juan Carlos Zabala's triumph at the 1932 Summer Olympics. He moved to

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

in 1938 and began training in

San Lorenzo de Almagro Club Atlético San Lorenzo de Almagro, commonly known as San Lorenzo de Almagro or simply San Lorenzo (in English: ''Saint Lawrence''), is a sports club of Argentina in the Boedo district of Buenos Aires. It is best known for its football team ...

under Francisco Mura. In the same year, he won his first national championships title (in 5000 m). Over the years he would win 9 more titles, but none of them in marathon. Delfo served in the army during the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

where he met Juan Perón. After the war, being a friend of Perón, he was active member of the Justicialist Party. The

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...

was Cabrera's first major international competition. Etienne Gailly from

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

dominated the marathon race most of the way and until almost the very last moments. He was the first to enter the stadium, but with 400 m to go, Gailly fell down, exhausted, got up and fell again. It was like

Dorando Pietri Dorando Pietri (; often wrongly spelt Petri; 16 October 1885 – 7 February 1942) was an Italian long-distance runner. He finished first in the marathon at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London but was subsequently disqualified. Biography Earl ...

's dramatic finish 40 years before. Cabrera and Tom Richards of

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

managed to pass the staggering Gailly, Delfo winning 16.0 seconds ahead of Richards. For 64 years, the victory remained the last Argentinian gold medal in an individual competition, until the victory of Sebastián Crismanich in

taekwondo ''Taekwondo'', ''Tae Kwon Do'' or ''Taekwon-Do'' (; ko, 태권도/跆拳道 ) is a Korean martial arts, Korean form of martial arts involving punching and kicking techniques, with emphasis on head-height kicks, spinning jump kicks, and fast k ...

in the 2012 games. Cabrera also participated in the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, Kesäolympialaiset 1952; sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1952), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad ( fi, XV olympiadin kisat; sv, Den XV olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952 ( sv, Helsin ...

and was the flag bearer for

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

at the opening ceremony; he finished in sixth place in the marathon, which was won by Emil Zátopek. Cabrera ended his athletics career after finishing sixth at the 1954 Boston Marathon. After that he taught

physical education Physical education, often abbreviated to Phys Ed. or P.E., is a subject taught in schools around the world. It is usually taught during primary and secondary education, and encourages psychomotor learning by using a play and movement explorat ...

in several schools. Delfo died in a car accident near the town of Alberti, Buenos Aires province, when driving back to Buenos Aires from a reception in his honour at

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincol ...

Achievements

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cabrera, Delfo 1919 births 1981 deaths People from Belgrano Department, Santa Fe Road incident deaths in Argentina Argentine male marathon runners Argentine male long-distance runners Olympic athletes for Argentina Olympic gold medalists for Argentina Athletes (track and field) at the 1948 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1951 Pan American Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1952 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1948 Summer Olympics Pan American Games gold medalists for Argentina Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Pan American Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Medalists at the 1951 Pan American Games Sportspeople from Santa Fe Province