Lovelock Olympic cup up for sale

Interest is building in bringing back to New Zealand a heavy glass cup which Germany's Third Reich gave Jack Lovelock for his gold-medal race at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

Lovelock received the cup, which has a Bohemian lead crystal lid and is engraved with an imperial eagle and swastika, after running the 1500m event in a world-record time of 3m 47.8s before more than 100,000 people, including Adolf Hitler.

The race was immortalised for radio listeners by former world sprint champion Harold Abrahams' gripping BBC commentary.

Abrahams dropped any pretence at professional detachment with the exhortation: "Come on, Jack. 100 yards to go. Come on, Jack. My God, he's done it! Jack, come on. Lovelock wins. Five yards. Six yards. He wins. He's won. Hooray."

Although Lovelock kept his medal, German auction house Agon SportsWorld says the 3.6kg cup was too heavy for him to send home to New Zealand, so he gave it for safekeeping to a 14-year-old helper at the Olympic Village.

The German boy nursed the cup through World War II but it was sold at auction in the 1960s to a renowned Italian glass collector, who has since died.

Agon, which is offering the 44cm cup for auction again next weekend in Germany, says collectors from the United States, Brazil and Japan are showing interest.

Although there is no indication of its value, Athletics New Zealand and Lovelock's old school said they might be interested if the price was right or if a benefactor could be found.

Timaru Boys' High rector Kevin O'Sullivan said the school was already custodian of Lovelock's gold medal.

The school also has trophies and other memorabilia donated by Lovelock's only surviving daughter, Mary, in 2003.

Athletics NZ spokesman Murray McKinnon said he believed his organisation would be keen to buy the cup and display it in Wellington.

Short of that, it would like to see a museum such as Te Papa secure such an important relic of New Zealand's sporting history.

Lovelock's was the first Olympic track and field gold medal won for New Zealand, and his 1500m world record stood for five years.

He died in 1949 in the United States when he fell in front of a train.

Men's 1500m world records

* August 6, 1936, Berlin: Jack Lovelock (NZ) - 3min 47.8sec.

* July 14, 1998, Rome: Hicham El Guerrouj (Morocco) - 3min 26sec.