Eyser had been a gymnast for 14 years, a star the previous 10. But he was unknown to St. Louis. And when, on the first of July, competition began with exercises on the horizontal and parallel bars and the horse, the gymnast, according to The St. Louis Republic, “attracted much attention from the fact that he [had] only one leg.” The Westliche Post added that there was “general regret when he stepped up to the apparatus.”
Eyser did not react. He simply performed. The Mississippi Blätter ran a photograph of him on the high bar in mid-kip, his hips flexed, legs extended, as he prepared to cast to a handstand. And there, at World’s Fair Stadium—a newly constructed concrete oval and grandstand that was, The New York Times gushed, “as nearly as possible a counterpart of the ancient stadium at Olympia”—the gymnast won the crowd over. As the Westliche Post reported, the regret generated by his cork leg “immediately turned into loud enthusiasm … which was expressed in never-ending applause.”
And yet, Eyser had no chance of winning this first Olympics competition; it required the gymnasts to compete in various track and field events. The next day, against a field of 117 others, Eyser finished 76th in the shot put and dead last in both the long jump and 100-yard dash, running the race in 15.4 seconds. That a one-legged man had finished the race only 4.8 seconds behind the winner (a Turner from Indianapolis) was remarkable. But Eyser had nonetheless dropped far from medal contention. He would have to wait until late October for that second Olympics competition—one that would not involve any track and field components—and he trained for it at his Turnverein, a dozen or so blocks from his apartment on Ohio Avenue.
As summer turned to fall, the Olympics were generating great excitement, “a vigorous spectacle suited to an energetic and confident nation,” writes the sports historian George Matthews. World’s Fair Park, on the grounds of Washington University, hosted everything from archery and roque (an American variant of croquet) to weightlifting and tug of war. And on Friday, October 28, crowds filed into its concrete grandstand to watch Eyser and his fellow local Turners take on the best.
Eyser was slated to compete in five events and paid a $1 entrance fee for each. Four of the events primarily involved the upper body: the rope climb, parallel bars, horizontal bar, and pommel horse. The fifth, the horse vault, required legwork, the gymnast needing to hurtle himself over the horse and land squarely on two feet. In addition, Eyser would be up for a sixth medal based on a combined score of all events save the rope climb.
It was a lovely fall day, the temperature rising to 64 degrees. And at one p.m., Eyser stood in his belted pants and shirt, ready at the age of 34 to seize the great moment of his career.