Just a year after TIME’s 1923 founding issue, the U.S. Olympic team descended on Paris for the 1924 Summer Olympics in search of glory. The issue, released on July 7 in the midst of the games, splashed a smiling James S. Rockefeller, the U.S. crew team captain, across the cover. Inside, Rockefeller, great-nephew of the oil magnate, was profiled as the team’s fearless leader with mythological prowess.
“Now he led them forth—the bronze-skinned ones—to conquer the oarsmen of the world, as warlike Menelaus led the bronze-greaved Argives against Troy of old. Would his heart and theirs be stout enough? Could he counsel and exhort them to his Nation’s glory?”
The expectations were high, but Rockefeller did indeed guide his team to gold-medal glory on the Seine.
