by RBR AdminWalt Murphy is one of the finest track statisticians that I know. Walt does #ThisDayinTrack&FieldHistory, an excellent daily service that provides true geek stories about our sport. You can check out the service for FREE with a free one-month trial subscription! (email: [email protected] ) for the entire daily service. We will post a few historic moments each day, beginning February 1, 2024.
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This Day in Track & Field–August 12
1937—Mel Walker had jumped 6-9 7/8 (ratified as 2.08 [6-9 ¾]) in Stockholm four days earlier to set an American Record, but the IAAF didn’t accept the mark as a World Record since the bar fell off, even though it was well after Walker’s clearance. He handled any confusion by getting over 6-10 ¼ (2.09) on this date in Malmö, Sweden.
Walker, a teammate of Jesse Owens at Ohio State, was the co-NCAA Champion (with another teammate-Dave Albritton) in 1936.
From his Wikipedia bio: Walker benefitted from a rule change that had outlawed diving or clearing the bar first with his head. Walker used a variation of the Western roll
1939—Germany’s Rudolf Harbig won the 400-meter in 46.0 in Frankfurt to break Archie Williams’ World Record 46.1, set at the 1936 NCAA Championships. Harbin had set a World Record of 1:46.6 for 800 meters the previous month.
WR Progression: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men’s_400_metres_world_record_progression
Racing Past: http://www.racingpast.ca/john_contents.php?id=125
Wiki Bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Harbig
1960–The Mt.SAC Relays were only two years old, so few track fans in the U.S., let alone the world, had ever heard of Walnut, California. But that all changed when the results of this final pre-Olympic tuneup for the U.S. team that would compete in Rome spread throughout the T&F community.
World and American Records fell like dominoes, with Ralph Boston producing the most stunning performance. The 21-year-old from Tennessee State long-jumped 26-11 ¼ (8.28) to break Jesse Owens’ 25-year old World Record of 26-8 ¼ (8.13).
Topping their own World Records were Bill Nieder in the Shot Put (65-10 [20.06]) and Hal Connolly in the Hammer (230-9 [70.33]), while Rink Babka matched the WR in the Discus (196-6 [59.91]). Another record fell in the Mile Relay, with a lineup of Eddie Southern (47.2), Earl Young (46.4), Otis Davis (45.9), and Jack Yerman (46.1) running 3:05.6. (The mark was inferior to the 4×400 record of 3:03.9).
American Records were set by Dyrol Burleson in the 1500 (3:41.3) and Bob Soth in the 6-miles (28:56.0) and tied by Dave Sime in the 100-meters (10.1) and Lee Calhoun and Willie May in the 110-hurdles (13.4).
Boston, Nieder, Calhoun, and Davis (400) won gold medals in their respective events at the Rome Olympics later that summer. Also winning gold was the 4×400 relay, with Glenn Davis replacing Southern.
A Look Back(2010 article/subscription might be required):
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-crowe-20100803,0,3162687.column
WR Progressions
Long Jump: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_jump_world_record_progression
Shot Put: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men’s_shot_put_world_record_progression
Discus: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men’s_discus_world_record_progression
60-years ago: https://trackandfieldnews.com/walnut-1960-it-was-60-years-ago-today/
https://www.worldathletics.org/news/feature/world-records-12-aug-boston-connolly-nieder
1965—Billy Mills ran 28:17.6 for 10,000 meters in Augsburg, Germany, to break his 10-month-old American Record of 28:24.4 that was set while winning the gold medal at the 1964 Olympics.
1972–Lyudmila Bragina set a pre-IAAF World Record of 8:53.0 for 3000 meters in Moscow.
WR Progression: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women’s_3000_metres_world_record_progression
1975–After convincing meet officials to change the distance from 1500 meters, John Walker became the first man in history to break 3:50 for the Mile when he ran 3:49.4 in Gothenburg, Sweden. Tanzania’s Filbert Bayi had set the previous mark of 3:51.0 three months earlier in Kingston, Jamaica.
To mark its 45th anniversary (2020), Jeff Benjamin asked Walker to reflect on the race:
WR Progression: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mile_run_world_record_progression
1983—East Germany’s Detlef Michel won the Men’s Javelin at the inaugural World Championship in Helsinki with a throw of 293-7 (89.48), while runner-up Tom Petranoff, who had set a massive World Record of 327-2 (99.72) in May, could only manage to throw 280-10 (85.60) in the cold and wet conditions. The Soviet Union’s Dainis Kula (280-8 [85.56]) won bronze.
Despite hitting the last two hurdles, Greg Foster (13.42) was able to win the 1st of his 3 World titles in the 110-meter Hurdles over local favorite Arto Brygarre (13.46) and teammate Willie Gault (13.48).
“I’ve never hit a hurdle like that,” said Foster of his contact with hurdle #9. “I’ve never been that off-balance. I wanted to stop, but something kept me going.”
After East Germany’s Ronald Weigel started celebrating after finishing 1st in the 50k walk (3:43:08), he was mistakenly told he needed to walk another lap (which he did). Winning silver and bronze were Spain’s José Marín (3:46:32) and the Soviet Union’s Sergey Yung (3:49:03).
West Germany’s Patriz Ilg won the Steeplechase (8:15.06) over Poland’s Boguslaw Maminski (8:17.03) and Great Britain’s Colin Reitz (8:17.75).
Czech Helena Fibingerová won the Women’s Shot Put (69-3/4 [21.05]), with the East German duo of Helma Knorscheidt (67-11 [20.70]) and Ilona Briesenick (67-5 ½ [20.56]) finishing 2nd and 3rd.
Medalists: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_World_Championships_in_Athletics
A Look Back:
https://www.runnersworld.com/advanced/a20852481/remembering-the-1983-helsinki-world-championships/
Sports Illustrated Vault: https://vault.si.com/vault/1983/08/22/putting-it-all-on-the-line
Videos
M110h: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcIA6cynX-U
MSC: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfEgyJze4ro
1984—37-year-old Carlos Lopes (2:09:21) of Portugal won the Men’s Marathon at the L.A. Olympics over Ireland’s John Treacy (2:09:56) and Great Britain’s Charlie Spedding (2:09:58). Other notable finishers: 10. New Zealand’s Rod Dixon (2:12:57), and Americans Pete Pfitzinger (11th/2:13:53) and Alberto Salazar(15th/2:14:19).
Medalists/Results: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_1984_Summer_Olympics
https://olympics.com/en/video/portugal-s-lopes-wins-marathon-los-angeles-1984
