by Larry Eder
Walt Murphy is one of the finest track geeks 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: WaltMurphy44@gmail.com ) for the entire daily service. We will post a few historic moments each day, beginning February 1, 2024.
by Walt Murphy’s News and Results Service (wmurphy25@aol.com), used with permission
This Day in Track & Field–October 15
1960–The Soviet Union’s Pyotr Bolotnikov ran 28:18.8 in Kiev to smash the previous World Record of 28:30.4, which was set by the great Vladimir Kuts in 1956.
WR Progression: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men’s_10,000_metres_world_record_progression
www.racingpast.ca/john_contents.php?id=92
1964–The final of the Men’s 100-meters at the 1964 Olympics was preceded by the start of the 20-kilometer walk, with the walkers circling the cinder track three times, mostly in lane one, before leaving the stadium. And “Bullet” Bob Hayes, even though he had won all three of his preliminary races, was assigned to lane one under the random draw system used in those days. Workers did their best to smooth out the lane before the final, but, as Hayes would say after the race, “…it felt a little soft”.
No matter–Hayes was so dominating that quicksand probably wouldn’t have stopped him from winning the gold medal. For the first time in Olympic history, 8 men were in the final (6 was the norm prior to 1964), and the powerfully built Hayes ran away from all of the other finalists, winning in 10.0 to equal the World Record. Auto-times were available and his .19s margin of victory over Cuba’s Enrique Figuerola (10.06-10.25) is still one of the largest in Olympic history. Winning the bronze medal was Canada’s Harry Jerome (10.2/10.27).
And Hayes, who died in 2002 due to kidney failure, did it in borrowed shoes! As former St.John’s star Tom Farrell, who would win a bronze medal in the 800-meters four years later in Mexico City, says about his “claim to fame”:
”I was warming up for my semi-final in the 800 (Farrell would finish 5th in the final) when Ed Hurt (Coach from Morgan State and one of the team’s sprint coaches) and Bob Hayes came to me and asked what size shoes did I wear. I thought this was an unusual question as I was nervous as well as excited for my upcoming race. So I told them 8 1/2. Bob said it was the same size he wears. He asked if he could borrow them for his 100M semi-final and final races. I asked him where are his spikes and he said he had two lefts and was in a real bind. At the time in the Olympic Village there were only 2 shoe companies–Adidas and Puma–and you could get as many pairs of shoes as you wanted– I always carried an extra pair–just in case. So I gave Bob my other pair of Tokyo 64s from Adidas–you may remember they were blue suede shoes and actually reversed Kangaroo skin.”
“I thought this was all a little odd since this was the most important race of Bob Hayes’s career. At stake was a gold medal and the world’s fastest human title. A gold medal would increase his negotiating power with the Dallas Cowboys and here he was with 2 left shoes! I was glad I could help out. Had I had only one pair–Bob would have had to run in flats. I would not give him my only pair.”
“I found out sometime later that future boxing great Joe Frazier (who also won a gold medal in Tokyo) played a practical joke by switching Bob’s shoes before he left for the track–some joke!!!”
“A few days later my father sent me a clipping from the New York Times which read: ‘Farrell’s shoes win gold medal, too bad Farrell wasn’t in them’.”
Hayes, who would run a great anchor leg in the 4×100 relay on the final day of competition, went on to have an All-Pro career with the Dallas Cowboys and is the only athlete to have won an Olympic gold medal and a Super Bowl ring.
While it was a great day for Hayes, it was not so great for yours truly. Since camera equipment was relatively inexpensive in Japan at the time, I bought an 8mm movie camera the day before. The salesman kindly loaded the first roll of film for me and I excitedly started shooting everything that moved on the track. Alas, when I opened the camera to insert a new roll, I discovered to my horror that the film was all in a jumble inside–the salesman hadn’t loaded it properly! So, no lasting images of Hayes’ great run. When I brought the camera back to the point of purchase, the salesman was beside himself with remorse, but set me up properly this time so that I could record the rest of the Games.
Hayes wasn’t the only future Hall of Famer displaying his talents on this day. Al Oerter once again showed his competitive toughness by overcoming injuries to win the 3rd of his eventual 4 gold medals in the Men’s Discus. Competing at times with a neck brace he used to ease a cervical disk injury, and with a taped rib cage that had doctors advising him to withdraw, Oerter was in so much pain he decided his 5th throw would be his last. In dramatic fashion, he came from behind with an Olympic Record throw of 200-1 ½ (61.00m) to win over Czech Ludvik Daněk (198-7 [60.52]), who had taken away Oerter’s World Record earlier in the season. 3rd was American Dave Weill (195-2 [59.49]).
Said Oerter about competing in pain, “These are the Olympics. You die for them.”
Much has been written about Oerter never being the favorite when he won his gold medals, but he was the consensus pick of T&F News’s expert panel prior to these Games.
Jay Silvester (193-10 [59.09]), who got bumped from the bronze medal position by Oerter’s winning throw, almost didn’t make it to the final. Walking towards the infield through a tunnel under the stadium, he was knocked unconscious after hitting his head on a concrete beam, but quickly recovered. Years later, Oerter, who was behind Sylvester when he hit his head, said (with a smile), “My first thought as I stepped over Jay was, ‘One less man to worry about’”.
Romania’s Iolanda Balas, the World Record holder in the event, set an Olympic Record of 6-2 ¾ (1.90) while winning her 2nd gold medal in the Women’s High Jump. Winning silver and bronze were Australia’s Michelle Brown (5-10 ¾ [1.80]) and the Soviet Union’s (and Russia’s) Taisiya Chenchik (5-10[1.78]).
George Young ran 8:34.2 in the first round of the Steeplechase to break his own American record of 8:35.0—he would finish 5th in the final two days later.
The medalists in the Men’s 20k-Walk were Great Britain’s Ken Matthews (1:29:34.0/OR), Germany’s Dieter Lindner (1:31:13.2), and the Soviet Union’s (and Ukraine’s) Vladimir Golubnichiy (1:31:59.4). Finishing 6th (he was 19th four years earlier in Rome) was Ron Zinn, who died the following year during a battle in Vietnam. The Capt. Ronald Zinn Memorial awards are now presented each year to the leading racewalkers and officials of the event at the annual USATF convention.
Zinn was posthumously promoted to captain and is buried in the West Point cemetery (along with numerous military notables, George Custer among them.) The USA Olympic shield adorns his tombstone.
Medalists/Results: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_1964_Summer_Olympics
Olympedia Reports: http://www.olympedia.org/editions/16/sports/ATH
http://www.virtualwall.org/dz/ZinnRL01a.htm
https://www.usatf.org/disciplines/race-walking/race-walking-awards
Oerter(1963 SI Feature): https://vault.si.com/vault/1963/06/17/a-big-shy-man-who-likes-to-think
Hayes Links
Hall of Fame Bio: https://www.usatf.org/athlete-bios/bob-hayes
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/H/HayeBo00.htm
Videos
M100: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztRL-QMI1NY
DT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpeUbj4Wpf0
1968–Four years to the day after winning his 3rd Olympic title in Tokyo, Al Oerter cemented his place as a sporting legend by winning his 4th gold medal in the Men’s Discus in Mexico City, becoming the first t&f athlete in Olympic history to win the same event four times (Carl Lewis would later win 4 golds in the Long Jump). Few gave Oerter a chance this time, since Jay Silvester had set a World Record of 224-5 (68.40m) the previous month, a distance that was 17-feet longer than Oerter’s best.
But Oerter was the consummate competitor, especially at the Olympics. He took the lead for good in the 3rd round with a throw of 212-6 ½ (64.78m), an Olympic Record and a personal best by more than 5 feet! A disheartened Silvester couldn’t improve on his 2nd-round throw of 202-8 (61.78) and had to settle for 5th place. Winning the silver and bronze medals were East Germany’s Lothar Milde (206-11 [63.08) and Czech Ludvík Daněk (206-5 [62.92]). Daněk, the silver medalist in 1964, would complete his Olympic set of medals by winning gold in Munich in 1972.
My brother Pete, who was attending his first Olympics, picked Oerter to win in the daily T&F News prediction contest. Being the “expert” I thought I was, I scoffed at the idea, but my brother won a transistor radio for making the correct pick and he often reminded me who the real expert in the family was!
Oerter, who passed away in 2007, “retired” in 1969, but returned to the U.S. top-10 rankings in 1977, finished 4th at the 1980 boycott Olympic Trials, threw a personal best of 227-11 (69.46m) that same year when he was 43, and made his final appearance in the U.S. Rankings in 1983 at the age of 46!
RELATED OERTER LINKS:
Overcoming Adversity: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qVnLK2olmo
ESPN: http://espn.go.com/sportscentury/features/00016388.html
BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics2000/bbc_team/890517.stm
https://vault.si.com/vault/1977/04/25/his-past-is-slipping-into-the-future
4 Golds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KK_rWwQfjWo
Photos: http://tinyurl.com/OerterPhotos
NY Times Obituary (by Frank Litsky):
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/01/sports/othersports/01cnd-oerter.html
Wyomia Tyus, who had won in Tokyo in 1964, became the first Olympian (man or woman) to win successive 100-meter titles. Tyus, one of Ed Temple’s Tennessee State Tigerbelles, set a World Record of 11.0 (11.08) to beat American teammate Barbara Ferrell and Poland’s Irena Szewińska, both of whom ran 11.1 (11.15-11.19). The long-striding Szewinska caught 17-year old Raelene Boyle (11.1/11.20) of Australia right before the finish to win the bronze medal. Boyle would win the silver medal in the 200 later in the week and would win silver in both sprints 4 years later in Munich!
Tyus went through her usual pre-race ritual of doing the “Tighten Up”, a dance made popular by the group Archie Bell and the Drells, which had a hit song of the same name earlier in the year! (Check the Australian link below for Dwight Stones’s comments on Tyus and her dancing).
Hall of Fame Bio(Tyus): https://www.usatf.org/athlete-bios/wyomia-tyus
Great Britain’s David Hemery, who had won IC4A and NCAA titles in the 400-meter hurdles earlier in the season while competing for Boston University, completed his trifecta by winning the biggest title of all, taking the gold medal in Mexico with a World-Record time of 48.1(48.12). The battle for the remaining medals was fierce, with only .1s separating the next 4 finishers. East Germany’s Gerhard Hennige (49.0/49.02) won silver and Great Britain’s John Sherwood (49.0/49.03) the bronze. Missing out were American Geoff Vanderstock (49.0/49.07), who was 2nd coming off the final hurdle before slipping back and the Soviet Union’s (and Ukraine’s) Vyacheslav Skomorokhov (49.1/49.12). A close 6th was the 2nd American, Ron Whitney (49.2/49.27). Vanderstock had set the previous World Record of 48.8 at the U.S. Trials.
Another World Record was tied in the Men’s 800, with Australia’s Ralph Doubell winning the gold medal in 1:44.3 (1:44.40).Kenya’s Wilson Kiprugut (1:44.5/1:44.57), the bronze medalist in 1964, won the silver medal, and St.John’s alum Tom Farrell (1:45.4/1:45.46) , 5th with 200-meters to go, held off Germany’s Walter Adams (1:45.8) to win the bronze. Kiprugut held the lead throughout the race until being passed by Doubell 50-meters from the finish line.
Medalists/Results
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_1968_Summer_Olympics
Olympedia Reports: http://www.olympedia.org/editions/17/sports/ATH
Related Link(Hemery–50 Stunning Olympic Moments):
WR Progressions:
W100: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women’s_100_metres_world_record_progression
M800: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/800_metres_world_record_progression
M400h: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men’s_400_metres_hurdles_world_record_progression
Videos
W100: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2TOQU2T338
From an Australian Perspective: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gn3hMAvOYfQ
M400h: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59L3GeA2_2w
M800(w/Comments by Doubell): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-cOsTZUjlE
Oerter and his four gold medals(at the NYAC)
1975–Brazil’s João de Oliveira, taking advantage of the friendly altitude of Mexico City, jumped 58-8 ½ (17.89m) at the Pan-American Games to smash the World Record of 57-2 ¾ (17.44m), set by Viktor Saneyev in 1972. Runnerup Tommy Haynes set an American record of 56-5 ¼ (17.20).
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzYhDlbsLgM
WR Progression: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_jump_world_record_progression
