This Day in Track & Field, October 17, Fred Hansen took gold in Tokyo pole vault (1964), Gaston Roelants won Olympic steeple (1964), by Walt Murphy News and Results Services

This Day in Track & Field–October 17

1964—The fiberglass pole had revolutionized the Pole Vault since the previous Olympics in Rome, leading to 13 men clearing 15-5 (4.70) in Tokyo to better the previous Olympic Record.

American Fred Hansen, who had set a World Record of 17-3 ¾ (5.28m) in July, was one of four men to clear 16-4 ¾ (5.00m) on their opening attempt. He then passed at 16-6 ¾ (5.05), a height only cleared by West Germany’s Wolfgang Reinhardt. Hansen then “stole” the gold medal from Reinhardt by narrowly clearing 16-8 ¾ (5.10/Olympic Record) on his final attempt. Reinhardt won the silver medal and teammate Klaus Lehnertz won the bronze on fewer misses over East Germany’s Manfred Preussger.

Dallas Long (66-8 ½ [20.33]) and Randy Matson (66-3 ¼ [20.20m]) gave the U.S. a 1-2 finish in the Men’s Shot Put. Finishing 4^th in his 4^th Games was Parry O’Brien (63-0 [19.20]), the Olympic Champion in 1952 and 1956 (he won the silver medal in 1960). All 3 are members of the National Hall of Fame. Hungary’s Vilmos Varjú (63-7 ½ [19.39]) won the bronze medal.

The U.S. got another 1-2 finish in the Men’s 200-Meters, with Henry Carr (20.3/20.36/Olympic Record) finishing ahead of Paul Drayton (20.5/20.58). Winning the bronze was Trinidad and Tobago’s Edwin Roberts (20.6/20.63), who has been a long-time official at the Penn Relays. 4^th was Canada’s Harry Jerome (20.7/20.79), the bronze medalist in the 100, and 5^th was Italy’s Livio Berruti (20.8/20.83), the defending champion.

The Soviet Union’s Irina Press won the 5-event Pentathlon, a new event on the Olympic program, with a World Record score of 5246 points. Winning silver and bronze were Great Britain’s Mary Bignall-Rand (5035), the winner of the Long Jump, and the Soviet Union’s (and Azerbaijan’s) Galina Bystrova (4956).

Betty Cuthbert, Australia’s Golden Girl, became the first Olympic Champion in the Women’s 400-Meters, running 52.01 to beat Great Britain’s Ann Packer (52.2/52.20). 3^rd was another Australian, Judy Amoore (53.4).

Cuthbert had won 3 gold medals in the 1956 Olympics (100,200,4×100), but was injured in 1960 and found athletics a chore by then. By 1964 she had recovered her enthusiasm, and had a remarkably emotional reaction to her win – “in Tokyo the fact that I had won came over me right away. It was splendid – it was like losing something you love very much and then finding it again. I felt tremendous gratitude”. (From the IAAF Progression of World Records)

Belgium’s Gaston Roelants won the Steeplechase (8:30.8-OR) over Great Britain’s Maurice Herriott (8:32.4) and the Soviet Union’s (and Russia’s) Ivan Belyayev (8:33.8). American George Young finished 5^th(8:38.2).

Medalists/Results: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_1964_Summer_Olympics

Olympedia Reports: http://www.olympedia.org/editions/16/sports/ATH

Hansen-A Look Back(2018)

Cuthbert: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty_Cuthbert

https://www.athletics.com.au/hall-of-fame-directory/betty-cuthbert/

Videos

M200: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdfB8ni1FK0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzI2Y7KoPL8

Hall of Fame Bios

O’Brien(1974-Charter Member): (Currently not available)

Long(1996): https://www.usatf.org/athlete-bios/dallas-long

Matson(1984): (Currently not available)

Carr(1997): https://www.usatf.org/athlete-bios/henry-carr

1968–East Germany’s Christoph Höhne won the 50k-Walk (4:20:13.6) at the Mexico City Olympics over Hungary’s Antal Kiss (4:30:17.0) and American Larry Young (4:31:55.4). Future Hall-of-Famer Young, who is an accomplished sculptor, repeated his feat 4 years later at the 1972 Games in Munich.

From his website (http://www.youngsculpture.com/) :”…has placed over 50 monumental outdoor sculptures nationally and abroad. Most of his work has been in bronze, but he also works with stainless steel, marble, and other materials.”

There was almost a U.S. sweep in the 110-Meter Hurdles, but Leon Coleman (13.6/13.67) hit the 6^th hurdle and wound up 4^thbehind Willie Davenport (13.3/13.33), Erv Hall (13.4/13.42), and Italian Eddy Ottoz (13.4/13.46).

Mexico City’s altitude was a major factor in the Triple Jump as the World Record was broken 5 times!

Italy’s Giuseppe Gentile got the ball rolling by jumping 56-1 ¼(17.10) in the qualifying round(10-16) to break the previous mark of 55-10 ½ (17.03), which was set by Poland’s Józef Schmidt in 1960.

Gentile improved to 56-6 (17.22) in the opening round of the final to take the early lead. That would be his longest jump, but it would only earn him the bronze medal!

The Soviet Union’s (and Georgia’s) Viktor Saneyev went into the lead with his 3^rd-round jump of 56-6 ½ (17.23). Next to improve the World Record was Brazil’s Nelson Prudêncio, who reached out to 56-8 (17.27) on his 5^th jump. Saneyev put the final touch on this amazing event by becoming the first man to jump farther than 57-feet with his final effort of 57-3/4 (17.39). It was the first of three Olympic titles for Saneyev.

Four days after winning bronze in the 10,000, Tunisia’s Mohammed Gammoudi (14:05.01) held off challenges from the Kenyan duo of Kip Keino (14:05.16) and Naftali Temu (14:06.41) to win the gold medal in the 5000-meters. Gammoudi had won the silver medal (behind Billy Mills) in the 10,000-meters at the 1964 Olympics.

Hungary’s Gyula Zsivótzky won the Hammer Throw with an Olympic Record toss of 240-8 (73.36). Winning silver and bronze were the Soviet Union’s (and Belarus’s) Romuald Klim (240-5 [73.28]), the defending champion, and Hungary’s Lázár Lovász (228-11[69.78]).

Medalists in the Women’s High Jump were Czech Milena Rezková (5-11 ½ [1.82]) and the Soviet duo of Antonina Lazareva (Russia) and Valentyna Kozyr (Ukraine), both of whom cleared 5-10 ¾ (1.80).

Medalists/Results: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_1968_Summer_Olympics

Olympedia Reports: http://www.olympedia.org/editions/17/sports/ATH

Hall of Fame Bios

(Young): https://www.usatf.org/athlete-bios/larry-young

(Davenport): (currently not available)

Walking His Way Through College(Young/2011):

http://real.columbiacollegealumni.org/2011/05/larry-young-hes-walking-his-way-through.html

1972—The Soviet Union’s (and Georgia’s) Viktor Saneyev regained the World Record in the Triple Jump with a leap of

57-2 ¾ (17.44) in Sukhumi, Finland. Cuba’s Pedro Pérez had jumped 57-1 (17.40) in the altitude of Cali, Colombia, in 1971, to break Saneyev’s previous mark of 57-3/4 (17.39), which was also set at altitude at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City(see above).

Wiki Bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Saneyev

2020—Kenya’s Peres Jepchirchir ran 65:16 at the World Half-Marathon Championships in Gdynia, Poland, breaking her own “women’s-only” World Record of 65:34.

Winner of the Men’s race was Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo, who set an event record of 58:49. 4^th was countryman Joshua Cheptegei(59:21), the new World Record holder at 5000 and 10,000 meters.