by RBR Admin
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: [email protected] ) 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 ([email protected]), used with permission
This Day in Track & Field-October 21
1964–Ethiopia’s legendary Abebe Bikila, who had his appendix removed only six weeks earlier, won his 2nd Olympic Marathon title on the final day of action at the 1964 Games in Tokyo. Winning silver and bronze were Great Britain’s Basil Heatley (2:16:19.2) and Japan’s Kokichi Tsuburaya (2:16:22.8).
Bikila, who ran barefoot when he won his first gold medal four years earlier at the 1960 Olympics in Rome, wore shoes this time as he ran a world best of 2:12:11.2. He won by more than 4 minutes, still the largest margin of victory since the 1924 Olympics. Tragically, Bikila was involved in an automobile accident the following year that left him paralyzed from the waist down and he died from a brain hemorrhage in 1973 at the age of 41. 3rd-placer Tsuburaya’s life also had a tragic ending, the 27-year old committing suicide prior to the 1968 Olympics, where he was expected to compete again in the Marathon. Read his full story at: http://www.olympedia.org/athletes/72647
Other notable finishers in the race included Americans Buddy Edelen, who finished a creditable 6th (2:18:12.4) and Billy Mills (14th-2:22:55.4). Australian Ron Clarke, who set a fast early pace in the race, finished 9th (2:20:26.8).
New Zealand’s Peter Snell finished off his double gold medal performance by winning the 1500-meters (3:38.1) five days after defending his title in the 800-meters (1:45.1).
Content to stay off the lead in a slow-paced race (3:00/1200m), Snell exploded on the final backstretch, moving to the front and pulling away to win by 1.5 seconds.
There was a 5-way battle for silver and bronze, with Czech Josef Odložil (3:39.6) and New Zealand’s John Davies (3:39.6) winning out over Great Britain’s Alan Simpson (3:39.7), American Dyrol Burleson (3:40.0) and Poland’s Witold Baran (3:40.3)
Running arguably the greatest 100-meters in history (at the time), Bob Hayes brought the U.S. team from behind on the anchor leg to win the Men’s 4×100 relay, with the team setting a World Record of 39.0 (39.06). Relay splits in the 4×100 are always open to debate, but Hayes was timed as fast as 8.6 for his carry. Running the first 3 legs for the U.S. were Paul Drayton, Gerry Ashworth, and Richard Stebbins. Winning silver and bronze were Poland and France, both of which ran 39.3 (39.36).
After the final, France’s Jocelyn Delecour approached Drayton and said “all you have is Hayes” – to which Drayton grinned and responded “that’s all we need”.
This was Hayes’s last race before embarking on a Hall of Fame career in the NFL with the Dallas Cowboys.
Running with a lineup of Ollan Cassell (46.0), the future head of TAC, Mike Larrabee (44.8), the gold medalist in the 400, Ulis Williams (45.4), and Henry Carr (44.5), the gold medalist in the 200, the U.S. won the Men’s 4×400 relay in the world-record time of 3:00.7. Great Britain (3:01.6) and Trinidad & Tobago (3:01.7) were also under the previous mark of 3:02.2, which was set by the U.S. at the 1960 Olympics.
Carr had a 5-meter lead when he received the baton from Williams, but was caught by T&T’s Wendell Mottley and Jamaica’s George Kerr after going out conservatively in the first 200-meters. Sneaking a peek over his shoulder at his would-be challengers, as if to say, “nice try, guys”, Carr took off and brought the U.S. home with a comfortable 1-second victory.
John Thomas almost atoned for his disappointing performance at the 1960 Olympics, where he won the bronze medal in the Men’s High Jump after entering the Games as the favorite. He cleared the same height (7-1 ¾ [2.18]) as World Record holder Valery Brumel, but lost the gold medal with more misses. Winning the bronze was American John Rambo (7-1 [2.16]).
Poland (43.6), with 18-year old Irena Kirszenstein(Szewińska), a future IAAF Hall-of-Famer, running the 2nd leg, beat the U.S. (43.9) in the Women’s 4×100. When it was later revealed that anchor Ewa Klobukowska had failed a new sex-chromosome test, Poland remained the Olympic champion, but the American quartet of Willye White, Wyomia Tyus, Marilyn White, and Edith McGuire was given credit for the World Record. The bronze medals were won by Great Britain (44.0).
Footnote: I became a Cowboys fan after Hayes joined the team and was in Yankee Stadium in 1966 when he caught a 41-yard touchdown pass, outrunning the defender—one Henry Carr, who was the cornerback for the NY Giants! (See Photo)
Medalists/Results: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_1964_Summer_Olympics
Olympedia Reports: http://www.olympedia.org/editions/16/sports/ATH
Snell Feature (800/1500): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RK0woLEtQQA
Video(Men’s 4×100, Marathon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPDfT0ucUfc
Extended Version (Marathon): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxOdp8ka25U
Kirszenstein-Szewinska: https://www.worldathletics.org/news/news/hall-of-fame-profile-irena-szewinska-poland
Klobukowska: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ewa_Kłobukowska
Larrabee Hall of Fame Video(includes 400, 4×400): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qp37qrwvPl4
Other Links(Bikila):
http://www.ethiopians.com/abebe_bikila.htm;
IAAF Hall of Fame: http://www.iaaf.org/athletes/hall-of-fame
Hayes-Carr (photo can be seen in the attached file if it doesn’t appear here)
1965—Bill McClellon began his senior year at NYC’s DeWitt Clinton by setting his 5th National H.S. Indoor Record by clearing 6-11 (2.11) at a meet in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Marc Bloom traces the life and career of McClellon, the first prep to clear 7-feet, in this two part series:
Part 1: https://www.runnerspace.com/gprofile.php?mgroup_id=44531&do=news&news_id=645265
Part 2: https://www.runnerspace.com/gprofile.php?mgroup_id=44531&do=news&news_id=645294
1979—Bill Rodgers (2:11:42) was a winner of the NY City Marathon for the 4th year in a row, while Norway’s Grete Waitz ran 2:27:32.6 to better her own year-old World Record of 2:32:29.8 while winning the 2nd of her eight Women’s titles in NY.
Other notable finishers
Men: 2.Kirk Pfeffer (USA) 2:13:09…4.Ian Thompson (GBR) 2:13:43, 5.Benji Durden (USA) 2:13:49…7.Frank Shorter (USA) 2:16:59, 8.Ron Tabb (USA) 2:16:28, 9.Jon Anderson (USA) 2:16:38…18.Gary Fanelli (USA) 2:18:20…43.Barry Brown (USA) 2:23:00…46.Ron Hill (41-GBR) 2:43:20.
Women: 2.Gillian Adams (GBR) 2:38:33, 3.Jacqueline Gareau (CAN) 2:39:06, 4.Patty Lyons (USA) 2:40:19…9.Doreen Ennis (USA) 2:48:09.
Starters/Finishers: 11,532/10,488; Men: 9,732/9,279 , Women: 1,800/1,209
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1979_New_York_City_Marathon
Results(Men): https://www.athlinks.com/Events/248522/Courses/0
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_winners_of_the_New_York_City_Marathon
http://www.tcsnycmarathon.org/
http://www.runningpast.com/rodgers.htm
Rodgers on NY:
T&F News Interview-Rodgers(1978): https://trackandfieldnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Bill-Rodgers.pdf
1984-Welshman Steve Jones set a World Record of 2:08:05 in the rain in the Chicago Marathon (known at the time as “America’s Marathon”). Finishing 2nd and 3rd were Portugal’s Carlos Lopes (2:09:06), the winner of the Olympic title earlier in the year, and Australia’s Rob de Castella (2:09:09), the 1983 World Champion. 5th was Great Britain’s Geoff Smith (2:10:08) and 14th was Paul Cummings (2:15:29).
Jones would run faster when he won the race in 1985 in 2:07:13, but he just missed the new World Record of 2:07:12, which had been set by Lopes in April of that year in Rotterdam.
The repeat winner of the Women’s division was Portugal’s Rosa Mota (2:26:01), the bronze medalist at the 1984 Olympics (and would later win gold at the 1988 Olympics). Next were Australia’s Lisa Ondieki (2:27:40) and Norway’s Ingrid Kristiansen (2:30:21). 5th was American Lisa Rainsberger (2:31:31) and 8th was Canada’s Jacqueline Gareau (2:35:33).
Since the live CBS coverage of the race wasn’t shown in the Boston area, Reebok USA brought Jones (who ran for Reebok) in from Wales for a viewing party at the city’s famed Eliot Lounge (the Coogan’s of its day!) the day after Thanksgiving. The Back Bay establishment was packed with members of the local running community, who started watching the race replay on a big screen.
The locals’ attention was soon diverted to a smaller screen that was carrying the college football game between Boston College and Miami. And with good cause—this was the game where BC quarterback Doug Flutie threw his famous “Hail Mary” pass that gave the Eagles a last-second win! Toni Reavis, who was the analyst on the CBS show, offers more at the link below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hen0HM49Buc
Post-Race Interview(Jones): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6_A50pu0_Y
Top-20: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_Chicago_Marathon
http://www.runnersworld.com/chicago-marathon/30-years-ago-steve-jones-transformed-the-marathon
Past Winners: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_winners_of_the_Chicago_Marathon
https://tonireavis.com/2015/11/27/such-are-the-memories-of-sport/
