by runblogrunstg
Walt Murphy’s News and Results Service ([email protected])
This Day in Track & Field–August 20
1920–The U.S. was shut out of the medals in the Men’s 400-meters at the Antwerp Olympics. Other than the 1980 boycott year, this would be the last time the Americans would suffer such an embarrassment until the 2012 Olympics in London, when the U.S. didn’t even have a finalist!
Winning the medals were South Africa’s Bevil Rudd (49.6), Great Britain’s Guy Butler (49.9-estimated), and Sweden’s Nils Engdahl (50.0e). Rudd won a full set of medals in Antwerp, getting silver in the 4×400 and bronze in the 800.
Syracuse’s Allen Woodring (22.0) edged Charley Paddock(22.0e), the gold medalist in the 100, to win the Men’s 200-meters. The bronze medal went to Great Britain’s Harry Edward (22.2e).
Woodring was only 5th at the U.S. Olympic Trials, but was added to the Olympic team at the last minute when 4th-placer George Massengale was forced to withdraw due to illness (4 qualified for the team at the time).
American Frank Foss, only 5’-8”(1.73) tall, set a World Record of 13-9 (4.19) in the Pole Vault. finishing 2nd and 3rd were Denmark’s Henry Peterson (12-1 ½ [3.70]) and American Edwin Myers (11-9 ¾ [3.60]).
The Steeplechase was contested for the first time at the now common distance of 3000-meters and was won by Great Britain’s Percy Hodge (10:00.4), followed by American Patrick Flynn (10:21.0) and Italy’s Ernesto Ambrosini (10:32.0).
Finland’s Paavo Nurmi took the lead at the bell in the Men’s 10,000-Meters, but was passed on the backstretch by France’s Joseph Guillemot, who had beaten Nurmi in the 5000 three days earlier. Nurmi retook the lead coming off the final turn and won going away in 31:45.8. Guillemot (31:47.2), who had eaten not long before the race began after thinking it would start later than scheduled, held on for 2nd, “…spectacularly losing his lunch just after crossing the finish”. (From the IAAF Athletics Stats Book”). Winning the bronze medal was Great Britain’s James Wilson (31:50.8).
Nurmi’s win earned him the first of his eventual nine gold medals over the span of 3 Olympics (1920-1924-1928).
Results: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_1920_Summer_Olympics
Olympedia Reports: https://www.olympedia.org/editions/7/sports/ATH
http://history1900s.about.com/od/fadsfashion/a/olympics1920.htm
Woodring: https://digital.la84.org/digital/collection/p17103coll10/id/20608/
Video(PV): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwpkciSRdlk
1922—The first FSFI (Fédération Sportive Féminine Internationale) Women’s Olympics were held at Pershing Stadium in Paris. Women had been denied entry into the Modern Olympic Games. The 1000 meters was won by Lucie Breard in a world record time of 3 minutes, 12 seconds.
A handful of women’s events were finally added to the Olympic program in 1928.
http://www.olympedia.org/organizations/310
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Women%27s_Sports_Federation
Evolution of Women’s T&F at the Olympics
https://worldathletics.org/news/news/evolution-of-olympic-womens-athletics-1928-to
1961—Jay Silvester raised his 9-day old World Record (198-8 [60.56]) in the Discus to 199-2 (60.72) at the International Military Championships in Brussels. WR Progression: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men’s_discus_world_record_progression
1986— Udo Beyer threw 74-3 ½ (22.64) in Berlin to break the World Record of 74-2 ½ (22.62) that had been set by fellow East German Ulf Timmermann the year before.
WR Progression: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men’s_shot_put_world_record_progression
1988–Bulgaria’s Yordanka Donkova ran 12.21 in Stara Zagora to set a World Record in the Women’s 100-meter hurdles. It was the 4th World Record of Donkova’s career, and it stood for almost 28 years until Keni Harrison ran 12.20 in London on July 22, 2016.
WR Progression: http://www.athletix.org/Statistics/wr100mhwomen.html
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vC0rxe03etY
1989–Morocco’s Said Aouita, already the World Record holder in the 1500, 2000, 2-miles, and 5000-meters, added the 3000 mark to his impressive resume, averaging less than 60-seconds per lap while running 7:29.45 in Cologne, Germany, to break Henry Rono’s 11-year old World Record of 7:32.1.
One of the most versatile runners in history, Aouita was an Olympic medalist in the 5000 (gold-1984) and the 800 (bronze-1988).
WR Progression: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men’s_3000_metres_world_record_progression
Race Video: http://vimeo.com/17269965
1993–Great Britain’s Colin Jackson won the 110-meter hurdles at the World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany, in 12.91 to break Roger Kingdom’s 4-year old World Record of 12.92. Teammate Tony Jarrett won the silver medal (13.00) and American Jack Pierce the bronze (13.06). Tony Dees was in medal contention until he hit the 6th hurdle and finished last in 14.13.
Mike Powell couldn’t match his World Record performance from the 1991 Worlds in Tokyo, but he did defend his Long Jump title in noble fashion, reaching out to a winning jump of 28-2 ¼ (8.59). 2nd was Russia’s Stanislav Tarasenko
(26-9 ¼ [8.16]) and 3rd was Ukraine’s Vitaliy Kirilenko (26-9 [8.15]). 4th was American Erick Walder (26-5 [8.05]).
4 days after winning the 100-meters in the Championship Record time of 10.82, Gail Devers won the first of her three World titles in the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 12.46. She smashed the previous AR of 12.61, which was set by Jackie Joyner-Kersee in 1988. Silver went to Russia’s Marina Azyabana (12.60), who had been charged with a false start, and bronze to American Lynda Tolbert-Goode (12.67).
Frank Fredericks won the Men’s 200-meters with an African Record of 19.85, with Great Britain’s John Regis (19.94) finishing 2nd and Carl Lewis 3rd (19.99). It was a record 10th World Championships medal for Lewis.
Dan O’Brien missed the Decathlon at the 1992 Olympics after no-heighting in the pole vault at the U.S. Trials, but bounced back to win the gold medal in Stuttgart with an American Record score of 8,812 points (Also a WC Record). 2nd was Belarus’ Eduard Hämäläinen (8724) and 3rd was Germany’s Paul Meier (8548).
Medalists: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_World_Championships_in_Athletics
WR Progression: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men%27s_110_metres_hurdles_world_record_progression
Hall of Fame Bios:
Powell: https://www.usatf.org/athlete-bios/mike-powell
Devers: https://www.usatf.org/athlete-bios/gail-devers
O’Brien: https://www.usatf.org/athlete-bios/dan-o-brien
2004—Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele set an Olympic Record of 27:05.10 while winning the Men’s 10,000-meters in Athens. Bekele had also won the 10,000 at the previous year’s Worlds in Paris. Winning silver was his teammate, Sileshi Sihine (27:09.39), and the bronze went to Eritrea’s Zersenay Tadese (27:22.57).
Finishing 5th was Ethiopia’s Haile Gebrselassie (27:27.70), the 2-time defending champion. “Geb” was with the lead pack through 6000-meters when he started to drift back. At this point, it appeared that Bekele and Sihine, who were setting a fast pace, slowed their tempo to allow their teammate to get back into contention. He did, but it was a temporary reprieve, falling back again as the race for the medals became serious. Some were calling this his last race on the track, but he returned to the Olympics 4 years later in Beijing, where he finished 6th in the 10,000.
Medalists in the Men’s 20k-walk were Italy’s Ivano Brugnetti (1:19:40), Spain’s Paquillo Fernández (1:19:45), and Australia’s Nathan Deakes (1:20:02).
Results: https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/28th-olympic-games-6913163
Video(10k): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PR7WhrHnStQ
Jim Dunaway’s Athenian Column-Day One:
https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/news/dunaways-athenian-column-day-one
2006—Notable finishers (and some of their future accomplishments) at the World Junior Championships in Beijing (August 15-20)
Men
100-3.Jamaica’s Yohann Blake—2011 World Champion
800-1.Kenya’s David Rudisha–World Record holder and 2-time Olympic gold medalist (2012, 2016)
10,000: 1.Ethiopia’s Ibrahim Jeilan—2011 World Champion (beat Mo Farah)
High Jump: 2.Ukraine’s Bohdan Bondarenko—2013 World Champion
Women
100m-hurdles: 3.Tiffany Ofili-Porter—5-time NCAA Champion at Michigan(3-outdoor, 2-indoor)
Pole Vault: 2.Slovenia’s Tina Šutej—2-time NCAA Champion at Arkansas
Discus: 1.Australia’s Dani Samuels-Stevens—2013 World Champion
Medalists/Results: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_World_Junior_Championships_in_Athletics
2008–With Michael Johnson’s “untouchable” world record of 19.32 as a goal, there was no pre-finish celebration for Jamaica’s Usain Bolt like there was when he won the 100 in World Record time earlier at the Beijing Olympics. The emerging superstar performed his now-familiar pre-gun mugging for the camera while being introduced, then gave it everything he had in the 200-meters and was rewarded with a new mark of 19.30! Among the stunned observers inside the Bird’s Nest was Johnson, who reacted with a wince and then a smile as he watched his record fall from his BBC announcing position.
Crossing the finish line far back in 2nd and 3rd were the Netherland Antilles’ Churandy Martina (19.82) and American Wallace Spearmon (19.95), who seemingly had matched the bronze medal he won the year before at the 2007 Worlds in Osaka.
Spearmon, with the American flag draped around his shoulders, was well into his “victory” lap when he discovered that he had been disqualified for a lane violation!
U.S. officials filed a protest, which was denied, but, while viewing video of the race, they noticed that Martina had committed a similar violation. Another protest was filed, Martina was disqualified, and the silver and bronze medals were awarded to Americans Shawn Crawford (19.96) and Walter Dix (19.98), who had previously won bronze in the 100.
Jamaica’s Melaine Walker, a former Texas Longhorn, set an Olympic Record of 52.64 in the Women’s 400-meter hurdles. 2nd was American Sheena Johnson-Tosta (53.70) and 3rd was Great Britain’s Tasha Danvers (53.84), who was an All-American at USC. Walker and Johnson-Tosta were even at the 8th hurdle before Walker pulled away for the win.
The medalists in the Women’s Hammer were Cuba’s Yipsi Moreno (246-9 [75.20]), China’s Chang Wenxiu (243-10 [74.32]), and France’s Manuela Montebrun (238-0 [72.54]).
Medalists/Results: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_2008_Summer_Olympics
2009–A year to the day after setting a World Record of 19.30 at the 2008 Olympics, Usain Bolt took the 200-meters mark to a whole different level with his winning time of 19.19 at the World Championships in Berlin.
In what was, for all practical purposes, a separate race for the lesser medals, Panama’s Alonso Edward set a National record of 19.81 in 2nd and Bolt’s good friend Wallace Spearmon was 3rd in 19.85.
Bolt’s .62s margin of victory is the greatest, by far, in World Championship and Olympic history.
Ryan Brathwaite, the 2009 U.S. Junior College Champion (Barton County) from Barbados, ran 13.14 while pulling off a big upset in the men’s 110-meter hurdles over Americans Terrence Trammell and David Payne, both of whom were timed in 13.15.
Trey Hardee finished off his win in the Decathlon (he would repeat in 2011), scoring a personal best total of 8790 points. The former Texas Longhorn won by 150 points over Cuba’s Leonel Suárez (8640), with Ukraine’s Oleksiy Kasyanov (8479) winning the bronze medal.
Said Hardee, “It hasn’t sunk in yet, I’m trying to catch my breath to enjoy the moment. Everything happens for a reason. It was a very humbling experience. I represented a team and wanted to perform to the best of my ability. I can’t ask for more.”
Hardee’s win helped wipe away some of his 2008 Olympic disappointment when an injured wrist led to his no-heighting in the Pole Vault.
Croatia’s Blanka Vlašić (6-8 ¼ [2.04]) outdueled Germany’s Ariane Friedrich (6-7 ½ [2.02]) to win her 2nd consecutive World title in The Women’s High Jump. 3rd was Italy’s Antonietta Di Martino (6-6 ¼ [1.99]).
Jamaica’s Melaine Walker (52.42/Championship Record) followed up her Olympic win in the 400-meter hurdles in Beijing the year before with a victory here over Americans Lashinda Demus (52.96) and Trinidad & Tobago’s Josanne Lucas (53.20).
For the 2nd year in a row, veteran Darvis “Doc” Patton was involved in a baton pass in the heats of the 4×100 relay that led to the U.S. not advancing to the final. In Beijing a year earlier, Patton and Tyson Gay failed to connect on the final exchange. This time, after Great Britain filed a protest, it was ruled that anchorman Patton had touched the baton while he was leaving the “acceleration” zone, but not yet in the official 20-meters-long exchange zone.
Medalists/Results: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_World_Championships_in_Athletics
Videos: M200(w/comments from Michael Johnson) W400h M110h DEC(PV&1500) WHJ
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/athletics/8213036.stm
Sports Illustrated Vault: https://vault.si.com/vault/2009/08/31/bolt-strikes-twice
WR Progression: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men%27s_200_metres_world_record_progression
200 Splits: http://speedendurance.com/2009/08/21/usain-bolt-200-meter-splits-speed-reserve-and-speed-endurance/
2016—Showing once again that he’s a master tactician, Matthew Centrowitz led the Men’s 1500 at the Rio Olympics almost every step of the way to become the first American in more than a century to win the event, Mel Sheppard being the last to do so in 1908!
“Pedestrian” was a phrase used by many to describe the early pace (66.83, 2:16.59/4:34 mile pace!), but the tempo increased dramatically with about 600-meters to go.
Djibouti’s Ayanleh Souleiman edged into the lead as the field hit the homestretch for the penultimate time, but “Centro”, a frustrated 4th in London in 2012, used a gentle elbow to squeeze through on the inside to regain the lead before the bell sounded for the last lap (3:00.0).
A sub-56 400 brought the field through 1200-meters in 3:12.00, as Kenya’s Asbel Kiprop, the 2008 Olympic champion, made a quick move on the backstretch from 7th to challenge Centrowitz, who rebuffed the move and went on to complete his dramatic victory, running a stunning 50.5 for his last 400-meters (1:49.8 for his last 800). Algeria’s Taoufik Makhloufi (3:50.11), the final challenger, finished 2nd and a delighted Nick Willis (3:50.24) finished 3rd to win his 2nd Olympic medal (he won silver in 2008). Centrowitz’s winning time of 3:50.00 was the slowest in an Olympic final since 1932, but it was one of the most exciting Olympic finals in history (at least to American fans!).
Centrowitz told NBC’s Lewis Johnson after the race, “My goal was just to get on the podium. I never dreamed of actually winning”. At the end of the interview, Centro showed the tattoo on his chest that reads, “Like Father, Like Son”. And that’s the main title of the book written by his dad Matt, who cheered his son’s victory from the stands in Rio. Matt competed in the first round of the 1500 at the 1976 Olympics. (See the video linked below for his reaction in Rio).
Great Britain’s Mo Farah (13:03.30) completed his 4th-straight global distance double by winning the Men’s 5000-meters over surprising American Paul Chelimo (13:03.98PR) and Ethiopia’s Hagos Gebrhiwet (13:04.35). Next across the line were Canada’s Mo Ahmed (13:05.94), the former Wisconsin All-American, and 41-year old Bernard Lagat (13:06.78), who was competing in his 5th (and last) Olympics).
Farah had finished 1st in the 10,000 a week earlier and had won the double previously at the 2012 Olympics and the 2013 and 2015 World Championships.
Medalists in the Men’s Javelin were Germany’s Thomas Röhler, who moved ahead of Kenya’s Julius Yego (289-6 [88.24]) with his 5th-round throw of 296-3 (90.30). Trinidad & Tobago’s Keshorn Walcott (280-1[85.38]), the defending champion, won the bronze medal.
4 women cleared 6-5 ½ (1.97) in the Women’s High Jump, with the places decided on misses after all 4 failed to clear 6-6 ¾ (2.00). Spain’s Ruth Beitia, the 37-year old veteran competing in her 4th Olympics (she was 4th in 2008 and 2012) won the gold medal as the only one to be clean through 6-5 ½ (1.97). Bulgaria’s Mirela Demireva earned the silver medal with only one miss at her opening height of 6-2 (1.88) and Croatia’s Blanka Vlašić settled for the bronze after missing 3-times during the competition (including once at 6-5 ½). American Chaunté Lowe only had 2 total misses, but they were both at 6-5 ½, relegating her to 4th place.
South Africa’s Caster Semenya (1:55.28) repeated as Olympic Champion in the Women’s 800, with Burundi’s Francine Niyonsaba (1:56.49) and Kenya’s Margaret Wambui (1:57.02) winning silver and bronze.
The U.S. closed out the competition on the track in Rio (the Men’s Marathon would take place the following day) by sweeping the 4×400 relays, winning the Women’s race in 3:19.04 (6th straight Olympic title) and the Men’s race in 2:57.30.
Running for the women were Courtney Okolo (50.2), Natasha Hastings (49.4), Phyllis Francis (49.8), and Allyson Felix (49.7). Felix finished the Games with two golds (4×1, 4×4) and a silver (400), giving her a total of 9 Olympic medals, making her the most decorated American female T&F athlete in Olympic history at the time. After winning bronze (400) and gold (4×400) at the Tokyo Olympics, bringing her total to 11 medals (including 7 golds), she is now the most decorated American athlete, male or female) in Olympic history. (Only Finland’s Paavo Nurmi, with 12, has won more Olympic medals).
Finishing 2nd and 3rd were Jamaica (3:20.34) and Great Britain (3:25.88).
For the men, it was Arman Hall (45.0), Tony McQuay (43.5!), Gil Roberts (44.8), and LaShawn Merritt (44.0). Jamaica (2:58.16) also finished 2nd here, with the Bahamas (2:58.49) edging Belgium (2:58.52) for 3rd place.
Medalists/Results: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_2016_Summer_Olympics
Röhler/Disc Golf
https://www.discmania.net/blogs/discover/disc-golf-olympic-javelin-champion-thomas-rohler
Men’s 1500:
Local Hero: https://www.capitalgazette.com/sports/ph-ac-cs-centrowitz-column-823-20160822-story.html
Like Father, Like Son: https://www.amazon.com/Like-Father-Son-Coaching-Parenting/dp/1542655048
NBC/w/dad’s reaction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkKqN0jVglw
World Feed(Includes medal ceremony): https://www.youtube.com/
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