by Larry Eder
Walt Murphy’s News and Results Service ([email protected])
This Day in Track & Field–August 23
1886–Great Britain’s Walter George, one of the legends of the mile, set a World Record of 4:12 3/4 in a highly anticipated race in London. When his time was posted, he was swarmed by thousands of fans who wanted to congratulate him. Fellow professional William Cummings, the previous record holder at 4:16 1/5, collapsed with 70-yards to go in the race. George’s time wasn’t bettered until amateur Norman Taber ran 4:12.6 in 1915. George’s splits were unusual, to say the least, compared to the modern style of racing: 58 1/2, 2:02, 3:07 3/4!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_George_(athlete)
1909 (New)–From Wikipedia: Welshman “Tenby” Davies is probably best remembered for taking on his great rival, Irishman Beauchamp R. Day of Blackpool, at Pontypridd on (this day) where he decisively beat him over the half-mile distance, clocking an impressive 1 min. 57.6 seconds in the process, which was one of the fastest times recorded in the World for that year.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenby_Davies
1920–Great Britain (3:22.2) won the 4×400 comfortably on the final day of competition at the Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium. Bevil Rudd, the winner of the 400-meters earlier in the Games, brought South Africa from 4th to 2nd with his anchor leg of 49-flat. André Devaux held off American Frank Shea to secure the bronze medals for France (there is some confusion about the place times, but Great Britain won by at least 6 meters, while the next 3 teams were less than a second apart from each other.
After running an unnecessary 1st round, where no one was eliminated, the teams lined up for the final in a straight line, with no staggers.
Paavo Nurmi’s individual win helped Finland win the team title in the 3000-meters x-country event. It was Nurmi’s 4th medal of the Games–3 gold(10,000, 2 in XC), 1 silver(5000)
Medalists/Results: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_1920_Summer_Olympics
Olympedia Reports: https://www.olympedia.org/editions/7/sports/ATH
1923–Paavo Nurmi, known more for his exploits in longer races, ran 4:10.4 in Stockholm to set a World Record in the mile. The previous mark of 4:12.6 was set by American Norman Taber in 1915.
WR Progression: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mile_run_world_record_progression
ccccPaavo Nurmi, photo from Wikipedia
1947—Running with the wind at his back the whole way, Jamaica’s Herb McKenley, competing for the Shore A.C., ran 45.0 for 440-yards on the straightaway on the Long Branch,NJ, boardwalk! (Where Tim McLoone‘s Pier House is located today!)
1985–Morocco’s Said Aouita ran 3:29.46 for 1500-meters in Berlin to break Steve Cram’s 5-week old World Record of 3:29.67. Among those trailing in his wake were Sydney Maree (2nd/3:32.90), Mike Boit (5th/3:34.73), John Walker (6th/3:34.97), Ray Flynn (8th/3:35.18), Jim Spivey (10th/3:39.93)
Pacing Aouita through 1200-Meters were West Germany’s Viktor Blumenthal (56.8, 1:53.5) and Ireland’s Frank O’Mara (2:48.5), who actually pulled away from Aouita as they approached the 1200 split.
”I ran the last 500 meters in great pain,” Aouita said of tonight’s race. ”I suffered a hamstring injury six days ago and that injury prevented me from breaking the mile record in Zürich.”
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e073u8gkvuA
https://www.nytimes.com/1985/08/24/sports/aouita-sets-mark-in-1500-meter-run.html
WR Progression: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1500_metres_world_record_progression
1989—A Santa Monica T.C. lineup of Danny Everett (20.2), Leroy Burrell (19.7), Floyd Heard (19.9), and Carl Lewis (19.6) ran 1:19.38 in Koblenz, Germany, to set a World Record in the 4×200 relay. The previous mark of 1:20.3 was set by USC in 1978.
1996–Allen Johnson won the 110-hurdles in Brussels in 12.92 to equal the American Record he already shared with Roger Kingdom.
AR Progression: http://trackfield.brinkster.net/RecProg_AllUSA.asp?RecCode=WR&EventCode=MB1&Gender=M&P=F
1999—Spain’s Niurka Montalvo, a native of Cuba, gave the Spanish crowd a reason to cheer by winning the Women’s Long Jump at the World Championships in Seville with her last-round effort of 23-2 (7.06). Italy’s Fiona May (22-9 ¼ [6.94]), the 1995 champion, finished 2nd, and 3rd was American Marion Jones (22-5 [5.83]), who had won the 100 the previous night.
Medalists in other events
Women’s Discus: Franka Dietzsch (Germany) 223-7 (68.14), Anastasia Kelesidou (Greece) 216-8 (66.05), Nicoleta Grasu
(Romania) 214-5 (65.35)…6.Seilaia Sua (U.S.) 209-1 (63.73)
Men’s High Jump: Vyacheslav Voronin (Russia) 7-9 ¼ (2.37), Mark Boswell (Canada) 7-8 ½ (2.35), Martin Buss (Germany)
7-7 ¼ (2.32)
Men’s Steeplechase: Christopher Koskei (Kenya) 8:11.76, Wilson Boit Kipketer (Kenya) 8:12.09, Ali Ezzine (Morocco)
8:12.73
Medalists/Results: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_World_Championships_in_Athletics
IAAF Coverage Additional Reports
2003—Less than a month after his 2-year doping ban ended, Belarus’s Andrei Mikhnevich “won” the Men’s Shot Put (71-2[21.69]) on the opening day of the World Championships in Paris(August 23-31). Winning the silver medal was Adam Nelson (69-9 [21.26]). 3rd was Ukraine’s Yuriy Belonog/aka-Bilonoh (69-2 ¾ [21.10]). 3-time World Champion John Godina (9th) was eliminated after the first 3 rounds.
In 2012, a retest of a sample from the 2005 World Championships turned up positive, leading to a lifetime ban for Mikhnevich and the annulment of all of his performances from 2005-2013. He forfeited five global medals: silvers from the 2006 and 2010 World Indoor Championships, and bronzes from the 2008 Olympics and the 2007 and 2011 World Outdoor Championships. Same was true for Belonog, who was stripped of the gold medal he had “won” at the 2004 Olympics! To add to this sad doping story, American Kevin Toth, originally 4th in Paris, was given a 2-year ban after testing positive for steroids (on 3 occasions).
Ethiopia got a 1-2 finish from Berhane Adere, who set a Championship Record of 30:04.18, and Werknesh Kidane (30:07.15) in the Women’s 10,000-meters. China’s Sun Yingie (30:07.20) won the bronze medal.
Ecuador’s Jefferson Pérez (1:17:21), the 1996 Olympic Champion, won the 1st of his 3 World titles in the 20k-Walk. Winning silver and bronze were Spain’s Francisco Javier Fernández (1:18.00) and Russia’s Roman Rasskazov (1:18:07).
Medalists/Results: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_World_Championships_in_Athletics
IAAF Coverage Additional Reports
2004—Jeremy Wariner, who had won the NCAA title in June (for Baylor), stepped up to win Olympic gold in the Men’s 400 in Athens, running a personal best of 44-flat (44.00). He led a U.S. sweep, with Otis Harris (44.16) winning the silver medal and Derrick Brew (44.42) the bronze.
Lithuania’s Virgilijus Alekna won his 2nd straight gold medal in the Men’s Discus and set an Olympic Record of 229-3 (69.89). Winning silver and bronze were Hungary’s Zoltán Kővágó (219-11 [67.04]) and Estonia’s Aleksander Tammert (218-8 [66.66])
Great Britain’s Kelly Holmes won the Women’s 800 (1:56.38) over Morocco’s Hasna Benhassi (1:56.43NR) and Slovenia’s Jolanda Čeplak-Batageli (1:56.43). It was a wild finish, with front-runner Jearl Miles-Clark (1:57.27/56.37 at 400m!) slipping from 1st to 6th in the homestretch and defending champion Maria Mutola (1:56.51) going from 1st to 4th in the final 10-meters!
Sports commentators normally aren’t supposed to show any bias when covering an event, but Steve Cram can be forgiven for yelling “C’mon Kelly” near the finish of the race!
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbQ6rX1C8ko
The 34-year old Holmes, who had a look of disbelief on her face when she realized she had won, had endured many disappointments and injuries during her career, but they were all forgotten on this night. And things got even better a few days later when she won a 2nd gold medal in the 1500-Meters!
Cameroon’s Françoise Mbango (50-2 ½ [15.30]) won the 1st of her 2 Olympic titles in the Women’s Triple Jump. Finishing 2nd and 3rd were Greece’s Chrysopiyi Devetzi (50-1/2 [15.25]) and Russia’s Tatyana Lebedeva (49-8 ¼ [15.14]).
Ethiopia’s Meseret Defar (14:46.65) also won the 1st of her 2 Olympic titles in the Women’s 5000-Meters, although her’s came 8 years apart (she would also win in 2012). 2nd was Kenya’s Isabellla Ochichi (14:48.19) and 3rd was Defar’s teammate, Tirunesh Dibaba (14:51.83), who would win the Olympic 5&10 double in 2008 and add a 2nd title in the 10,000 in 2012.
Medalists/Results: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_2004_Summer_Olympics
IAAF Coverage: https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/28th-olympic-games-6913163
Women’s 20k-Walk: Greece’s Athanasía Tsoumeléka(1:29:12), Russia’s Olimpiada Ivanova(1:29:16), Australia’s
Jane Saville(1:29:25)
From the IAAF Report: “To cries of “Hellas! Hellas!”, Athanasia Tsoumeleka strode into the Olympic Stadium at the end of the women’s 20 kilometre Walk to deliver the athletics gold medal that all of Greece had sought with such fervor since the International Olympic Committee decided seven years ago that the Games should return to Athens after 108 years.”
2008–Kenenisa Bekele joined fellow Ethiopian Tirunesh Dibaba as a double Olympic distance winner in Beijing by winning the Men’s 5000 in the Olympic Record time of 12:57.82, six days after winning the 10,000. Winning silver and bronze were Kenyans Eliud Kipchoge (13:02.80), who would become the world’s best marathoner, and Edwin Soi (13:06.22). A close 4th with 2 laps to go, American Bernard Lagat (13:26.89) couldn’t respond when the leaders picked up the pace and wound up in 9th place.
The Women’s High Jump provided a great battle between Belgium’s Tia Hellebaut and Croatia’s Blanka Vlašić. Vlašić was clean at 7 heights through 6-8 (2.03), while Hellebaut had one miss at 6-6 ¼ (1.99), 6-7 (2.01), and 6-8. The order in the standings was reversed when Hellebaut cleared a personal best of 6-8 ¾ (2.05) on her 1st attempt, while Vlašić missed once before she also cleared. Vlašić missed all 3 of her tries at 6-9 ½ (2.07), and Belgium had their first-ever Olympic Champion in T&F! And Vlašić’s 34-meet winning streak came to an end.
Sadly, the results of this event were drastically altered by subsequent disqualifications. The next 3 finishers-Russia’s Anna Chicherova (6-8 [2.03]) and Yelena Slesarenko (6-7 [2/01]), and Ukraine’s Vita Palamar (6-6 ¼ [1.99]), were all later found guilty of doping violations. But that was good news for American Chaunté Lowe, who went from finishing 6th to belatedly (9 years later) winning a bronze medal.
Lowe, the current American Record holder at 6-8 ¾ (2.05}, is a cancer survivor (See links below).
Norway’s Andreas Thorkildsen won his 2nd Olympic title in the Men’s Javelin with a throw of 297-1 (90.57), breaking the Olympic Record of 295-10 (90.17) that was set in Sydney in 2000 by Jan Železný. Winning silver and bronze were Latvia’s Ainars Kovals (284-3 [86.64]) and Finland’s Tero Pitkämäki (282-8 [86.16]).
Rebounding from her disappointing 3rd-place finish in the 400, Sanya Richards ran a great come-from-behind anchor (48.9) to lead the U.S. to victory in the Women’s 4×400 (3:18.54). Finishing 2nd and 3rd were Jamaica (3:20.40) and Great Britain (3:22.68). Russia originally finished a close 2nd to the U.S., but was retroactively disqualified and stripped of their medals.
The U.S. ran away with the Men’s 4×400 relay (2:55.39-Olympic Record, only 1.1s off the WR), the final track event of the Games, with a lineup of LaShawn Merritt (44.3), Angelo Taylor (43.7), David Neville (44.2), and Jeremy Wariner (43.2). Next were the Bahamas (2:58.03) and Great Britain (2:58.81). Russia (2:58.06) originally finished 3rd, but was later disqualified for a doping violation.
Merritt, Wariner, and Neville had swept the medals in the 400-Meters, while Taylor had won gold in the 400-Meter Hurdles.
Medalists in other events
Men’s 800: Kenya’s Wilfred Bungei (1:44.65), Sudan’s Ahmed Ismail (1:44.70), Kenya’s Alfred Yego (1:44.82)
Women’s 1500: Kenya’s Nancy Langat (4:00.23), Ukraine’s Iryna Lishchynska (4:01.63) and Natalya Tobias (4:01.78)…7th was
American Shannon Rowbury (4:03.58)
Medalists/Results: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_2008_Summer_Olympics
Additional Reports
Lowe:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7h8Jtfcfd0
Videos: M4x400 W4x400 M800 W1500 WHJ M5000 #1 M5000 #2 MJT
2009—Kenenisa Bekele, already the winner of the 10,000, followed his Olympic double at the World Championships in Berlin, fighting off defending champion Bernard Lagat in a classic stretch battle to win the Men’s 5000-meters (13:17.09-13:17.33). Finishing 3rd was Qatar’s James Kwalia C’Kirui (13:17.78). 5th & 7th, respectively, were past and future 5k champions, Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge (2005) and Great Britain’s Mo Farah (2011-2013-2015).
Shannon Rowbury crossed the finish line in 4th place in the Women’s 1500-meters, but was elevated to 3rd after “winner” Natalia Rodríguez of Spain was disqualified for committing a foul on the final backstretch.
Rodríguez tried to pass leader Gelete Burka of Ethiopia on the inside, but there wasn’t enough room and Burka went down as the two collided with each other. Rodríguez stayed on her feet, while Bahrain’s Maryam Jamal, the defending champion, now found herself in the lead. She was passed by Rodriguez in the homestretch, but wound up with the gold medal after the DQ was announced. Also moving up a place was Great Britain’s Lisa Dobriskey, who only finished .01s behind Jamal (4:03.74-4:03.75).
With the injured Burka still sitting on the track on the backstretch, a remorseful Rodríguez went over to try to comfort her.
It was a good event for the U.S. In addition to Rowbury’s bronze medal, Christin Wurth-Thomas finished 5th (4:05.21) and Anna Willard was 6th (4:06.19).
Brittney Reese won the 1st of her 4 World titles in the Women’s Long Jump with a leap of 23-3 ½ (7.10). Finishing 2nd and 3rd were Turkey’s Karin Mey Melismas (22-3 ¾ [6.80]), Portugal’s Naide Gomes (22-2 ½ [6.77]).
Norway’s Andreas Thorklidsen, who won his 2nd Olympic gold medal the previous year, won his 1st World title in the Men’s Javelin with a throw of 293-11 [89.59]. Winning silver and bronze were Cuba’s Guillermo Martínez (283-6 [86.41]) and Japan’s Yukifumi Murakimi (272-2 [82.97]).
The U.S. ran away with both 4×400 relays, the women running 3:17.83 (Debbie Dunn 50.5, Allyson Felix 48.8, Lashinda Demus 50.1, Sanya Richards 48.4) and the men 2:57.86 (Angelo Taylor 45.4, Jeremy Wariner 43.6, Kerron Clement 44.7, LaShawn Merritt 44.2)
2nd and 3rd in the Women’s race were Jamaica (3:21.15) and Great Britain (3:25.16), and in the Men’s race, the final event on the final day of competition, it was Great Britain (3:00.53) and Australia (3:00.90).
Medalists in other events
Women’s Marathon: China’s Bai Xue (2:25:15), Japan’s Yoshimi Ozaki (2:25:25), Ethiopia’s Aselefech Merga (2:25:32)
Men’s 800: South Africa’s Mbulaeni Mulaudzi (1:45.29), Bahrain’s Alfred Kirwa Yego (1:45.35/defending champion), Yusuf Saad Kamel (1:45.35)
Medalists/Results: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_World_Championships_in_Athletics
IAAF Coverage Additional Reports
Videos: M5000 W1500 M800 W4x400 M4x400 MJT
2015—Jamaica’s Usain Bolt (9.79) barely edged American Justin Gatlin (9.80) to win his 3rd World title in the Men’s 100-Meters in Beijing. It was an even closer battle for the bronze medal, with American Trayvon Bromell getting the nod over Canada’s Andre De Grasse, both being timed in 9.90. DeGrasse (USC) had won the 100 and 200 at the NCAA Championships in June, with Bromell (Baylor) finishing 2nd and 3rd, respectively.
It was a successful return to the Bird’s Nest in Beijing for Bolt, who began the legendary aspect of his career with a win (and a World Record) in the 100 at the 2008 Olympics.
Bolt had stumbled at the start of his semi-final race, but it was Gatlin who stumbled in the final as he vainly tried to hold off Bolt at the finish, possibly costing him an upset win.
Former Penn State star Joe Kovacs (71-11 ½ [21.93]), after a slow start in the first 3 rounds, won the 1st of his two World titles in the Men’s Shot Put over Germany’s David Storl (71-4 [21.74]) and Jamaica’s O’Dayne Richards (71-2 [21.69]). Kovacs would win his 2nd title in his historic battle with Ryan Crouser at the 2019 Worlds in Doha (won silver in 2017 & 2022, bronze in 2023).
From the IAAF Report: Kovacs regularly walked to the stands…to consult with coach Art Venegas, whose words of wisdom proved crucial in the end. “I listen to everything he says,” said Kovacs. “Having a coach like Art, who’s been in that situation before, is great. He said different things; sometimes it was technical, sometimes mental, and he was always keeping me in the game. A little bit of a kick in the ass is always helpful.”
Great Britain’s Jessica Ennis-Hill (6669), the 2012 Olympic Champion, won her 3rd World title in the Heptathlon over Canada’s Brianne Theisen-Eaton (6554) and Latvia’s
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