This Day in Track & Field–August 11
1965—The Soviet Union’s (and Ukraine’s) Tamara Press set the 6th (and final) World Record of her career in the Discus, throwing 195-10 (59.70) in Moscow.
She was a 4-time Olympic medalist, winning gold in the Shot Put in 1960, and the SP and Discus in 1964. She won the silver medal in the Discus in 1960. Her sister Irina was the gold medalist in the 80-meter Hurdles in 1960 and the 5-event Pentathlon in 1964.
(From Olympedia): “The Press sisters retired in 1966, coinciding with the introduction of required gender verification in track & field. This led to widespread, yet never proven, rumors regarding (their gender)”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_discus_throw_world_record_progression
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamara_Press
1984–Carl Lewis duplicated Jesse Owens’ 1936 feat of winning four Olympic gold medals by anchoring the U.S. to victory in the Men’s 4×100 relay on a busy final day of T&F competition in Los Angeles (The Men’s Marathon would take place the next day). Preceding Lewis were Sam Graddy, Ron Brown, and Calvin Smith, as the quartet set a World Record of 37.83. Finishing 2nd and 3rd were Jamaica (38.62) and Canada (38.70).
Valerie Brisco won her 3rd gold medal of the L.A. Games, running the 3rd leg (49.2) of the winning U.S. 4×400 relay team that set an American Record of 3:18.29 (Now #9-U.S.). Also on the team were Lillie Leatherwood (50.5), Sherri Howard (48.8), and Chandra Cheeseborough (49.8). Winning silver and bronze were Canada (3:21.21) and West Germany (3:22.98).
Cheeseborough, the silver medalist in the 400, also won a 3rd medal, running the 3rd leg on the winning U.S. team in the Women’s 4×100 (41.65). Canada (42.77) and Great Britain (43.11) won silver and bronze. Handling the other 3 legs for the U.S. were Alice Brown, Jeanette Bolden, and Evelyn Ashford, the winner of the 100-Meters.
It was a 1-2 sweep in the Men’s 1500 for Great Britain, with Seb Coe (3:32.53-OR) successfully defending his title over Steve Cram (3:33.40), the 1983 World Champion. Spain’s José Abascal (3:34.30) won the bronze medal, with Jim Spivey (3:36.07) placing 5th and fellow American Steve Scott (3:39.86) finishing 10th. Respiratory problems forced the 3rd Brit, World Record holder Steve Ovett, to drop out of the race. After crossing the finish line, Coe shook his fist at his British critics sitting in the press area!
Morocco’s Said Aouita set an Olympic Record of 13:05.59 while winning the Men’s 5000 over Switzerland’s Markus Ryffel (13:07.54) and Portugal’s António Leitão (13:09.20). Finishing 4th was Great Britain’s Tim Hutchings (13:11.50), now one of the sport’s leading TV commentators, who often teams up with Steve Cram in the TV booth.
The Men’s High Jump featured five past (Dwight Stones and West Germany’s Dietmar Mögenburg), and future (China’s Zhu Jianhua, Sweden’s Patrik Sjöberg and West Germany’s Carlo Thränhardt) World Record holders.
Four of them cleared 7-7 (2.31), with Mögenburg and Zhu clean up to this point. Stones, who missed once at
7-6 (2.29) before clearing 7-7 on his 1st attempt, was sitting in 3rd place, 12 years after winning the first of his two Olympic bronze medals in 1972.
Mögenburg solidified his hold on 1st place with his 1st jump clearance of 7-7 ¾ (2.33), while the 18-year old Sjöberg moved into 2nd place by clearing on his 2nd attempt. Stones missed on all 3 of his attempts, with Zhu, now assured of the bronze medal, missing his 2 tries at 7-8 ½ (2.35) after missing once at 7-7 ¾. Mögenburg cleared 7-8 ½ on his 1st attempt, and the gold medal was his after Sjöberg missed on all 3 of his attempts.
Italy’s Allesandro Andrei spoiled a potential U.S. sweep by winning the Men’s Shot Put with a toss of 69-9 (21.26). Americans took the next 3 spots: Michael Carter (69-2 ½ [21.09], who was about to join the San Francisco 49ers (he would win 3 Super Bowl rings!), Dave Laut (68-9 ¾ [20.97]), and Augie Wolf (68-8 [20.93].
Alonzo Baber, the winner of the 400-Meters earlier in the week, broke open the Men’s 4×400 relay with his 43.7 split on the 3rd leg as the U.S. won in 2:57.91, followed by Great Britain (2:59.13) and Nigeria (2:59.32). Other members of the U.S. team were Sunder Nix (45.6), Ray Armstead (44.0), and Antonio McKay (44.6).
Medalists in other events:
Men’s 50k-walk: Mexico’s Raúl González (3:47:26/Olympic Record), Sweden’s Bo Gustafsson (3:53:19), Italy’s Allessandro
Bellucci (3:53:45). Gustafson’s son Andreas is now a USA citizen and won the 2020 USA Olympic 50K racewalk
trial. Dad Bo continues to hold the NYC Marathon (42.2 K) racewalking record. (From Elliott Denman)
Women’s 1500: Italy’s Gabriella Dorio (4:03.25), Romania’s Doina Melinte (4:03.76/winner of the 800) and Maricica
Puica (4:04.15/winner of the 3000)… missing due to the Soviet boycott were the top-7 World
Rankers in 1984 (all from the Soviet Union)
Women’s Discus: The Netherlands’ Ria Stalman (214-5 [65.36]), American Record holder Leslie Deniz (212-9 [64.86]),
Romania’s Florența Crăciunescu (208-9 [63.64])….missing due to the Soviet boycott were the top-10 World
Rankers in 1984
Medalists/Results: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_1984_Summer_Olympics
Sports Illustrated Vault: https://vault.si.com/vault/1984/08/20/triumph-and-tragedy-in-los-angeles
WR Progression: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men%27s_4_x_100_metres_relay_world_record_progression
Videos: Men’s 1500 Men’s 4×100 Women’s 4×100 Women’s 4×400 Men’s 4×400 Men’s 5000 Women’s 1500 Men’s SP
1985–Ukraine’s Rudolf Povarnitsin jumped 7-10 ½ (2.40m) in Donetsk (Sergey Bubka’s hometown) to set a new World Record in the High Jump.
WR Progression: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men’s_high_jump_world_record_progression
1995–Americans Kim Batten (52.61) and Tonja Buford-Bailey (52.62) finished 1-2 in the Women’s 400-meter hurdles at the World Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden. Both bettered the previous World Record of 52.74, which was set by Sally Gunnell at the 1993 Worlds. Gunnell, working as a commentator for British television, was on hand to see her record fall. Batten and Buford-Bailey are still #12-#13 on the All-Time World Performers’ list. Jamaica’s Deon Hemmings finished 3rd (53.48).
Michael Johnson didn’t get the World Record he was looking for, but he still won the Men’s 200-meters (19.79) to become the first man to win both the 200 and 400 at the same Olympics or World Championships. Winning silver and bronze were Namibia’s Frank Fredericks (20.12) and American Jeff Williams (20.18).
Sergey Bubka won the 5th of his 6 World titles in the Pole Vault (19-5 [5.92]), with Russia’s Maksim Tarasov and France’s Jean Galfione winning silver and bronze as both cleared 19-2 ¾ (5.86).
Kenya’s Moses Kiptanui won his 3rd straight title in the Steeplechase and set a World Championship Record of 8:04.16. 2nd was fellow Kenyan Christopher Koskei (8:09.30) and 3rd was Saudi Arabia’s Saad Shaddad Al-Asmar i(8:12.95).
Another winning streak was extended, with Germany’s Lars Riedel (225-7 [68.76]/CR) winning the 3rd of his 4 consecutive World titles in the Men’s Discus. 2nd and 3rd were the Belarus duo of Vladimir Dubrovshchik (216-6 [65.98]) and Vasili Kaptyukh (216-2 [65.88]).
Mozambique’s Maria Mutola, the defending champion in the Women’s 800-meters, was disqualified in her semi-final race for a lane violation on the first turn.
Medalists: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1995_World_Championships_in_Athletics
1999–Jearl Miles (Clark) ran 1:56.40 in Zürich to set an American Record in the 800-meters. Miles set the previous mark of 1:56.43 on the same track in 1998. Her new record lasted 18 years until Ajee’ Wilson ran 1:55.61 in 2017. Miles-Clark was inducted into the National Hall of Fame in 2010.
HOF Bio: https://www.usatf.org/athlete-bios/jearl-miles-clark
2000—It was a typical high-class affair in Zürich, but the one race that stood out above all others was the Men’s 1500-meters, with Morocco’s Hicham El Guerrouj (3:27.21), beating the Kenyan duo of Noah Ngeny (3:28.12) and Bernard Lagat (3:28.51). It was the first time in history that three men had broken 3:29 in the same race.
IAAF Report: https://www.worldathletics.org/news/news/hicham-el-guerrouj-turns-up-the-heat-in-zuric
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2WmsWSi5Ws
2001—Cuba’s Iván Pedroso won his 4th consecutive World title in the Men’s Long Jump with a leap of 27-6 ¾ (8.40) in Edmonton. Winning silver and bronze were American Savanté Stringfellow (27-12 [8.24]) and Portugal’s Carlos Calado (26-11 ¼ [8.21]), who beat out American Miguel Pate for the bronze medal by virtue of a better 2nd jump.
Anjanette Kirkland (12.42) and Gail Devers (12.54), who was going for her 4th World title, gave the U.S. a 1-2 finish in the 100-meter hurdles. Kazakhstan’s Olga Shishigina (12.58) won the bronze medal.
For Kirkland, who won out of lane 1, it was the highlight of what had been a turbulent year (see link below).
A U.S. lineup of Kelli White, Chryste Gaines, Inger Miller, and Marion Jones finished first (41.71) in the Women’s 4×100, but they were later stripped of the title after White and Jones admitted to using steroids during this period. Germany (42.32) was moved up to the winner’s position, with France (42.39) and Jamaica (42,40) winning silver and bronze.
Medalists in other events:
Women’s Discus: Belarus’ Ellina Zvereva (220-2 [67.10]), Romania’s Nicoleta Grasu (217-4 [66.24]), Greece’s Anastasia
Kelesídou (214-11[[65.50])
Women’s 5000: Russia’s Olga Yegorova (15:03.39), Spain’s Marta Domínguez (15:06.59), Ethiopia’s Ayelech Worku (15:10.17).
Men’s 50k-Walk: Poland’s Robert Korzeniowski (3:42:08/also won in 1997 and 2003), Spain’s Jesús Ángel García (3:43:07), Mexico’s
Édgar Hernández (3:46:12)
Medalists: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_World_Championships_in_Athletics
IAAF Report/Results
2005—Justin Gatlin (20.04) led Wallace Spearmon (20.20), defending champion John Capel (20.21), and Tyson Gay (20.34) to a 1-4 sweep of the Men’s 200-Meters at the wet and windy World Championships in Helsinki. Gatlin had earlier won the 100.
Walter Davis (57-7 ¾ [17.57]) was the winner in the Men’s Triple Jump, with Cuba’s Yoandris Betanzos (57-2 [17.42]) edging Romania’s Marion Oprea (57-1 [17.40]) for the silver medal. Former Auburn star Leevan Sands (Bahamas/57-3/4 [17.39]) was a close 4th. Said Davis, “After my big jump I started looking at my watch, because I was telling myself this is my year, this is my time to win”. The former LSU Tiger won 4 NCAA titles in the Triple Jump (indoors & outdoors in 2001 & 2002).
Michelle Perry (12.66) won the 100-meter hurdles over Jamaicans Deloreen Ennis-London and Brigitte Foster-Hylton, both of whom were clocked in 12.76. Joanna Hayes, the 2004 Olympic champion, looked like a silver medalist here before getting knocked off balance after hitting the 9th hurdle and then pushing over the 10t h(she was eventually disqualified).
The Netherlands’ Rens Blom and American Brad Walker went jump-for-jump in chilly conditions through the first 3 heights in the Men’s Pole Vault. Both needed 3rd-jump clearances at their opening height of 18-1/2 (5.50) just to stay in the competition, then both cleared 18-6 ½ (5.65) and 18-10 ¼ (5.75) on their 2nd tries. They were tied for 1st place at this point, but Walker missed on his first attempt at 19-1/4 (5.80) and watched as the unheralded Blom cleared to move into the gold medal position. Walker passed to 19-2 ¼ (5.85), but missed on his 2 remaining attempts and settled for the silver medal. Russia’s Pavel Gerasimov (18-6 ½ [5.65]) wound up with the bronze medal.
Germany’s Franla Dietzsch (218-5 [66.58]) won the 2nd of her 3 World titles in the Women’s Discus (also won in 1999 and 2007). 2nd and 3rd were Russia’s Natalya Sadova (211-0 [64.33]) and Czech Vera Pospíšilová-Cechlová (207-3 [63.19]).
Medalists: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_World_Championships_in_Athletics
M200: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlW8Djsms3Q
2012—Great Britain’s Mo Farah, the earlier winner of the Men’s 10,000, sent the crowd at the London Olympics into a frenzy on the final day of competition on the track as he completed his distance double with his narrow win in the Men’s 5000-meters over Ethiopia’s Dejan Gebremeskel (13:41.66-13:41.98). Bernard Lagat, who was tripped up as he tried to move wide on the final homestretch, was frustrated in his bid for another Olympic medal, finishing 4th behind Kenya’s Thomas Longosiwa (13:42.36-13:42.99). Galen Rupp finished 7th in 13:45.04.
The noise level inside Olympic Stadium was off the charts as Farah took the lead with a little less than two laps to go and held off repeated challenges before edging away in the final strides to secure his place in Olympic history.
Ato Boldon had boldly predicted on the NBC broadcast that both Jamaica and the U.S. could break 37-seconds in the Men’s 4×100 relay. He was “wrong”, but not by much! Nesta Carter, Michael Frater, Yohan Blake, and the one-and-only Usain Bolt won in 36.84 in the final track event of the Games to break the World Record of 37.04 the same foursome had set at the previous year’s World Championships in Daegu.. It was Bolt’s 3rd gold medal (100-200) of the Games.
Trell Kimmons, Justin Gatlin, Tyson Gay, and Ryan Bailey ran valiantly in defeat, clocking 37.04 to match the previous World Record and setting a new U.S. Record. The previous AR of 37.38 was set in the previous day’s heat by a foursome of Jeff Demps, Doc Patton, Kimmons, and Gatlin.
That was the good news. As noted in yesterday’s report, the bad news came in 2016 when the IOC officially nullified the U.S. team’s performance because of Tyson Gay’s admitted use of performance enhancing drugs! Moving up to 2nd & 3rd were Trinidad & Tobago (38.12) and France (38.16).
A U.S. lineup of DeeDee Trotter (50.2), Allyson Felix (48.2), Francena McCorory (49.4), and Sanya Richards-Ross (49.1), the gold medalist in the 400-Meters, ran away with the Women’s 4×400 relay, running 3:16.87, the fastest time run in 19 years, to beat runnerup Russia (3:20.23) by more than 3 seconds. It was the 6th straight Olympic title for the U.S. Ukraine was 3rd (3:23.57).
Russia’s Anna Chicherova won the Women’s High Jump with a clearance of 6-8 ¾ (2.05}, while Brigetta Barrett jumped a personal best of 6-8 (2.03) to win the silver medal. Russia’s Svetlana Shkolina, who also cleared 6-8, won the bronze medal.
Trinidad & Tobago’s Keshorn Walcott was the surprise winner of the Men’s Javelin with a National Record throw of 277-6 (84.58). Finishing 2-3 were Finland’s Antti Ruuskanen (276-0 [84.12]) and Czech Vítězslav Veselý (273-5 [83.34]). The 19-year old Walcott became the 1st man to win World Junior and Olympic titles in the same year!
Russia’s Mariya Savinova (1:56.19) was a convincing “winner” of the Women’s 800-Meters, but was later disqualified for a doping violation, moving South Africa’s Caster Semenya (1:57.23) into the gold medal position. Upgraded to 2nd and 3rd were Russia’s Yekaterina Poistogova (1:57.53) and Kenya’s Pamela Jelimo (1:57.59). Finishing 4th was American Alysia Montaño (1:57.93), who led the field through the first 400-Meters in 56.31.
Additional fallout from the ongoing Russian doping scandal impacted the Women’s 20k-Walk. Olga Kaniskina, the defending Olympic Champion (and 2007 World Champion), was stripped of the silver medal she “won” in London. She was on her way to an apparent 2nd Olympic title when she was passed in the last 100-meters by her 19-year old teammate, Yelena Lashmanova, who set a World Record of 1:25:02. Upgraded to silver and bronze were China’s Qieyang Shenjie (1:25:16) and Liu Hong (1:26:00).
And yet again in the Men’s 50k-Walk, where Russia’s Sergey Kirdyapkin ultimately lost his gold medal, leaving Australia’s Jared Tallent (3:36:53) as the Olympic Champion!. Winning silver and bronze were China’s Si Tianfeng (3:37:16) and Ireland’s Robert Heffernan (3:37:54).
Medalists: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_2012_Summer_Olympics
IAAF Coverage: https://www.worldathletics.org/results/olympic-games/2012/the-xxx-olympic-games-6999193
Olympedia Reports: https://www.olympedia.org/editions/54/sports/ATH
Farah:
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/olympics/18912882
Kaniskina Stripped of Silver Medal
Videos: M4x100 M5000 W4x400 W800 MJT WHJ
2013—Brittney Reese
awesome