by RBR Admin
Walt Murphy’s News and Results Service ([email protected])
This Day in Track & Field–August 18
1920— For the 5th Olympics in a row, an “Irish Whale” won the Hammer Throw, with 37-year old Paddy Ryan (173-5 ½ [52.875] following in the footsteps of John Flanagan (1900-1904-1908) and Matt McGrath( (1912). (The Irish Whales were a group of Irish-Americans who dominated the throwing events in the early part of the 20th century. They were all also members of the NY City Police Department at some point.). Finishing 2-3 in Antwerp were Sweden’s Carl-Johan Lind (158-10 [48.43]) and American Basil Bennet
(158-3 [48.25]).
Born in Ireland, Ryan emigrated to the U.S. in 1910. His U.S. citizenship wasn’t confirmed in time for him to compete at the 1912 Olympics, and then another hold was put on his Olympic dreams when World War I led to the cancellation of the 1916 Games.
After serving with the U.S. Expeditionary Forces in Europe, Ryan, still yearning to be an Olympian, returned to competition in 1919 and his patience was rewarded with his win in Antwerp.
Canada’s Earl “Tommy” Thomson, the IC4A and AAU Champion from Dartmouth, won the 110-meter hurdles in the World Record time of 14.8. Thomson had set a WR of 14.4 for the slightly shorter 120-yard hurdles while winning the IC4A title. America’s Harold Barron (15.1) and Feg Murray (15.1) finished 2nd & 3rd.
Sweden’s Willam Petersson (later changed his name to Björneman) won the Long Jump with a leap of 23-5 ½ (7.15]), with silver and bronze going to American Carl Johnson (23-3 3/8 [7.095]) and another Swede, Erik Abrahamsson (23-2 ¾ [7.08]).
Sol Butler, who had jumped (24-8 ¼ [7.52]) at the U.S. Trials, was the prohibitive favorite entering the Games, but suffered an injury to his left achilles after landing in the pit on his first jump (finished 7th/21-8 [6.60]). A gracious Peterson later wrote, “The best man was unlucky in the event”.
Born the son of slaves in Oklahoma in 1895, Butler excelled in football and track at Rock Island(IL) H.S., setting a High School Record of 24-2 ½ (7.38) in the Long Jump. He previously attended Hutchinson H.S. in Kansas. He is a member of the National H.S. T&F Hall of Fame and played in the NFL.
http://nationalhighschooltrackandfieldhof.org/showcase/sol-butler/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sol_Butler (Includes picture of him being carried off the field in Antwerp)
The medalists in the 10,000-Meters Walk were Italy’s Ugo Frigerio (48:06.2), American Joseph Pearman (49:40.8), and Great Britain’s Charles Gunn (49:43.2). Frigerio would also win the 3000m-Walk 3 days later.
Medalists: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_1920_Summer_Olympic
Olympedia Reports: https://www.olympedia.org/editions/7/sports/ATH
Hall of Fame Bios
Ryan(2014): https://www.usatf.org/athlete-bios/pat-paddy-ryan
McGrath(2006): https://www.usatf.org/athlete-bios/matt-mcgrath
McDonald(2012): https://www.usatf.org/athlete-bios/pat-mcdonald
http://www.wingedfist.org/Paddy_Ryan_of_Pallasgreen.html
Winged Fist Way: http://www.wingedfist.org/home.html
Irish Whales: https://www.theirishstory.com/2012/06/22/irelands-forgotten-olympians-the-irish-whales/#.Xzuz_S2ZMhs
More on Thomson
He grew up in Southern California, had dual-citizenship, and was inducted into the U.S. Hall of Fame in 1977. He attended Long Beach Poly H.S. and was the first California H.S. State Champion in the 120y-hurdles (1915).
Thomson’s coach at Dartmouth was H.L. Hillman:
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1926/5/25/hillman-of-dartmouth-writes-of-history/
Despite the fact that he was almost totally deaf by the 1940s, he became a coach at Yale and then the U.S. Naval Academy. He also became Billy Mills’ coach leading up to the 1964 Olympics!
Thomson/Mills: https://theolympians.co/2017/07/06/billy-mills-and-the-miracle-10000-meter-race-part-4-the-coach-vs-the-mentor/
1956—Parry O’Brien added ½” to his World Record in the Shot Put with a toss of 61-4 ½ (18.70) in Pasadena, CA.
On the other side of the country, three American Records were set at the U.S. Women’s Championships in Philadelphia by Earlene Brown in the Shot Put (45-0 [13.71]), Pam Kurrell in the Discus (140-11 [42.96]), and Margaret Matthews in the Long Jump
(19-4 [5.89]).
1962—Jim Beatty regained the American Record in the Mile from Dyrol Burleson (3:57.6/1961) by running 3:56.5 in London. He would improve the record to 3:56.3 three days later in Helsinki.
http://trackfield.brinkster.net/RecProg_AllUSA.asp?RecCode=WR&EventCode=MA6&Gender=M&P=F
(A rare mistake in this otherwise excellent site–it lists Beatty’s 3:55.5 AR out of order, and the year should be 1963, not 1962).
1978—Doug Brown ran 8:19.3 (8:19.29) in Berlin to regain the American Record in the Steeplechase.
AR Progression:
http://trackfield.brinkster.net/RecProg_AllUSA.asp?RecCode=WR&EventCode=MB3&Gender=M&P=F
8:23.2—Doug Brown 1974
8:22.54-George Malley 1977
8:21.55-Henry Marsh 1977
8:19.29–Doug Brown 1978
1989–Mexico’s Arturo Barrios ran 27:08.23 in Berlin to break the 5-year old World Record of 27:13.81, which was set by Portugal’s Fernando Mamede in 1984.
Video(last few laps): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hmPPFLjyb8
WR Progression: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men’s_10,000_metres_world_record_progression
2004—The Olympics return to Greece!
I have been very fortunate to attend 13 Olympic Games, the first four (1964-1976) as a fan, as a member of “Track and Field News’ Olympic Tours”, and nine (1988-2021) as part of NBC’s production team. I have many great memories from those trips, but my biggest regret is not being present for this year’s Men’s and Women’s Shot Put, which were being held in Olympia, where the ancient Olympics began almost 3000 years ago.
Since Olympia was a long way from Athens, where the rest of the Olympic events were being held, the NBC crew covered the two shot put events off TV monitors from inside an empty Olympic stadium.
American Kristen Heaston had the honor of being the first competitor in the early-morning qualifying round.
The historic moment was certainly not lost on Heaston, who was overawed by the whole experience. “I kind of thought about the history of this place on the plane over (to Europe) but once you get here it is just about performing well….However, as you can see (from her non-qualifying performance) I probably needed to think a little more about what I was doing in the ring, than I was doing in history,” smiled Heaston. ”I am going to cheer on my friends who are throwing again later on this afternoon (in the final) and that itself is going to be special.”
All competitors today, like the athletes of ancient times, entered the stadium through a stone archway which dramatically gives form to the sunken entrance-way into the Olympic arena.
“It was a really cool, awesome experience to make our entrance through that gateway….I knew I’d really enjoy it and I just couldn’t take it all in. It has all been such an unbelievable experience. A reminder of where it all began,” confirmed Heaston.
Yuriy Bilonog of Ukraine snatched the gold medal in the men’s event from American Adam Nelson with his final toss of 69-5 ¼ (21.16). That matched Nelson’s opening round mark, but he was awarded the win on the basis of a better 2nd mark (69-4 ¾ [21.15]), since Nelson only had that one fair throw.
At least that’s the way it played out at the time. Bilonog was stripped of his title in 2012 after a retest of his urine sample that was collected in Athens had shown that he had used a steroid. Nelson was elevated to the gold medal position by the IAAF and IOC and was honored at the 2013 U.S. Championships in Des Moines. 9 years after the competition, he was presented with the gold medal, the National Anthem was played, and he got to take a victory lap.
Moving up to silver and bronze were Denmark’s Joachim Olsen (69-1 ½ [21.07]) and Spain’s Manuel Martínez
(68-4 ½ [20.84])
Russia’s Irina Korzhanenko finished 1st in the women’s event (69-1 ¼ [21.06]), but was also stripped of her Olympic title after testing positive for steroids while still in Athens, elevating Cuba’s Yumileidi Cumbá (64-3 ¼ [19.59]) to the gold medal position. The silver went to Germany’s Nadine Kleinert (64-1 ¾ [19.55]). The bronze medal was originally awarded to Russia’s Svetlana Krivelyova, but then she was retroactively disqualified for her own doping violation. 3rd place was vacated. Belarus’ Nadzeya Ostapchuk was next in line to receive the bronze medal, but then she was found guilty of multiple doping violations and was stripped of the following medals that she went on to “win”: OG bronze (2008) and gold (2012) and World Championship gold (2005) and silver (2007)!
What should have been a glorious celebration of the Olympic ideal was tarnished by the actions of the disqualified athletes, but it was still a memorable occasion for the other competitors as well as the spectators who were lucky enough to be there.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13598-2004Aug18.html
Results:
Videos: Men: Part 1 Part 2 Women: Part 1 Part 2
Venue: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKAirNrKKtM
Other Links
Nelson Honored: https://www.worldathletics.org/news/news/nelson-to-be-honoured-as-olympic-champion-in
Korzhanenko: http://edition.cnn.com/2004/SPORT/08/23/shotput.korzhanenko/
Sports Illustrated Vault
https://vault.si.com/vault/2004/08/30/just-like-old-times
(2012): https://vault.si.com/vault/2012/12/17/a-shot-at-gold
2006—Jamaica’s Asafa Powell won the 100-meters in Zürich in 9.77 to match the World Record he first set in 2005 and matched two weeks earlier this year. 2nd with a personal best of 9.84 was Tyson Gay.
“I ran the World record three times,” Powell said as he quickly thought about his achievement. “Nobody’s done that before.”
This was the last year the Weltklasse meet would be held in the current form of the legendary Letzigrund Stadium, which was about to be renovated.
WR Progression: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men’s_100_metres_world_record_progression
IAAF Report: https://www.worldathletics.org/news/report/yet-again-powell-equals-977-world-record-zu
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIcaKRXTtw0
2008–The two best female vaulters in the world hooked up in the Olympic final in Beijing. Russia’s Yelena Isinbaeva had improved her World Record to 16-6 ½ (5.04) prior to the Games, but was sitting in 4th place as the bar was raised to 15-9 (4.80). Jenn Stuczynski (now Suhr) had raised her American Record to 16-1 ¾ (4.92) at the U.S. Trials and took the lead here with her first-jump clearance at
15-9 (4.80). “Isi” passed at 15-9 and then took the lead by clearing 15-11 (4.85), a height Stuczynski passed, on her first jump. The medals were decided when Stuczynski missed her 3 attempts at 16-3/4 (4.89).
With the gold medal in hand, Isi needed all 3 jumps before clearing 16-2 ¾ (4.95), an Olympic Record, and then a new World Record of 16-6 ¾ (5.05m). Her teammate, Svetlana Feofanova (15-7 [4.75]), the former World Record holder in the event, won the bronze medal.
Spreading his gold medals eight years apart, Angelo Taylor (47.25) won his 2nd Olympic title in the Men’s 400-meter hurdles. Kerron Clement (47.98) and Bershawn Jackson (48.06) gave the U.S. a sweep of the medals.
From his post-race press conference:(after his 2000 win) Taylor goes to Athens, to defend his title four years later, and discovers, after crashing out painfully in the semi-finals, that he had qualified at the US Trials while already having stress fractures in both legs. And he was so out of the athletics loop two years later, that he had to work as an electrician, to make ends meet.
“I was getting up at six in the morning, doing an eight hour day, then going to the track, to do my workouts,” he related at the post-race press conference, with the laconic air of a man who has learned how to internalize problems. “I did that for a year. That was enough. I prefer this”. ‘This’ was of course his second Olympic gold, and a personal best 47.25 at the age of 29.
Stephanie Brown Trafton pulled off the biggest surprise of the Games by winning the Women’s Discus with her first-round throw of 212-5 (64.74). Winning silver and bronze were Ukraine’s Olena Antonova (205-4 [62.59] and China’s Song Almin (204-1 [62.20]). This was the first Olympic victory for the US in the Women’s Discus since Lillian Copeland’s in 1932.
When the 6′-4″/220lb (1.93/100kg) Brown-Trafton arrived for her post-event interviews, she begged reporters, “I want to meet Mary Lou Retton. “Please, somebody hook me up. I have to meet Mary Lou.” Retton, as the individual all-around champion in gymnastics, was America’s darling during the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Stephanie Brown, as she was then, was four years old. “She was my idol,” she said. “I had a leotard just like hers that I wore all the time. But I grew out of it quite quickly.” (Don’t know if they ever met!-WM)
Kenya’s Brimin Kipruto (8:10.34), the 2007 World Champion, won the gold medal in the Men’s Steeplechase to go along with the silver medal he won 4 years earlier in Athens. Finishing 2-3 were France’s Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad (8:10.49) and Kenya’s Richard Mateelong (8:11.01). All 3 were pretty even going over the last barrier, with Kipruto comfortably pulling away in the sprint to the finish. American Anthony “Fam” Famiglietti (8:31.21) boldly took the lead early in the race before slipping back to 13th place.
18-year old Pamela Jelimo of Kenya won the Women’s 800-Meters and set a World Junior Record of 1:54.87. 2nd in 1:56.04 was her teammate, Janeth Jepkosgei, the 2007 World Champion, and 3rd was Morocco’s Hasna Benhassi (1:56.73). 36-year old Maria Mutola of Mozambique, the 2000 gold medalist, finished 5th (1:57.68) in her 6th (and final) Olympics.
Medalists in the Men’s Long Jump were Panama’s Irving Saladino (27-4 ½ [8.34]), South Africa’s Godfrey Mokoena (27-1/2 [8.24]), and Cuba’s Ibrahim Camejo (26-11 [8.20]).
All of China was holding its collective breath as the 6th and final heat of the Men’s 110-meter hurdles approached. Would their own Liu Xiang, a national icon after winning Olympic gold in 2004, be able to overcome an injury to his right heel and defend his title?
The answer was a sad “No”, as Liu struggled out of his blocks during a false start, stripped off his hip numbers, and walked back underneath the stadium, leaving a stunned crowd in silence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rx0AzzCagHE
Medalists/Results: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_2008_Summer_Olympics
Videos: MSC W800 M400h WPV WDT MLJ
Sports Illustrated Vault:
https://vault.si.com/vault/2008/08/25/faster-than-fast
https://vault.si.com/vault/2008/08/25/national-agony
WR Progression: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women’s_pole_vault_world_record_progression
2009–Finally shedding her unwanted reputation as someone who “couldn’t win the big one”, a relieved Sanya Richards(Ross) ran 49.00 to convincingly win the gold medal in the Women’s 400-meters at the World Championships in Berlin.
Said Richards, who finished a disappointing 3rd at the 2008 Olympics, “I thought ‘Yes, finally’”. “Finally I have a major title. Finally the hard work has paid off. To finally come across the finish line and not be disappointed is such a wonderful feeling”. Winning silver and bronze were Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson (49.32) and Russia’s Antonia Krivoshapka (49.71).
The Men’s 400-meter hurdles field featured five past and future World Champions.
Kerron Clement (47.91) won his 2nd straight title over Puerto Rico’s tall (6-6/1.98) Javier Culson (48.09), while Bershawn Jackson (48.23), the 2005 Champion, overtook Jehue Gordon (48.26), the remarkable 17-year old from Trinidad & Tobago, to win the bronze medal. Gordon would go on to win the 2013 title.
7th was Great Britain’s Dai Greene (48.68), the 2011 champion-to-be, and 8th was 2-time champion (2001-2003) Felix Sánchez, who fell out of contention after hitting the 1st hurdle. A less-than 100% Angelo Taylor, who had won his 2nd Olympic title the year before, failed to make the final.
Kenya’s Ezekiel Kemboi (8:00.43/Championship Record), the 2004 Olympic Champion, beat teammate Richard Mateelong (8:00.8) to win the 1st of his 4 consecutive World titles in the Men’s Steeplechase. He would win a 2nd Olympic gold medal in 2012. The bronze medal went to France’s Bouabdellah Tahri (8:01.18).
Medalists in other events
Men’s Triple Jump: Great Britain’s Phlilips Idowu (58-2 [17.73]), Portugal’s Nelson Évora (57-7 [17.55]), Cuba’s Alexis Copello(56-11 ½ [17.36])
Women’s Javelin: Germany’s Steffi Nerius (220-9 [67.30]), Czech Barbora Špotáková (217-11 [66.42]), Romania’s Monica Stoian (211-7 [64.51]). Špotáková, the reigning World (2007) and Olympic (2008) Champion at the time, would win two more World titles in 2011 and 2017 and a 2nd Olympic title in 2008.
Men’s Hammer: Slovenia’s Primož Kozmus (265-2 [80.84]), Poland’s Szymon Ziółkowski (260-2 [79.30]), Russia’s Aleksey Zagornyi
(256-2 [78.09])
Medalists/Results: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_World_Championships_in_Athletics
IAAF Coverage Additional Reports
Videos: W400 Post-Race Interview Sanya Celebrates Back Home M400h MSC MTJ WJT
2013—Bouncing back from a disappointing Olympic performance the year before in London (12th), Kenya’s Asbel Kiprop (3:36.28), the defending champion, won a slow-paced Men’s 1500-meters on the final day of competition at the World Championships in Moscow.
The fast-closing Matthew Centrowitz (3:36.78) won the silver medal to go along with the bronze he won 2-years earlier in Daegu. Said Centro, “I gave it my all out there. I was just a little disappointed not getting gold because I’m such a competitive guy, but getting silver to Kiprop is gold any other day. That guy is on another level right now”. Winning the bronze medal was South Africa’s Johan Cronje(3:36.83).
Russia’s Mariya Savinova (1:57.80), the gold medalist at the 2011 Worlds and 2012 Olympics, was favored in the Women’s 800-meters, but was upset by Kenya’s Eunice Sum (1:57.38).
Not surprisingly, Alysia Montaño had taken the field through the first 400-meters in a very-fast 56.12 (with a 7-meter lead). Still ahead coming off the final turn, a tiring Montaño (1:57.95) was passed by Sum and Savinova and her last-ditch dive at the finish wasn’t enough to hold off U.S. teammate Brenda Martinez (1:57.91), who sneaked through on the inside to win the bronze medal (she was 6th with a 100m to go!).
19-year old Ajeé Wilson, bumped in the final strides by Russia’s Yekaterina Poistogova (1:58.05), finished 6th in 1:58.21, breaking Mary Cain’s American Junior Record of 1:59.51.
A distraught Montaño couldn’t stop sobbing after the race. Without prompting, an emotional Montaño told NBC’s Lewis Johnson how she wanted to win a medal to honor her beloved grandmother, Doris May Simpson, who passed away at the age of 100 just two months after watching her granddaughter compete at the London Olympics. The interview was so heart-wrenching and personal, the decision was made not to air it.
It was small consolation to Montaño when she eventually DID get a (bronze) medal after Savinova was retroactively disqualified for a doping violation.
The Men’s Triple Jump was won by France’s Teddy Tamgho(59-2 ¼ [18.04]) over Cuba’s Pedro Pablo Pichardo(58-1/4 [17.68], with American Will Claye (57-5 ¾[17.52] taking the bronze medal. Christian Taylor (56-5 ¼[17.20]), the reigning World (2011) and Olympic (2012) Champion, finished a disappointing 4th.
The U.S. and Jamaica were favored in the Women’s 4×100, but with far different lineups than those used at the London Olympics, where the Americans smashed the World Record with their winning time of 40.82 and the islanders set a National Record of 41.41.
The U.S. would have to go with an all-new foursome after a sub-par Carmelita Jeter withdrew from the relay pool and mainstay Allyson Felix pulled up with a hamstring injury in the final of the 200.
Jamaica would be without Veronica Campbell-Brown and Sherone Simpson, both of whom had recently failed a drug test. With Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who had already won the 100 and 200, running the anchor leg, Jamaica dominated the final, winning in 41.29, a National Record and the 2nd fastest time in history.
Any chance the U.S. had of challenging for the win disappeared when English Gardner took off too early on the 3rd leg and had to wait for Alex Anderson before receiving the baton. Octavious Freeman ran a great anchor leg to bring the U.S. (42.75) from far back to cross the finish line in 3rd place, but the Americans were then moved up to 2nd after runnerup France was disqualified for a passing violation. Great Britain (42.87) won the bronze medals.
Jamaica’s 1.46s margin of victory was the greatest in World/Olympic history. Preceding Fraser-Pryce were Carrie Russell, Kerron Stewart and Schillonie Calvert.
Once again, the Men’s 4×100 relay closed out the Championships, and Usain Bolt didn’t disappoint the crowd, anchoring Jamaica (37.36) to its 3rd World title in a row. Running the first 3 legs for Jamaica were Nesta Carter, Kemar Bailey-Cole, and Nickel Ashmeade.
The U.S. actually had a slight lead at the final handoff, but an off-balance Justin Gatlin, trying to avoid contact with Bolt, was no match for the now 8-time World Champion and the Americans (37.66) had to settle for the silver medals. Canada finished 3rd in 37.92.
Germany’s Christina Obergföll, the silver medalist at the 2005 and 2007 World Championships, as well as at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics, finally captured a gold medal, winning the Women’s Javelin with a throw of (226-6 [69.05]). Winning silver and bronze were Australia’s Kim Mickle (218-6 [66.60]) and Russia’s Maria Abakumova (213-6 [65.09])
Medalists/Results: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_World_Championships_in_Athletics
IAAF Coverage:
Montaño’s Tribute to Her Grandmother:
…
