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–September 24
1932—Czech František Douda, who had earlier won the bronze medal at the L.A. Olympics, regained the World Record in the Shot Put with his winning toss of 53-1 ¾ (16.20) in Prague. Douda set his first WR of 52-7 ½ (16.04) in 1931, only to see it broken by Poland’s Zygmont Heljasz in June,1932 (52-8[16.05]). American Leo Sexton then improved the record to 53-1/4 (16.16) a month after winning the gold medal in L.A.
WR Progression: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men’s_shot_put_world_record_progression
Douda, photo by olympijskytym.cz
1972—Bulgaria’s Yordanka Blagoeva cleared 6-4 ¼ (1.94) in the High Jump in Zagreb to break the World Record of 6-3 ½ (1.92) that was set by West Germany’s Ulrike Meyfarth at the Munich Olympics earlier in the month. Blagoeva had won the silver medal behind Meyfarth and would win the bronze medal 4 years later in Montreal.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yordanka_Blagoeva
WR Progression(conversions are unofficial): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_high_jump_world_record_progression
1988–Just as he did a year before at the World Championships in Rome, Canada’s Ben Johnson beat Carl Lewis and set a World Record in the Men’s 100-meters, running 9.79 to win Olympic gold in Seoul. That would all change a few days later, of course, after Johnson tested positive for steroids! Lewis was awarded the gold medal and his 9.92 was recognized as the World Record. Moving up to silver and bronze were Great Britain’s Linford Christie (9.97) and American Calvin Smith (9.99).
Jackie Joyner-Kersee, the silver medalist in 1984, set the 4th and final World Record of her career, scoring 7,291 points to win the Heptathlon by almost 400 points over East Germany’s Sabine John (6,897) and Anke Behmer (6858). JJK would win a 2nd gold five days later in the Long Jump.
JJK’s Marks: 12.69, 1.86/6-1 ¼, 15.80/51-10, 22.56, 7.27/23-10 ¼, 45.66/149-10, 2:08.51
The first two rounds of the Women’s 100 were held on this day. All eyes were on World Record holder Florence Griffith-Joyner and she didn’t disappoint, setting an Olympic Record of 10.88 in her heat, a time matched by U.S. teammate Evelyn Ashford in her ¼-final race.
Ashford didn’t have long to enjoy her status as co-Olympic Record holder, since Flo-Jo ran an amazing 10.62 in the very next race! That’s still the =6th-fastest legal time in history (although some feel that her 10.49 World Record should be considered wind-aided).
Bulgaria’s Khristo Markov won the Men’s Triple Jump with an Olympic Record leap of 57-9 ½ (17.61). Placing 2-3-4 were Soviets Igor Lapshin (57-5 ¾ [17.52]), Aleksandr Kovalenko (57-2 [17.42]), and Oleg Protsenko (57-1/4 [17.38]). Americans Charlie Simpkins (56-8 ¾ [17.29]} and Willie Banks (55-10 ½ [17.03]}, who had set the World Record of 58-11 ½ (17.97) three years earlier, finished 5th and 6th, respectively.
Medalists/Results: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_1988_Summer_Olympics
Sports Illustrated Vault
Busted: https://vault.si.com/vault/1988/10/03/the-loser
A Look Back(Johnson-2008): https://vault.si.com/vault/2008/07/14/ben-johnson
Story Behind the SI Cover Photo(Johnson):
https://deadspin.com/the-story-behind-the-iconic-photos-of-the-olympics-dirt-1797061106
Videos
M100: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTM_mvA4kas
Heptathlon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Z-QfDiV2XA
Olympedia Reports: https://www.olympedia.org/editions/22/sports/ATH
2000—Great Britain’s Denise Lewis, the bronze medalist in Atlanta in 1996, won the Heptathlon in wet and windy conditions at the Sydney Olympics with a score of 6,584 points. Russia’s Yelena Prokhorova (6531) outran Belarus’s Natalya Sazanovich (6527) in the final event, the 800-Meters, to win the silver medal.
Two potential medalists were hampered by injuries. Syria’s Ghada Shouaa, the defending champion, failed to finish the first event, the 100-Meter Hurdles, and France’s Eunice Barber, who dropped out after making one poor effort in the Long Jump.
Japan’s Naoko Takahashi pulled away from Romania’s Lidia Șimon (2:23:22) late in the race to win the Women’s Marathon in the Olympic Record time of 2:23:14. Finishing 3rd was Kenya’s Joyce Chepchumba (2:24:45).
Just as a heavy rain started to fall, Men’s High Jump winner Russia’s Sergey Klyugin cleared 7-8 ½ (2.35) on his 1st attempt, while the other 6 jumpers who had cleared 7-7 ¼ (2.32) missed on all 3 of their attempts. Winning the silver and bronze medals based on fewer misses were Cuba’s Javier Sotomayor, the 1992 champion, and Algeria’s Abderahmane Hammad. American Charles Austin, the defending champion, failed to make it out of the qualifying round.
The medalists in the Men’s Hammer Throw were Poland’s Szymon Ziółkowski (262-6 [80.02]), Italy’s Nicola Vizzone
(261-3 [79.64]), and Belarus’s Igor Astapkovich (259-9 [79.17]), who edged teammate Ivan Tikhon on the basis of a better 2ndthrow.
Bulgaria’s Tereza Marinova (49-10 ½ [15.20]) won the Women’s Triple Jump in windy and wet conditions over Russia’s Tatyana Lebedeva (49-2 ½ [15.00]) and Ukraine’s Yelena Govorova (49-1 [14.96]).
The U.S. was shut out of the medals in this day’s five finals.
Medalists: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_2000_Summer_Olympics
Results: https://www.worldathletics.org/competitions/olympic-games/27th-olympic-games-6951910
Olympedia Reports: https://www.olympedia.org/editions/25/sports/ATH
Video(Marathon): https://olympics.com/en/video/women-s-marathon-sydney-2000-great-olympic-moments
2023—Ethiopia’s Tigist Assefa won the Berlin Marathon for the 2nd year in a row, running 2:11:53 to smash the previous
World Record of 2:14:04, set by Kenya’s Brigid Kosgei in 2019,
Like many other recent record-breakers, she reportedly wore a pair of (adidas) “supershoes” (See Guardian
article)
No record this time for Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge (2:02:42), but he did win for the 5th time, breaking a tie with Ethiopia’s
Haile Gebrselassie for the most wins in the race’s history. Kipchoge had set the last two men’s World Records
while winning in 2018 (2:01:39) & 2022 (2:01:09).
American Scott Fauble, who was hoping to attain the Olympic qualifying standard of 2:08:10, was unable to finish the
race.
Top 10: https://www.nbcsports.com/olympics/news/berlin-marathon-results-2023
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1Jn3I2c5eA
Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dC9qR9FD6e0
https://worldathletics.org/news/report/tigst-assefa-world-marathon-record-berlin-kipchoge-2023
WR Progression: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marathon_world_record_progression
Past Winners: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Marathon
More on Assefa:
Competed in the 800-meters at the 2016 World Indoor Championships and 2016 Olympics. Her race in Rio was her
last on the track due to an ongoing achilles injury, Took 2017 off to recover from the injury, then switched to the
roads in 2018. Didn’t compete in 2020-2021 due to the pandemic, then ran her first marathon in 2022. Ran
2:34:01 in March when she was 17 pounds over her normal running weight (“she needed a paycheck”), then
broke through when she won in Berlin in September with a time of 2:15:37.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tigist_Assefa
Her Story: https://www.runnersworld.com/runners-stories/a41430669/who-is-tigist-assefa-berlin-marathon-winner/
