Walt Murphy is one of the best statisticians I know. Walt does #ThisDayinTrack&FieldHistory, a great daily service that provides truly fascinating stories about our sport. You can test the service for FREE with a one-month free trial subscription. (e-mail WaltMurphy44@gmail.com ) for the entire daily service. We’ll be posting a few historical moments every day starting February 1, 2024.
Results and field history copyright Walt Murphy News and Results Services and all rights reserved. RunBlogRun uses this content with permission.
This day in track and field – August 19
1920— Two days after winning the 800 at the Antwerp Olympics, 31-year-old Albert Hill, considered too old by some British officials, once again justified his selection to the team by winning his 2.th in the gold medal 1500 meters (4:01.8). His British teammate Philip Baker (4:02.4 est.) finished 2nd, with American Lawrence Shields 3rd (4:03.1e). American Joey Ray, pre-match favorite, pulled a calf muscle shortly before the Games began and could only finish 8th (4:10.0e).
Since then, only New Zealand’s Peter Snell has equaled Hills’ feat, winning both events at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
Medal winners: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_1920_Summer_Olympic
Olympia reports. https://www.olympedia.org/editions/7/sports/ATH
Wiki Bio (Hill): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Hill_(athlete)
1981– It was another magical night in Zurich, with world records set by Sebastian Coe in the mile (3:48.53) and Renaldo Nehemiah in the 110m hurdles (12.93).
Nehemiah, who became the first man to break the 13-second barrier (the previous record was 13-seconds), was pressured by his long-time rival Greg Foster (13.03), and told him after the race: , “If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have run at that time.”
Coe reclaimed the record from Great Britain’s Steve Ovett, who ran 3:48.8 the previous year. Coe was followed by Kenya’s Mike Boyt (3:49.74), 20-year-old Steve Cram (3:49.95), New Zealand’s John Walker (3:50.12) and Germany’s Thomas Wessinghag (3:50.95). It was the first time 3 men broke the 3:50 mile in the same race.
WR progress (110h): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men%27s_110_metres_hurdles_world_record_progression
Video:: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMUTzp-y2uc
WR progress (miles): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mile_run_world_record_progression
Video:: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lL0T6iVwAM
Hall of Fame Bios
Nehemiah (1997): https://www.usatf.org/athlete-bios/renaldo-nehemiah
Foster (1998): https://www.usatf.org/athlete-bios/greg-foster
Master of Art Form (Nehemiah):
http://hurdlesfirstbeta.com/free-articles/profiles/renaldo-nehemiah-master-art-form/
1987— Louise Ritter broke her 4-year-old American record in the high jump by clearing 6-7 (2.01) in Zurich. Ritter set or tied the American record ten times during his career, the first in 1978 (6-3/1.90) and the last (6-8 (2.03)) in 1988 when he won the gold medal at the Seoul Olympics.
Hall of Fame Biography (1995). https://www.usatf.org/athlete-bios/louise-ritter
Seoul Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCFaPN2i9E4
1993– Great Britain’s Sally Gunnell won the 400m hurdles at the World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany, setting a world record of 52.74. Sandra Farmer-Patrick ran an American record 52.79 for 2nd. Russian Margarita Ponomaryova (53.48) was 3rd, and Americans Kim Batten (53.84) and Tonya Buford-Bailey (54.55) were in 4th and 5th place. They would finish 1-2 at the next Worlds in Gothenburg in 1995, both under Gunnell’s WR.
Thirteen years after winning the first of ten (then total) small individual medals at the World/Olympic events, Jamaica’s Merlene Ottey, nicknamed the “Bronze Queen,” finally won a gold medal, beating Gwen Torrance in the 200 meters (21.98). -22.00). This time the bronze medal went to Russian Irina Privalova (22.13), who finished just ahead of French Marie-José Perec (22.20).
Kevin Young (47.18/championship record) beats Zambia’s Samuel Matete (47.60) and Jamaica’s Winthrop Graham (47.62) in the men’s 400m hurdles, who finished 1-2 at the 1991 Tokyo Championships. Young (UCLA-87,88), Matete (Auburn-91) and Graham (Texas-89) were all NCAA Champions. Young set a world record 46.78 when winning gold at the Barcelona Olympics last year.
Ukrainian Sergey Bubka won the 4th placeth of his 6 world titles in the pole vault, setting a championship record of 19-8 ¼ (6.00m).
When the bar was raised to 20-1 ¾ (6.14), Bubka was confident he could break the outdoor world record (20-1 ½ (6.13)), but the officials incorrectly called a time violation after just two minutes. had passed when he registered. ready for his first attempt (He should have been allowed six minutes). After much discussion with the officials, Bubka was allowed to attempt his first jump, but missed, as he did his other two attempts (around 3).th) Kazakhstan’s Grigory Egorov (19-4 1/4 (5.90)) finished second and tied for third between Russia’s Igor Trandenkov and Maxim Tarasov, both 19-1/4 (5 ,80) were removed.
Russian Olga Chernyavskaya (221-1 (67.40)), Australian Daniela Kostian (214-5 (65.26)) and Chinese Chunfeng Min (214-1 (65.26)) became medalists in women’s discus.
Dan O’Brien (4598) was 4 points ahead of Germany’s Paul Mayer (4594) after the first day of the decathlon.
Medal winners: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_World_Championships_in_Athletics
WR progress: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women’s_400_metres_hurdles_world_record_progression
2008— Lots of drama tonight at the Bird’s Nest Stadium at the Beijing Olympics.
Lolo Jones was on his way to victory Women’s 100 meter hurdles when he cut the 9th barrier and slipped across the finish line in 7thth place USA teammate Dawn Harper-Nelson (12.54) was the winner, followed by Australia’s Sally McLellan-Pearson, who edged out Canada’s Priscilla Lopez-Schlip (12.64 for both) for the silver medal.
Showing a touch of class, Jones congratulated all the overjoyed medalists, even waiting for Harper to complete her victory lap. Jones’ mishap brought back memories of a similar mishap by Gayle Devers at the 1992 Olympics, where she finished 5th.th in the hurdles, taking the lead after tripping over the last hurdle.
Sania Richards-Ross, heavy favorite to win Women’s 400 mhad a good lead after the final turn, but faded in the home exercise and fell behind Great Britain for the bronze medal (49.94). Christine Ohuruogu (49.62) and Jamaica Sherika Williams (49.69).
Richards said after the race that his right hamstring strained with 80 meters to go and he was unable to respond as he passed Ohuruogu and Williams. (See link below)
Ohuruogo only made it to Beijing after successfully appealing a lifetime Olympic ban (imposed by the British Olympic Association) for missing 3 drug tests earlier. He came back from a 1-year ban for those missed tests to win the world title in 2007.
Bahraini Rashid Ramzi, a native of Morocco, won Men’s 1500 meters (3:32.94) but was later stripped of the title after failing a drugs test. The new Olympic champion, the youngest in history, became the new 19-year-old Asbel Kiprop (3:33.11) from Kenya, and New Zealand’s Nick Willis rose from bronze to silver. Mehdi Baala of France became the new bronze medalist (3:34.21).
Ironically, Henwho would go on to win 3 World titles (2011-2013-2015), was banned for 4 years after testing positive for EPO in 2017 (see links). An outspoken critic of drug use throughout his career, he still maintains his innocence.
https://www.runnersworld.com/uk/news/a31092168/asbel-kiprop-quits-athletics-for-motor-sport/
of Estonia Gerd Kanter (225-9 (68.82)), 2007 World Champion, won Men’s disc Over Poland’s Piotr Malachowski (222-6 (67.82)) and Lithuania’s Virgilius Alecna (222-5 (67.79)), 2-time defending Olympic champion (and 2-time world champion 2003, 2005).
The medal winners Men’s high jump They belonged to Russia Andrei Silnov (7-8 ¾ (2.36), Great Britain Germaine Mason (7-8 (2.34)), and Russian Yaroslav Rybakov (7-8 (2.34)).
Having won the double (1500/500) at the previous year’s world championships in Osaka, Bernard Lagat had high hopes in 2008, but he was eliminated in the semi-finals of the 1500, later discovering that Achilles pain had cost him dearly. training time before games.
Medal Winners/Results: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_2008_Summer_Olympics
Videos:: W100h Lolo reflects W400: M1500 MHJ: MDT:
2009– Caster Semenya, 18, broke away from a strong field in the final 100m to win Women’s 800 meters 20m at the World Championships in Berlin and the South African’s gender debate began in earnest.
The controversy surrounding Semenya was almost unfounded (or at least delayed) after he was involved in the first round incident in Berlin.
Kenya’s Janet Jepkosgei, the defending champion, fell in her heat but advanced to the semi-finals after officials ruled she had been fouled by Semenya, who was running behind her at the time. However, Semenya was not disqualified, setting the stage for her eventual victory. (Jepkosgei went on to take the silver medal (1:57.90). 3rd was Great Britain’s Jenny Meadows (1:57.93).
A home-crowd favourite Robert Harting2:th Won the first of his three world titles in 2007 in Osaka Men’s disc 227-9 (69.43) with his final throw and showed the world his victory celebrations for the first time, ripping off his shirt and hoisting the Berlin mascot over his shoulders. Poland’s Piotr Malachowski (226-10 (69.15)) and Estonia’s Gerd Kanter (219-5 (66.88), 2008 Olympic champion) won silver and bronze.
Jamaica finished 1-3 100 meter hurdles from Bridget Foster-Hilton (12.51) and Delloreen Ennis-London (12.55), with Canada’s Priscilla Lopes-Schleip (12.54) splitting the two in 2nd place. 5th was Australia’s Sally Pearson (12.70), who would go on to win world titles in 2011 and 2017 (and Olympic gold in 2012), and 7th was 2008 Olympic champion Dawn Harper-Nelson (12 ,81).
Bahraini Yusuf Saad Kamel (born in Kenya as Gregory Konchella) won. Men’s 1500 meters in 3:35.93, with Ethiopia’s Derese Mekonen (3:36.01) right behind in 3:36.03. The reigning champion Bernard Lagat (3:36.20) had to settle for a bronze medal this time. Kenya’s Asbel Kiprop, the 2008 Olympic champion, finished 4thth (3:36.47).
Ukraine’s Oleksiy Kasyanov (4555) leads after the first day of the decathlon over Cuba’s Junior Diaz (4512) and Americans Trey Hardy (4511) and Ashton Eaton (4355).
Medal Winners/Results: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_World_Championships_in_Athletics
Videos:: W100h M1500 W800: MDT:
Semenya
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caster_Semenya
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/20/sports/20runner.html?_r=0
https://www.runnersworld.com/news/a28556020/caster-semenya-ruling-world-championships/
