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By Walt Murphy News and Results Service (wmurphy25@aol.com), used with permission
This day in athletics – January 6
1925– Just 6 months after winning 4 gold medals (1500, 5000, two in x-country) at the 1924 Olympics in Paris, the great Paavo Nurmi made his American debut at the Finnish-American AC indoor meet at Madison Square Garden in New York Times reports that 9,000 lucky fans gathered in the 8,000-seat arena, and thousands were left frustrated on the streets.
With the crowd going wild, “Flying Finn” didn’t disappoint, passing Joey Ray in the final two laps to win the mile in 4:13.6, beating Ray’s 6-year-old world record of 4:14.6. 5 yard advance on Nurmi, but he was no match for the Finn’s withering finish.Rei was also under his old record of 4:14.0.Nurmi ran a world record of 3:56.0 in the 1500m.
Fans would have felt they got their money’s worth just to see Nurmi in the mile, but the legend came back 90 minutes later to win the 5,000 meters in 14:44.6 to break another world record by Ray (14:54.6 ) Nurmi ran away from another Finn, Trained in USA by Will “Willie” Ritola, 1924 Olympic champion In the 10,000 meters, Nurmi missed her bid for a 4th world record when her 3-mile time of 14:18.2 fell short of Ritola’s mark of 14:15.8.
Nurmi trained daily during the long voyage from Finland to the U.S., racing on the deck of the SS Celtic.He would win 51 of the 55 races during the year-long tour of the United States
Nurmi wasn’t the only record holder at this memorable meet. Lauren Murchison set a world record of 6.0 to win the 50 meters, then claimed two more records in one race, clocking 22.4 for 220 yards to win the rarely run 250 meters (about 1-3/4 laps). ): on the 11-lap track of the Garden) in the 7th flat the record was set by Penn State’s Alan Helfrich, who set a new 500-meter mark of 1:05.8.(From the NY Times archives)
(For subscribers): https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1925/01/07/98812492.html?pageNumber=29
1979-A large number of records Ali Inv. in Long Beach, California. In the men’s 1,500, New Zealand’s John Walker won in a world record 3:37.4, while runner-up Paul Cummings set an American record in 3:37.6 and Villanova’s Sydney Marie finished third in 3:38.2. collegiate record Herman Frazier ran 1:01.2 in the 500 meters to break the one-year world record by 0.1 s.Villanova finished 2nd at the Philadelphia Pioneer Club (3:08.6) in the 4×400, but received an American record of 3:08.8 (Keith Brown 47.8, Tim Dale 47.2, Derek Harbor 47.2, Anthony Tuffariello 46).
Important birthdays
Born on this day*
Christine Wachtel-East Germany 60 (1965) 3-time World Indoor Champion 800m (1987, 1989, 1991)
1987 World Championship and 1988 Olympic Games silver medalist
6:00th in the world championship in 1991
Set two indoor world records in 1988: 1:57.64, 1:56.40 (now #4 all-time)
Other PBs1:55.32 (1987), 2:30.67 (WR then, now #4 all-time)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_Wachtel
https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/70124
Mike Boyte-Kenya 76 (1949) 1972 Olympic bronze medalist — 800 m (1500-4th)
12:00th 1500 in the 1983 World Championships
Missed the 1976 and 1980 Olympics due to the African boycott
2:th Cuba’s Alberto Juantorena in the highly anticipated race at the 1977 World Cup opener.
Won 7 NAIA titles while at Eastern New Mexico
(880y-1973; mile-1974; 3-mile-1974; 1500/1975-76; 800/1975-76)
PBs1:43.57 (1976), 2:15.30 (1977), 3:49.45 (1981), 4:59.43 (1985)
World ranking table1972 (3), 1973 (4), 1974 (2), 1975 (1), 1976 (3), 1977 (2), 1978 (5), 1981 (3)
Professor at Kenyatta University
Co-founder of KENSap (Kenya Scholar-Athlete Project). https://www.kensap.org/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Boit
Professor: http://www.ku.ac.ke/schools/human_sciences/index.php/component/content/article?id=149&Itemid=707 ,
http://www.universitystory.gla.ac.uk/biography/?id=WH25779&type=P
Flashback (1977 WC):
https://vault.si.com/vault/2002/12/23/runners-mike-boit-and-alberto-juantorena-september-12-1977
Ranking tables: https://trackandfieldnews.com/index.php/rankings
https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/72744
Dead
Ludvik Danek – Czech Republic 61 (1937-Nov. 15, 1998) 1972 Olympic gold medalist — Discus (silver ’64, bronze ’68;
Former world record holder: 211-9 (64.55/1964), 213-11 (65.22/1965)
Ranked No. 1 in the world 4 times in his career (No. 2 three times)
https://trackandfieldnews.com/index.php/rankings
https://www.worldathletics.org/news/news/ludvik-danek-1937-1998
https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/76597
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludv%C3%ADk_Daněk
Roy Cochran 62 (1919-September 26, 1981) 1948 Olympic gold medalist — 400m hurdles, 4×400
The 1939 US champion would have been one of the favorites for the 1940 Olympics, which were canceled due to World War II.
He served in the USA during the war.
Won his 2th US title 9 years later in 1948
All-American at Indiana. NCAA-220y Hurdles (1939-3th1941-2th)
Inducted into the National Hall of Fame in 2010
Trained Billy Hayes in Indiana, later by his older brother Com, who won Olympic gold in the 4×400 in 1924.
HOF Organic: https://www.usatf.org/athlete-bios/roy-cochran
http://www.olympedia.org/athletes/78238
https://msfame.com/ricks-writings/roy-cochran-a-mississippi-olympic-story/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Cochran
Ibolya Csák-Hungary 91 (1915-February 10, 2006) 1936 Olympic Gold Medalist — High Jump
From Olympiad. won the Olympic gold, although under modern rules he would have finished second together with
Great Britain’s Dorothy Odam and Germany’s Elfriede Kau, Chuck cleared 5-2 (1.60) (compared in two attempts).
to one for Odam) and fell short 5-3 ½ (1.62).
taking home the gold.
won the gold medal at the 1938 European Championships after the original winner, Germany’s Dora Rattien, became;
out to be a man!
