Walt Murphy is one of the best trailers 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.
By Walt Murphy News and Results Service (wmurphy25@aol.com), used with permission
This day in athletics – October 20
1956— Records were set in three events at the meet for the Melbourne Olympics in Ontario, California. Lemon King ran 10.1 to tie the world record in the 100 meters, while American records were set by Max Truex in the 5,000 (14:22.8) and Ira Davis in the triple jump (51-11 (15.82)).
1964— Germany’s Willi Holdorf won Decathlon At the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, silver went to Estonia’s Rein Aun (7842) and bronze to another German, Hans-Joachim Wolde (7809), with 7,887 points. American Paul Herman finished 4thth (7787), leaving the USA without a medal in this tournament for the first time in Olympic history.
The 5th is S.K. It was Young, the silver medalist at the 1960 Rome Olympics. The former UCLA star had set a monumental world record of 9,121 points in 1963, thanks in large part to his success with a relatively new fiberglass device that sat atop a club. However, the new scoring tables that went into effect in 1964 reduced Young’s lead in that game.
Ann Packer, representative of Great Britain, won Women’s 800 meters with a world record of 2:01.1. Completion 2th and 3th were France’s Maryvon Dupuyre (2:01.9) and New Zealand’s Marise Chamberlain (2:02.8).
North Korea Shin Geum-dan had run 1:58.0 last month but couldn’t compete in Tokyo because his country was suspended by the IAAF (he also couldn’t get credit for the WR).
A day after winning the discus, the Soviet Union’s (and Russia’s) Tamara Press (59-6 ¼ (18.14)/OR) won the 2nd.th in gold Women’s shooting. Renate Garisch of East Germany (57-9, ½ (17.61)) and Galina Zibina of the Soviet Union (and Russia) won silver and bronze (57-3 (17.45)).
Medal Winners/Results: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_1964_Summer_Olympics
Olympia Reports:: http://www.olympedia.org/editions/16/sports/ATH
Coincidentally Ichikawa’s memorable documentary (Tokyo Olympics – 2 hours) was released in the US on this day in 1965.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHt0eAdCCns
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_Olympiad
Videos:
W800:: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F10IOKnkh0s
Packer analyzes the 800: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmdr7NNEJtk
Tumi (2012): https://www.runnerspace.com/video.php?video_id=72207
1968-Jim Ryun established himself as the #1 miler (metric and imperial) in the world, setting world records in the 1500 and mile (breaking his records) in 1967. But he wasn’t just battling his old rival, Kenyan Kip. Keino, in the final Olympic 1500he also stood at 7,300′ in Mexico City.
Unfazed by the altitude (since he grew up in a similar environment), Keino’s teammate Ben Jipcho (apparently acting as a sacrificial lamb – he would have finished 10th) ran the first 400 meters in 56 seconds, while Keino. , who was at the back of the field in the first 100 meters, went 56.6 (behind Germany’s Harald Norpoth). Meanwhile, a cautious Ryun, perhaps weakened by a fever, was back well at 58.1.
Keino, who won silver in the 5,000 three days earlier, took the lead two laps into the 800 split in 1:55.3, with Ryun more than 3 seconds behind (1:58.5). Keino, previously stung by Ryun’s shot, took no chances this time and was never challenged as he won in a swift 3:34.91, second only to Ryun’s record of 3:33.1 on the all-time list. (then) and time unavailable at altitude. Ryun (3:37.8) finished well for the silver medal, while Germany’s Bodo Tummler (3:39.0) took the bronze. Other Americans didn’t fare as well, with Tom Von Ruden finishing 9th and an injured Marty Liquori (4:18.22) struggling home in last place.
American fans watched Dick Fosbury’s revolutionary technique High jumpbut now the rest of the world enjoys the wonder of watching him backslide across the bar. Fosbury made the most of his time on the world stage, winning the gold medal and breaking John Thomas’ 8-year-old American record (7-3 ¾ (2/23)) with his winning height of 7-4 ¼ (2.24). Teammate Ed Carruthers (7-3 ¼ (2.22)) won the silver medal, while Valentin Gavrilov (7-2 ½ (2.20)) of the Soviet Union (and Russia) took the bronze.
Although Fosbury is justly credited with introducing the style that bears his name, he was not the first to attempt it. That honor appears to belong to Montana prep Bruce Quande, who in 1963 Montana HS used the flop at the state meet. (See link below).
The Ethiopian runner won the 3rd consecutive Olympic Games Men’s marathon. The great Abebe Bikila, winner in 1960 and 1964, had to withdraw from the race with a leg injury, but compatriot Mamo Wolde, who had earlier won silver in the 10,000, held on, winning in 2:20. :26.4. Silver and bronze went to Japan’s Kenji Kimihara (2:23:31) and New Zealand’s Mike Ryan (2:23:45). Kenny Moore (2:29:49) was the top American in 14th, with teammate George Young finishing 16th.th (2:31:15) and Ron Dawes 22:00th (2:33:53).
East Germany’s Margitta Gummel broke her own world record (61-11 (18.87)) to win the event. Women’s shootingthrowing 62-6 ¾ (19.07) and 64-4 (19.61). 2:th East German representative Marita Lange (61-7 ½ (18.78)) and 3th It was the Soviet Union (and Russia’s Nadezhda Chizhova (59-8 ¼ (18.19)).
The US won all three relays and set world records in each (the women’s 4×400 wasn’t added to the Olympic program until 1972).
Men’s 4×100 (38.2/38.24) – Charlie Green, Mel Pender, Ronnie Ray Smith and Jim Hines, 100m champion. 2:th and 3thCuba (38.3/38.40) and France (38.4/38.43) edged out Jamaica (38.4/38.47) to take the bronze medals.
Women’s 4×100 (42.8/42.88) – Barbara Ferrell, Margaret Bales, Mildred Netter and Wyomia Tyus, 100 meters
Champion: 2:th and 3th were Cuba (43.3/43.36) and the Soviet Union (43.4/43.41).
Men’s 4×400 (2:56.1/2:56.16/Games Final T&F Event) – Vince Matthews-45.0, Ron Freeman-43.2Larry James-43.9, Lee Evans-44.1. With a team that included 3 medalists out of 400, including two who were under the previous world record, and the height advantage of Mexico City, the only question was how fast they would run in the final. The answer was a quick 2:56.1, over 3 seconds faster than the previous mark of 2:59.6. That time would stand alone as the world record until another US team matched the automatic time of 2:56.16 at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Next up were Kenya (2:59.6/2:59.64) and West Germany (3:00.5/3:00.57), who beat Poland (3:00.5/3:00.58) for the bronze medals.
Medalists/Results: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_1968_Summer_Olympics
Olympia Reports:: http://www.olympedia.org/editions/17/sports/ATH
Videos::
1500: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_9AAy7yZTc
High jump: https://olympics.com/en/video/men-s-high-jump-final-mexico-1968-great-olympic-moments
Fosbury-50th Anniversary (2018): https://www.worldathletics.org/news/feature/dick-fosbury-flop
The statue opened:
https://onceuponatimeinthevest.blogspot.com/2018/10/v-8-n-64-50-years-ago-today-oct-20-2018.html
First Flopper?:
“1968”-An excellent NBC documentary focusing on the US Olympic T&F team and the exciting events of the year. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ss6qavj29c
Official running times at the 1964 and 1968 Olympics were recorded in tenths, but automatic times were available.
Past Olympics — Top 8 plus American finish: https://trackandfieldnews.com/olympic-results/
1985– The 9th Chicago Marathon featured the largest number of runners to date and the fastest. Almost 10,000 turned out as Wales’ Steve Jones (2:07:13) and Joan Benoit Samuelsson (2:21:21), running her first 26.2-mile race since becoming the first women’s Olympic champion in 1984, won.
Jones’ goal was to regain the world record (which he set in Chicago in 1984), but he missed Carlos Lopez’s current standard by just one second. His win earned him $35,000 for the win, $10,000 for setting a new course record and a $13,000 time bonus for running under 2:08.
The women’s division featured one of the best fields ever assembled. Benoit Samuelsson was followed by world record holder Ingrid Christiansen of Norway (2:23:05) and Olympic bronze medalist (and defending Chicago champion) Rosa Mota of Portugal (2:23:29).
While Benoit Samuelsson’s winning time of 2:21:21 missed Christiansen’s world record by just 15 seconds, he set American and course records.
Highlights of the race (28 minutes long): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HZ7u5aU0PY
Benoit looks back:
http://www.si.com/more-sports/2015/10/08/joan-benoit-samuelson-reflects-1985-chicago-marathon-win
Jones cooking:
Past winners: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_winners_of_the_Chicago_Marathon
