OLYMPIC HISTORY EVENTS - page 1

 

 
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The Golden Days...

Jim Ryun, in 1966, brought the world record for the mile back to the United States for the first time since 1937. His time of 3 minutes 51.3 seconds, made on July 17, at Berkeley, Calif., smashed Michel Jazy's previous mark of 3 minutes 53.6 seconds by 2.3 seconds. He was timed at the quarter mile posts in 57.6 seconds, 1 minute 55.5 seconds, and 2 minutes 55.3 seconds. Ryun also set a world record in the half-mile of 1 minute 44.9 seconds, and a U.S. record in the two-mile of 8 minutes 25.2 seconds

Only one other athlete, sprinter Tommy Smith of San Jose State College, seriously challenged Ryun's supremacy on the track. Smith set four world records at 200 meters and 220 yards. On May 7, he lowered the standard for the straightaway race from 20 seconds to 19.5 seconds, and on June 11 he ran around a full turn in 20 seconds to take .2 (two tenths) of a second off the world record. Both marks were set at 220 yards, thus automatically applying to the shorter 200-meter distance (218 yards 2 feet 2 inches).

Smith also excelled as a member of the U.S. team that set a world record for the 1,600-meter relay with a clocking of 2 minutes 59.6 seconds.  His 400-meter leg of the relay took only 43.8 seconds, at that time the fastest ever. Smith also set a world record of 44.5 seconds for 400 meters in 1967. 

 

Too Heavy a Weight to Pass On?

The United States has long ceased to be a power in international weightlifting. When the opposite was true, John Davis, a Black heavyweight from Brooklyn, ruled the world. Davis won the heavyweight gold medal in 1948 and 1952. To date, he is the United States' only black heavyweight weightlifting gold medalist. Additionally, he was undefeated in all competitions between 1938 and 1952. The United States has not had a heavyweight gold medalist in weightlifting of any persuasion since Paul Anderson in 1956, and there has been no gold medalist in any weight class since 1960.

 

Things That Make You Go Hmmmm....

Milt Campbell, silver medalist in the decathlon in 1952 and gold medal winner in 1956 (Rafer Johnson won the silver medal), is the only decathlon champion to hold a world record in an individual event. In 1957 Campbell ran 7.0 seconds for the 60 yard indoor high hurdles and 13.4 for the 120 yard outdoor high hurdles. Also, he is the only United States decathlon champion to be a national champion in high school: Campbell was national champion and record holder in the 180 yard low hurdles and national record holder in the 120 yard high hurdles (13.8 in 1952).

When he won the silver decathlon medal in 1952 he had just finished his junior year in high school (Bob Mathias was the winner with his second gold medal.) Campbell was also All American in high school football, All-American in high school track and field, and All-American in swimming, and he was voted the greatest high school athlete in the world. He also played two years of professional football with the Cleveland Browns and eight years in the Canadian Football league. A high hurdler by specialty, Campbell only competed in the decathlon during the United States Olympic trials and the Olympic games. Yet ESPN did not include him in their list of the top 50 athletes of the century, while Mathias and Johnson were included.

According to David Wallechinsky (The 1992 Book of the Olympics) Lentauw and Yamasani, (that is all that is known of their names) two Zulus, were the first Black Africans to participate in the modern Olympics. Their participation in the 1906 marathon was not planned as they were in St. Louis as part of the Boer War exhibit and they entered the event without any type of training. Lentauw lost a lot of time when he was chased off course and through a cornfield by two large dogs, yet he managed to finished ninth.

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