V 9 No. 40 Paul O'Shea's Report from Doha

November 7, 2019, 9:29 am

≫ Next: V 9 N. 41 The Mary Cain Story

≪ Previous: V 9 N. 39 Paul Geis R.I.P.

$

0

0

We’ll Always Have Doha

By Paul O’Shea

As Rick wistfully tells Ilsa in the 1942 film classic, Casablanca, “We’ll always have Paris,” so will I remember the 2019 World Track and Field Championships in Doha.

Doha was my seventh World Championships. I’d been to other majors in Edmonton, Paris, Helsinki, Berlin, Moscow and Beijing. Mercifully free of the jingoism and marketing excesses of the Olympic Games, Worlds are every bit as rewarding as their four-year elders.

Doha Worlds: the world’s third largest sporting event, with more than 200 countries sending athletes.  Impressive results at Khalifa International Stadium: one world record, 86 national records, 43 countries won medals, with the United States taking 29.  Jamaica (12) and Kenya (11) were second and third.

Doha City, Qatar: scorching, humid, polluted. Skyscrapers springing from the desert, sixty-nine hundred air miles from my hometown airport, Washington Dulles.

Abutting the Persian Gulf, Qatar is small, about the size of Connecticut. It sits on the world’s largest natural gas reserves. The country is also one of the world’s most contaminated, and on some evenings there was a haze in the stadium.  The country readies for the 2022 World Cup when the average high temperature in December is just 76 degrees compared with September’s 102.

Most of Qatar is populated by expats (over two million) with just 300,000 nationals. Many sleek, new high-rise buildings. At night, there’s a light show with skyscrapers outlined and lit up like giant Christmas trees. Off in the distance sits Doha Bay.

The weather was stifling, from the moment I stepped out of Hamad International Airport and into the city air.  Three digits
Fahrenheit, with what one mightwryly call a wind-chill of
113 degrees. Fortunately, the indoor cooling system at the International Stadium was effective. Some nights a sweater
was useful.

Climate change skeptics might have second thoughts if they breathed in and out in Doha.  It’s the world’s fourth most toxic environment.  Three years ago the World Health Organization said air pollution in Qatar “vastly exceeds safe limits and is damaging the health of the population.” The Qatar Times, the country’s English daily newspaper, pushed back against the pollution charge. “The Ministry of Municipality and Environment has dismissed as baseless a report that suggested high levels of carbon emissions in Qatar.  The ministry said the report did not properly reflect the reality of emissions at the global level in Qatar.” 

Many riyals, Euros and dollars probably exchanged ownership in the transaction that brought the Worlds to the Middle East.  No one should be shocked, shocked that pay to play had gone on here.

Opening day the women’s marathon started at 11:59 p.m. with the temperature at 90 degrees and 73 per cent humidity.  Only 28 of the 68 starters finished, with the winning time 2:32:43. Bronze medalist Helalia Johannes from Namibia said afterwards, “I can’t say I enjoyed it.”

One memorable performer was the first American, Robin Groner, 41 years old, with three kids, and a full time job as a nursing administrator in New Jersey. She ran 2:38:44 in sixth place. Ten days later the weather was more cooperative for the men (the temperature was 84 at the gun with 51 per cent humidity), and 2:10:40 was the winning time. Only 18 of 73 starters failed to finish, still a high number for an elite field.

Ten days later the weather was more cooperative for the men (the temperature was 84 at the gun with 51 per cent humidity), and 2:10:40 was the winning time. Only 18 of 73 starters failed to finish, still a high number for an elite field.

The middle- and distance-running events largely went according to form.  Favorites Ajee Wilson* and Donavan Brazier led early and won, Brazier with an American record, taking down Johnny Gray’s ancient (1985) 1:42.60 by a tenth. 
*correction: Wilson finished 3rd in 1:58.84.

 In the men’s 1500 Timothy Cheruiyot quickly escaped challengers with 55.01 and 1:51.74 splits.  Matthew Centrowitz ran about to form. He was eighth in 3:32.81.

Equal-opportunity destroyer Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands strolled in the back of the twenty-two starters in the early laps of the women’s 10,000, then went through the field and cruised to a thirteen-second win in 30:17.62.  A week later she took charge early in the 1500. Her 3:51.95 was the sixth fastest in history.  Someday, could there be a Zatopek Triple in her kit?

The LetsRun crew called the men’s steeple the greatest ever.  Our seats were a meter or two off the finish line, and looking down on the finishers, I thought Conseslus Kipruto had lost to Ethiopia’s Lemecha Girma, but the Kenyan won by one one-hundredth of a second in 8:01.35. In the men’s 10,000 Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda and Ethiopia’s Yomif Keleja fought an epic, side-by-side battle, with Cheptegei winning in 26:48.36.

One of the most anticipated events was the men’s high jump and the appearance of Qatar icon Mutaz Barshim. Slim as a whippet, returning from foot surgery, he made the first four heights, missed twice at 7-7 3/4, then cleared that on his third try. To defend his title Barshim soared 7-9¾, a height he hadn’t made in four years.

U.S. relay teams performed admirably, winning four of the five baton events, including a mixed-sex four by four. Despite a history of botched handoffs and other mishaps, the men’s 400-meter relay team treasured the stick as if it were letters of transit that got Ilsa out on the night plane.

I signed on for this Track and Field News Tour with many of the usual suspects, renewing and forging new relationships with the pursuers of international achievement. Their backstories enriched the memories from the oval: this is the track meet with benefits.

T&FN Publisher and Tour Leader Janet Vitu waged vocal hand-to-hand combat with Qatar security as she pressed to get our bus closer than a 20K walk to the stadium. She prevailed.

Roger Heinle is an Iowa corn and soybean farmer whose father spent eight consecutive years where duty and economic necessity had him milk the cows twice a day, every day for eight years.

Long-time Cerritos College coach Gary Gaudet is a world-traveller with an impressive collection of passports.  In addition to his extensive background in the sport that earned him California Community College Coaches Hall of Fame honors, he’s toured 116 countries.  At Doha he oversaw the Tour’s Prediction contests, won by Tim Bianchi, Dan McGregor and Krish Kartha.

With us was Paul Pearson who never stopped running after Texas Western (I wrote earlier for Once Upon a Time in the Vest about his career Navigating the Currents of Time - Paul Pearson.  Now in his late sixties, Paul’s an impressive age group runner and recently placed second in the National Senior Games 1,500. Going out for his morning workout in Doha he was brought to his knees by the atmosphere after running just twenty minutes.

Tour colleagues benefited from the high-performing team of Hollobaugh and Hollobaugh. Jeff’s daytime job is writing for Track and Field News, online and in print. In Doha his nighttime assignment was producing the daily TAFNOT TIMES, two pages of inside baseball delivered to the doorstep each morning. His book, The Miler is a rewarding read for those helping runners devise strategies to win middle distance races.

Also in our group was TrackandFieldHunter.com, writing crisply,
cogently for his blog and others. I profiled Davidearlier for Once
Upon a Time in the Vest. 
David Hunter, Writing for the Future, Today

Tucked into a corner of the pedestrian mall and adjacent to our hotel, the IAAF presented its Heritage World Athletics Championships Exhibition.  Case after case of memorabilia on loan from legendary performers and museums. Zatopek’s shirt and shoes.  A Bannister signed program. Jesse Owens’ Ohio singlet.  Lasse Viren’s Onitsuka Tigers. On a television screen a loop of international cross country race videos.

At Khalifa International Stadium, aside from the inescapable heat there were minor management blunders. The hosts chose to site the medal ceremony up, up and away, high in the venue’s end zone.  Medal winners were literally in reduced circumstances.

Stadium vendors adopted a here’s looking at you kid, nonchalance when selling water. Hollis Lenderking recorded six different prices in as many days.  He’s the USATF Pacific Association sports administrator whose athletic history includes some fifty ultra marathons, and extensive beverage experience.

Media reviews of the 17^th Worlds were mixed. Writing in The New York Times, Tariq Panja focused on the weak attendance that had to be augmented by busing in loads of migrant workers to cut embarrassment for the Qataris.  But the heat drew most of his criticism. What the writer failed to acknowledge in his story were the performances.  

LetsRun said, “The track and field display that was put on last week in Doha at the 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships were unbelievable.  Five years ago, when Worlds were awarded to Doha many wondered how Doha’s hot weather and the late date of the championship would impact the performances and some were making dire predictions, particularly for the long distance events.  In actuality, nearly everything about the Worlds—minus the crowds and the absurd heat for the women’s marathon—ended up being amazing.”

Seb Coe, unanimously reelected IAAF President at the Worlds, was effusive in his evaluation.  “The world’s athletes have put on the best show in the history of the IAAF World Athletics Championships, according to the competition performance rankings which are used as an objective measure of the quality of international competition.”

Based on IAAF scoring tables the men’s outstanding feat was the 75 foot two inch throw of shot put titlist Joe Kovacs.  

ed. note. In 2014 we first saw Joe Kovacs and wrote this article about him.  Joe Kovacs, An Emerging Force in the Shot Put

 The women’s premier achievement was the 23 foot 11 ½ inch long jump by Germany’s Malaika Mihambo.  Curiously, the IAAF failed to recognize in its list of the top five meet performances the world record 400-meter hurdle victory of Dalilah Muhammad.  The mark was worth a $100,000 bonus.

So, as time goes by, the 2021Worlds will be contested at the newly reconstructed Hayward Field. The House That Knight built will open in 2020 with the Prefontaine Classic.

The Worlds: still the same old story, a fight for love and glory.

----------

Play it again, Sam


Paul O’Shea is a lifelong participant in the track and field world.  After retirement from a career in corporate communications he coached a high school girls’ cross country team and was a long-time contributor to Cross Country Journal. He writes for Once Upon a Time in the Vest from Fairfax, Virginia. He can be reached at Poshea17@aol.com.

Comment:    Two comments on Paul O'Shea's excellent article,

1. Ajee Wilson didn't fare so well in 800m
2. All dairy farmers milk their cows twice/day, every day, year round.   Bruce Kritzler

ed. We have noted Ajee's 3rd place finish in the article.   Thank you.


from Roy Mason:    Good report.  I knew nothing about Qatar.  Now I know everything except why there is no "u" in Qatar.  Just seems wrong somehow.


Vasco da Gama when he first sailed past did not have a lot of paper on which to take  notes in his log book and abbreviated the Old Portugese spelling of 'equator'  which was  'equatar'.  Therefore he dropped the 'e' and 'u' for the sake of brevity.  

---

V 9 N. 41 The Mary Cain Story

November 9, 2019, 4:01 pm

≫ Next: V 9 N. 42 A New Book on Distance Running "The Five and Ten Men" by Richard Amery

≪ Previous: V 9 No. 40 Paul O'Shea's Report from Doha

$

0

0

November 9, 2019

Yesterday Mary Cain, the phenomenal middle distance runner came forward to talk openly about her experience while running for the Nike Oregon Project.  

I think all of you are aware of her story.  I will not repeat it.

Here are my thoughts on this.  

Now Shalane Flanagan and Cam Levins have both come forward and said they should have been more supportive of Mary Cain.  Probably a lot of others who should have as well, especially as Mary  was so young when she was with NOP.  Most of these others were post collegiate in their careers.  Mary was taken out of high school to be turned into a world class athlete.  Actually she was already world class, but her physical development was not yet over.  She was in that girl to woman transition period and that was incredible  stress put onto her physiology and psyche.  When we consider this, it is not uncommon at all that thousands of girls go through this transition  in their teenage years while combining high performance sports with growing into womanhood.  When I was coaching the women at the U.of Dayton it was common knowledge that menstrual cycles would cease.  There were already rules in place that weigh ins could only be done by staff in the training room privately and that information was not passed on to coaches.  It was more for medical staff to be aware of possible anorexia or other eating disorders.   NOP made their own rules so the athletes who were getting a salary from NOP had to put up and shut up.  Their careers were on the line, and it is quite possible that insubordination was frowned upon.  I don't know what if any sanctions were placed on the athlete for being insubordinate at NOP.

In the past, there were several schools of coaching, all successful including Igloi, Cerutty, Lydiard, Bowerman, Stampfl, Gerschler.   I'm sure they all left some broken bodies along the wayside.  Some were a lot harder than others.  Bowerman was known to be very cautious about over training his runners, but some of the others were not.  You thrived or you died.  

The other thing that is very disconcerting is taking a kid away from home at a young age to train.  This happens a lot in other sports such as women's gymnastics.  But I think often a parent accompanies the young gymnasts to a training site to live. Still they ultimately turn their kid over to another adult to tell them how to live.  We know things can go wrong such as happened at Michigan State.   Parents have to examine their own motivation for doing this.  I can imagine Mary begging her parents to let her go to Oregon where she would have the greatest coach  in the world.   Back in the day in East Germany, you didn't have to beg your parents to be allowed to go, you were taken by the State.

Here in Canada we are dealing with a terrible time in our history when First Nations children were taken away at very young ages and forced to learn English, forget their traditional ways, and also be violated by opportunistic predators.  It led to a long painful  history, and today that cultural genocide  will be a long time healing.  I can see some parallels in this with how we treat young athletes.   And when the athlete fails to live up to expectations they are dumped along the wayside. 

 Look a bit further.  In hockey, young boys become property, literally 'owned' by hockey organizations.  At sixteen they move out of their homes to live at effectively a foster home while they play hockey and maybe if there is time, go to school.  If they fail to make progress, they usually get a job driving a beer truck.  Further down the line, look at the art of ballet.  A girl is not going to move on if she cannot squeeze through a very narrow template by a certain age.  Ain't no fat girls dancing in the ballet Russe.  They train as hard as any athlete.  The men in ballet do too.  A number of years ago, the male dancers in a professional company  were tested against NHL hockey players and scored higher in every category except upper arm strength.   This is how society treats its performers. It's sink or swim, crap or get off the pot.  Everytime you watch some prodigy or a 'seasoned' performer making an athletic performance or a musical or other artistic endeavor, remember they  have paid a painful price for your pleasure.

George Brose

Vancouver Island


Comment:  

Preaching to the choir about Salazar’s Hx and his playing the edges and that misguided zeitgeist around winning at any cost.  And how playing the shaming card is not unlike an aspect of the deceit the ‘sports doctor’ at Mi State, Larry Nassar — now in prison for life, employed as part of his repertoire in  keeping the lid on his abusive actions. 

Cain’s full statement parses out the inherent vulnerability of young talented female athletes in their quest for full realization of their talents and the level of trust necessarily placed in their retinue of coaches. 

A newly minted MSU trustee resigned this past week citing a culture at the school and on her board not interested in doing much other than hiding — apparently — a lot of dirty laundry.  They’d brought as President former MI governor and all around disordered character, John Engler, for damage control.  And all he pretty much did in his tone deafness, if not downright negligence, was dig their PR hole significantly deeper.    His tenure was quite short.  Apparently he’d spent too many years in government.  

Off a Beta blocker this Fri after 10 months of feeling like crap on it.  Heard you were on something similar for elevated BP?    My hypothalamus has been saying a big fat NO! to any suppressed HR.   And already my ticker has begun to thank me.  

Rich Mach

V 9 N. 42 A New Book on Distance Running "The Five and Ten Men" by Richard Amery

November 15, 2019, 4:36 pm

≫ Next: V9 N. 43 Harrison Dillard One of the Truly Great Ones R.I.P.

≪ Previous: V 9 N. 41 The Mary Cain Story

$

0

0

She doesn't know it yet, but this is what my wife is going to buy me for Christmas.

Richard Amery, a retired teacher and current gentleman farmer in South Australia has recently published a book The Five and Ten Men, Ten Men Who Redefined Distance Running.

In distance running history there are only ten men who have managed to set both world records in the 5000 and 10,000 meters.  Obviously Vladimir Kuts is one of them, because he got his picture on the cover.  How many can you name without going to some running website?  They are from the countries of Kenya, Ethiopia, Finland, Australia, Ethiopia, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary.  That makes the question a little easier doesn't it?   

I must confess that I have not yet seen this book and am offering a free lifetime subscription to this blog to any of our readers who will be so kind as to write a review.  

Here is what Amazon says about the book which is also available at Barnes and Noble.

The modern era of distance running began in the early years of the last century. The classic distances for competition have been the five and ten thousand metres. Over this period, the records for both distances have been broken many times by a variety of athletes from many different countries.

The records of today are far removed from those set from earlier eras. The world records of today would have been largely unimaginable only a few decades ago. Over the period covered in this book, the five thousand metre record has been reduced by some two minutes, while the ten thousand metre record has come down by almost five minutes.

Despite the obvious similarities between the two events, only ten men have succeeded in breaking the world record in both distances, making for a very select group. The group comprises runners from Finland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Russia, Australia, Kenya and Ethiopia.

This book looks at the careers of those ten men, the eras in which they competed, the types of training they undertook, and their lives outside of their sporting careers. As such, it is of interest for the social and political times in which they lived in addition to their purely sporting achievements.

V9 N. 43 Harrison Dillard One of the Truly Great Ones R.I.P.

November 17, 2019, 6:10 pm

≫ Next: V 9 N. 44 Old Photos from the Left Bank

≪ Previous: V 9 N. 42 A New Book on Distance Running "The Five and Ten Men" by Richard Amery

$

0

0

Harrison Dillard  1923-2019

November 17, 2019
Harrison 'Bones' Dillard passed away last week in Cleveland, his home town.Let me start from memory.  Harrison Dillard, a World War II veteran served with an African American military unit the Buffalo Soldiers in Europe during the war.  He stayed in the army for awhile and shortly after the war, he  began competing in international competitions between the Allied Powers who were occupying Germany.  

He was born in 1923 in Cleveland and as a 13 years old youngster he watched Jesse Owens' homecoming parade in 1936 after his return from the Berlin Olympics.  Owens won four Olympic Golds, and so would Dillard.  Both men went to the same high school, Cleveland East Tech  and had the same coach Ivan Greene.  After the war, Dillard would have followed Owens to Ohio State U., but he felt it was too far from home and he might be homesick.  

Statue on the Baldwin Wallace Campus

We have reported in the past about some of his achievents in a meet in Frankfort FRG.  Eventually he found his way back home and enrolled in Baldwin Wallace University in Berea, Ohio where he truly came into his own as a 120 yard high hurdler.  By 1948, he was the favorite in the US to be the top hurdler in his specialty, but as often happens in that event, the favorite stumbles, hits a hurdle and watches the race from the ground or staggering to the finish line.  And then he goes home and waits 'til next year.  This didn't happen to Mr. Dillard because he had an ace in the hole, the 100 meters which he went on to qualify for enabling him to travel to London as a sprinter.  In the Olympic 100 meter finals, Harrison Dillard upset the favored Barney Ewell to take the gold medal, then later ran on the 4x100 meter relay and brought honor to himeslf and his country with another first place.

By the next Olympics in the the Finnish capitol of Helsinki, Harrison Dillard cleared all the hurdles and set the record straight that he was the best 110 meter high hurdler in the world.

1952 Olympic Trials in L.A. Coliseum Jack Davis and Harrison Dillard Thanks to Pete Brown for this photo

One of my regrets since starting this blog is not trying to get an interview with Harrison Dillard.  It was just a few years ago I was in the Cleveland area and spoke to his daughter, but for some reason I decided not to disturb Mr. Dillard with a bunch of questions.  Around that time I found the following article about him, written perhaps by someone who didn't know a lot about track and field but who could interview him to capture the  more personal side.    George Brose

Here is something I had never heard about Harrison Dillard.
He was the 110 HH champion in the 1953 Maccabiah Games. GB

From Grace Butcher (pioneer of women's distance running and Cleveland area native.)

George, here is my Harrison Dillard story.

Starting track at 15 in 1949 as a hurdler (as you know, no long runs till our crusade in the late 50's), of course I knew about Harrison Dillard. His failure to make the team as a hurdler in '48 was such a shock but his 100 gold such a joy, then 4 yrs. later....

So when the time came in 1951 to choose a college,  I chose Baldwin Wallace because if I went there, I could hurdle the same hurdles that Harrison Dillard  had hurdled! What better reason? Plus the National Jr. Olympic Championship had been at that track in 1950, so I'd already run on the same track he'd run on, and he was the starter for that meet. I ran off to get married during the first quarter--I was 17, knew everything, no reason to go to college.  (Started again in 1962 at age 28, older and wiser, at near by Hiram College, marriage and two children later.)

Years after that, at a 5k road race in Cleveland, I was lined up for the start when the startling announcement came that Harrison Dillard was the starter! Oh my gosh! I hadn't known that. The gun went off, and my only thought during most of that race was his name running through my head in rhythm with my steps: "Harrison Dillard! Harrison Dillard!" I even said it out loud.  And after the race, amazingly, I saw him sitting by himself as we waited for the results, so I went over to him, sat down, and told him why I'd gone to BW. It was a lovely conversation. He signed my number. He emanated niceness, gentleness. I have tears in my eyes as I recall that. What a gift to the world he was. Grace

Bill Schnier wrote:

Thanks for your article about Harrison "Bones" Dillard.  He was one of the most dominating T&F men in US history and also one of the most inspirational after his fall in the 1948 Olympic Trials.  Stories about him were exchanged at track meets in the Ohio Athletic Conference when I ran for Capital in 1965-66 and he had run for the Baldwin-Wallace Yellow Jackets about two decades before.  He was certainly a pride to that small school in Berea, Ohio as well as to our entire conference and state. 

   It is remarkable that Jesse Owens, David Albritton, Harrison Dillard, and so many others all went to Cleveland East Tech High School.  I have always wondered which Ohio high school would have won a mythical meet of all schools, past or present, when their top marks were reported.  In other words, who has the best school records?  My best guesses would be Cleveland East Tech, Cleveland Glenville, Lancaster, Dayton Dunbar, and Dayton Roosevelt.  All school records would have to be converted to the current meters including the 100, but it would be quite an examination of history and one well worth examining. 

Richard Trace wrote:  "When I was a student at Miami,

BW came for a meet and Harrison Dillard showed us how to do it. 

Tribute to Harrison Dillard in Cleveland Seniors Magazine

By Debbie Hanson

Here is how Sportsreference.com describes Harrison Dillard's career.

"Bones" Dillard caused a major Olympic upset when he won the 100 m in 1948. He went to the 1948 AAU with an unprecedented streak of 82 consecutive hurdle victories, but was surprisingly beaten by [Bill Porter]. A week later, at the Final Trials, Porter won again and Dillard failed to finish. But he made the Olympic team by placing third in the 100 m and then took the Olympic title. Four years later he made no mistakes, winning the hurdles at Helsinki, and winning the gold on the sprint relay team for a second time. Originally inspired by the victory parade in his native Cleveland for [Jesse Owens] after the 1936 Olympics, Dillard developed into one of the most consistent hurdlers the world has ever seen. Owens encouraged Dillard to take up hurdling and later gave him the spikes he had worn in Berlin. Dillard went on to win 14 AAU titles and six NCAA championships, as well as setting world records in both the high and low hurdles.

Dillard was a member of the famed Buffalo Soldiers, which were African-American troops who fought valiantly in the Italian campaign from 1943-45 during World War II. He later was in charge of communications for the Cleveland Indians for 10 years. He also had a television and radio show and was responsible for the city's educational department spending

Personal Bests: 100 – 10.50 (1948); 110H – 13.6y (1948).

1948  100 meters

Winning the 100 meters in London

The fastest sprinters in the world in 1948 were felt to be [Mel Patton] of the USA and [Lloyd LaBeach] of Panama, who became his nation’s first Olympic athlete ever in London. They had raced several times in 1947 and early 1948, basically splitting the races, as there was little to choose between them. Another top sprinter was [Barney Ewell], but he had been at his best during the war years and was felt to be slightly past his prime. One athlete who would not compete in London was Hal Davis, who would have been favored in either 1940 or 1944 if the Olympics had not been lost to the war. An unusual thing happened at the US Olympic Trials. The heavy favorite in the high hurdles was [Harrison Dillard], who had not lost a hurdle race in several years, but he hit a hurdle in the final of the Trials and did not finish. Fortunately for him, he had also entered the 100 metres and made the team in that event behind Patton and Ewell. In the Olympic final, Patton got off to a disastrous start and was not a factor. Dillard led from start to finish with Ewell closing quickly to get the silver medal, LaBeach in third.

1948 4 x 100 meters

The US team was originally to have had Ed Conwell but he had to withdraw with asthma, and was replaced by [Lorenzo Wright], who had medaled in the long jump. The US won the final quite comfortably, but were initially disqualified for a faulty exchange between [Barney Ewell] and Wright. On reviewing film of the race, it could be seen that the exchange had occurred within the legal zone, and the DQ was reversed, giving the United States the gold medal. However, the final decision did not become official for three days.   

Dillard ran the third leg and Mel Patton anchored.

 

1952  110 meters high hurdles

Action in First Heat in Helsinki

The world record holder was Dick Attlesey (USA), but he hurt his foot in the heats of the US Olympic Trials, and did not make the team. But led by Dillard, the Americans again swept the medals, as they had in 1948. The finish was close between Dillard and [Jack Davis], Davis having been slowed by a poor start, likely due to being charged with a false start. Art Barnard was the third place finisher for the Americans.

1952  4 x 100 meters

Dillard, Remigino, Stanfield, and Smith after the 4x100 victory

Though the US had the fastest sprinters, the USSR team had won the 1950 European Championships and were known for teamwork and exact changeovers. In the final, the Soviets started out in the lead, led by [Boris Tokarev], and they maintained that until 100 metre champion [Lindy Remigino] caught them on the final turn. [Andy Stanfield] received the baton about equal with [Vladimir Sukharev] but ran away from him to win by two metres.

Dean Smith is the sole survivor of that 4x100 team.  We are planning a story about Dean in the near future.  ed. 

Dillard and Ewell Steal the Show in Frankfort Aug 22 1948 by Ray Musleh

Harrison Dillard and Jesse Owens with their high school coach Ivan Greene 1950

They Don't Build Hurdles or Hurdlers Like This Anymore

V 9 N. 44 Old Photos from the Left Bank

November 18, 2019, 10:44 pm

≫ Next: V 9 N. 45 Passing of Two Former Olympians and Other News

≪ Previous: V9 N. 43 Harrison Dillard One of the Truly Great Ones R.I.P.

$

0

0

My good friend Jerome McFadden (U. of Missouri 1963 and 4:05 miler, 2nd in Big 8 Conf.) is a frequent visitor to the City of Lights.  See link to earlier article:  Long Live the Past

When he goes there one of his stops is the the booksellers on the Left Bank where he searches out old French "Athletisme" (Track and Field) magazines and books and sends me some of the pictures.  Today there is no message of the passing of a legend, just pictures of legends and a few non legends from those journals.

Mr. McFadden has also recently published a book,  "Off the Rails, A Collection of Weird, Wicked and Wacky Stories".

French Hurdler Mathiotte (right) in front of Iova

Harold Connoly   USA Hammer Thrower

Ira Murchison  USA Sprinter

More Unknown French Hurdlers

Dennis Shore (South Africa), Mal Whitfield (USA), Arthur Wint (Jamaica) and Herb McKenley (Jamaica) in start position.

Vasily Kuznetsov Soviet Union Decathlete

Baron Pierre DeCoubertin

Parry O'Brien  USA Shotputter.  note the cinder surface

Alain Mimoun in the middle flanked by Chiclet, Duleau and Rhadi in a 10,000

Left Photo:  Barney Ewell defeating Harrison Dillard at 100 meters in Evanston 1948 OT's Right Photo:  British Sprinter Mac Donald Bailey Polytechnique Harriers qualifying for Bristih team at 100 meters.  He appears to be weraring a U. of Illinois singlet in photo.

Harrison Dillard Indoors

Jules Ladoumegue  French WR Holder 1500M

If you do not remember Jules Ladoumegue  check the link A Mystery Solved, or Why I Love This Blog


Here is Jerome's new book,   "Off the Rails" and a brief description below.

:

What happens if no one else sees the creatures calling to you from your back yard?

Or your perfect crime is not as perfect as you planned? What if a city-dweller on vacation meets a tribe of head hunters in the middle of the jungle?

Or if the best player on the boys' high school sports teams . . . is a girl?

What happens if everything you thought you understood goes . . . OFF THE RAILS?

In this eclectic collection of twenty-six stories, multi-award winning author, Jerome W. McFadden, takes a warped view of robbers, gang-bangers, killers, cowboys, dead people (who might not know they're dead), and the idiosyncracies of rural life in the mythical town of East Jesus, Texas. These fast-paced tales explore the satirical edges of crime, paranoia, human foibles, and the afterlife. Some of the stories are weird, some are wicked, some are wacky, but all contain the unexpected twists born of McFadden's unique sense of humor and dark imagination. These unpredictable treasures follow in the footsteps of an irreverent O. Henry . . . and Rod Serling.

Life, as you know it, is about to go off the rails.

Jerome W. McFadden came of age in East St. Louis, Illinois, but has lived on four continents. He brings his weird mix of city smarts, country wisdom, international insight, and plenty of skepticism and snark to his stories about life and death, and all that happens in between.

The book is available on Amazon for $14.95.  

V 9 N. 45 Passing of Two Former Olympians and Other News

November 20, 2019, 9:32 am

≫ Next: V 9 N. 46 One of Jesse Owens' Gold Medals on the Auction Block

≪ Previous: V 9 N. 44 Old Photos from the Left Bank

$

0

0

November 20, 2019

I am in a desk clearing mode at the moment with many things to be related in bits and pieces and also in need of giving recognition to the passing of two former Olympians, one British and one American who are not household names, yet deserve respect for their achievements on the sports field.  The British gentleman is Gerry Carr (not Jerry Tarr)  and the American is Paul Winder.

My friend Geoff Williams in Victoria, BC brought the first notice to my attention.  Mr. Carr was a thrower of things, implements of wood and metal, not the events for which Great Britain is best known.   I take that back as  PM  Boris Johnson  occasionally throws a public tantrum and others in that hallowed chamber are known to throw mud and and invective across the floor , sometimes scoring a hit but more often missing the point.  I will not bring in the other English speaking governing bodies in the Western Hemisphere at this time, as I am growing quite weary from following their antics.

 

Paul Winder

Paul Winder was the alternate on the 1960 US 4x100 relay team which I'm sure most of you still remember as being disqualified after finishing first in the finals due to an out of zone exchange between Ray Norton and Frank Budd.  He got to travel all the way to Rome and watch those events from the sidelines.  He missed the chagrin of that race and probably was glad not to be associated too closely with that very low point of US sprinting history.  Indeed it was probably the beginning of a long series of colossal losses in that event, interspersed with short bursts of brilliance.

Paul is remembered by his alma mater Morgan State University in Maryland in this passage from their Hall of Fame Page.

Paul was born in Atlantic City, N.J. He attended Pleasantville High School and was such a stand-out he was one of the highest recruited track prospects in the country. He chose to come to Morgan in 1957.

Upon entering Morgan he immediately became recognized as Morgan's greatest track performer since Olympian George Rhoden. Among his accomplishments are an N.C.A.A. outdoor championship in the 100-meters, a 1959 National A.A.U. indoor-outdoor world record (6.1 sec.) in the 60-yard dash, an NAIA champion in 1959 in the 100-yards, an ICAA 100-meter champion in 1960. Paul was also a member of the 1960 400-meter Olympic relay team. He also captained the track team while at Morgan.

Paul was a member of the R.O.T.C. as a Morgan man and entered the U.S. Marine Corps as a first lieutenant. During his military stint (1962-65), he was all-Marine track and field in the 100- and 200-meters and also the mile relay.

One of Paul's greatest thrills was having his Pleasantville High School name its track for him and the establishment of the "Paul Winder Sportsmanship Award". 

Here is what Geoff included on Gerry Carr.

Hi George.  I check the local obits daily to see if I am in there and base my days activities on the results.  As a consequence I get to recognise some names.  Today it was Dr. Gerry Carr age 83 –a University of Victoria PE Professor.  The name struck a bell so I read the whole thing and lo and behold he represented UK in the 1956 Olympics in discus ( not a strong event for us).  I had seen him on occasions in the 50s as ( until Mark Pharaoh- 4th in Olympics) he was UKs best, Carr was 10th at Melbourne.  Little on line about him but he may be known to some of your older correspondents.  Thought you might be interested.  He also represented England in the Commonwealth Games earning a bronze medal in the discus.
One anecdote that came my was was that Carr was practicing the discus in California and several football players came by the field that day and joined in and promptly started throwing futher than Mr. Carr.   

Regards.

Geoff

Other News


Mike Holloway, the Head Coach at the University of Florida has turned that program into an incredible powerhouse and recognized for his good works has been named the Head Coach for the 2020 United States Olympic Team going to Tokyo.  This is considered a highly merited honor by all involved in the sport.

One bit of bad news for Mike this week however is that one of his top athletes has decided to "go pro".
from Bruce Kritzler:   Just heard Gators lost Hakim Sani Brown to pro track, after 2 yrs in Gainesville. Ran 9.98 for 2nd at NCAA 100 (also 2nd indoor 60m). Got a bronze at World champs on Japan's 4x100 relay.



This next story picked up from the UKIAH DAILY NEWS is about 1960 Olympic Gold Medalist 
Jack Yerman.  Mr. Yerman was one of many who lost their homes in the Paradise, California fire last year.  

Still good as gold: Olympian lost Paradise home, but not his Rose Bowl ring

Olympian lost his Paradise home, but not his Rose Bowl ring

• 
  
• 
  

1 of 4

Jack Yerman stands in his backyard wearing his 1960 olympic gold medal Oct. 30 in Chico. Yerman’s Paradise home was destroyed in the Camp Fire but his medal survived undamaged. (Matt Bates — Enterprise-Record)

By Sharon Martin |

PUBLISHED: November 8, 2019 at 1:46 am | UPDATED: November 8, 2019 at 8:22 am

CHICO — Jack Yerman sits in the living room of his apartment, clutching a framed black and white photo.
“I’m lucky to have had this reprinted,” Yerman says while staring at the picture of him with his son Bruce as a baby, sitting in a trophy cup that he’d won in Philadelphia.
He stands up, walks to the front of the room and proudly places the photo on the TV stand.
It’s one of the few photos that Yerman has been able to reclaim — he purchased the photo from a newspaper — after his home was clenched within the grasp of the deadly Camp Fire.
Yerman’s home was a 2,600 square-foot haven nestled within the towering woods of Paradise. It featured a trout stream, a large swimming pool and a completely remodeled interior.
But the most important belongings inside the home of the 1960 Olympic gold medalist was the USA Olympic tracksuit and baby pictures of his children. All of them gone after the house burned in the Camp Fire on Nov. 8, 2018.
“We didn’t get to save much — like all the goodies you save over the years and the memorabilia,” Yerman said from his apartment living room in Chico. “The things that we all keep inside a secret box. It’s gone. But that’s life.”
Yerman, who was part of the gold medalist 1,600-meter relay team, has endured anything but a simple life. At 80, the longtime Paradise resident is left to piece back together his life following the Camp Fire.
On Nov. 8, Yerman and his wife, Carol Mattern-Yerman, weren’t even in the country. The couple took a nine-day trip to Puerto Rico to visit a family friend and were left helplessly watching what was unfolding in their hometown.
“We took a chance to have a good time,” Yerman said. “We watched (the Camp Fire) on TV.”
Mattern-Yerman’s daughter, Emily Vail, who was in Paradise, was the first to call Jack and Carol in Puerto Rico to alert them about the fire.
“At first my daughter called … she goes ‘It’s looking really bad mom. We’re leaving,’” Mattern-Yerman said. “The last call I got from her she called to say goodbye. She said ‘It’s a firestorm. I love you. Goodbye.’ She made it. But at the time she didn’t think she was going to make it.”
Jack and Carol were only married for about four months when the Camp Fire broke out. The two were living in separate homes at the time. Jack’s home was burned and nothing was saved, but Carol had arranged for someone to watch her small, white rescue dog named Brady while they were in Puerto Rico. Thankfully, Yerman had stored his gold medal at Carol’s home.
“(Carol) called the dog watcher and said ‘Hey get out of town, take the dog and take the gold medal too,’” Yerman said. “The dog and the gold medal were all we saved.”
The gold medal was won when the foursome of Yerman, Earl Young, Glenn Davis and Otis Davis finished with a world record time of 3 minutes, 2.37 seconds to win the 1,600-meter relay race at 1960 Olympics in Rome. Yerman ran an opening leg of 46.2 seconds.
“Guys like to keep their Olympic running outfits and pins … but I lost my donkey derby trophy. That’s about as good as a gold medal,” Yerman joked. “Those were some nice memories up there.”

Life before Paradise

Yerman had lived in Paradise since 1968, but was originally born in Oroville.
He never lived in Oroville since his mother and father divorced when he was born. He and his mother moved to Woodland where he grew up and went to high school.
His father, an alcoholic and drug addict, ended up dying of an overdose in Sacramento at the age of 55.
His family never owned a car, meaning he either had to walk, run or ride a bike to get around town. That’s when he grew fond of running and just being outside.
“It was a great place to be a kid,” Yerman said. “We were kind of on the poor side. I never went on vacations so I had to make my own fun. The way I did was to go down to the park and play. It was a natural thing. I enjoyed physical activity.”
After graduating from Woodland High School, Yerman ended up attending college at UC Berkeley, where he ran track and played fullback for the football team.
“It wasn’t easy going to college,” Yerman said. “If you don’t make it, you’re a failure in your mind.”
Like everything else in his life, Yerman’s journey to the Olympics didn’t come with ease.
“Making the Olympics was a miracle for me — even getting there,” Yerman said.
In order to qualify for the Olympic Trials held at Stanford, Yerman had to finish in the top seven at the NCAA championships. Yerman was competing in the 400-meter race with the hopes of winning an individual gold medal.
“There are eight guys in the race. I’m in last place watching them run away. It’s over,” Yerman recalled. “As we’re coming around the last turn, a kid from Iowa falls down. I qualified.”
“Two weeks later, I didn’t have time to rest. So I was at Stanford, and I win. I was just lucky.”
In Rome, Yerman’s quest for an individual gold medal would end in the 400 semifinals, as described in the book “Your Time Will Come” by Jack’s son Bruce Yerman.
Yerman was able to still win gold as part of the 1,600-meter relay team.

Finding home in Paradise

After Yerman earned a master’s degree in teaching from Stanford, he and his then-wife Margo, began searching for a place to call home.
The two first tried living in Santa Clara, but it wasn’t quite what they were looking for.
“We probably could have stayed there and done well, but we both just grew up in small towns,” Yerman said. “We said we want our kids to go to a town with one high school. Out in the country where the kids could run around a little bit.”
They started looking in Northern California, then Yerman landed a job teaching at Chico High.
“We drove around and liked Paradise,” Yerman said. “It fit our mold better.”
They rented for their first three years in Paradise before purchasing their home where they would raise their four children.
Margo Yerman died in May 2014 while holding Jack’s hand in their home.

The missing ring

When Yerman and Carol returned to California from Puerto Rico, they didn’t have a home to go back to. They stayed in a friend’s fifth-wheel trailer in the meantime while they were figuring out what to do next.
Yerman, who had played for Cal in the 1959 Rose Bowl, had his Rose Bowl ring left behind in Paradise. When Paradise was opened back up to the public following the Camp Fire, Jack and Carol hesitated to go back to their properties and sift through the debris.
“We didn’t personally do much sifting. It was just overwhelming,” Yerman said. “Most of the things I lost were un-siftable. They were consumed.”
But Yerman’s son, Bruce, decided to look through the debris of his childhood home. Within the rubble, he found the Rose Bowl ring, charred with the center jewel gone and melted. The twinkle of the diamonds placed in the shape of a football had been diminished but they still remain intact.
Yerman wanted the ring restored so he sent it to Jostens, the company that made it. About six weeks passed and the new, restored ring had arrived. It looked identical to the original, but the original, burned ring had yet to arrive at Yerman’s home.
However, the original wound up in the possession of Tony Borders, a 31-yard old manager at Napa Auto Parts in Durham.
An unassuming white package arrived at Borders’ apartment. The packaging had Jack Yerman’s name with Borders’ address and no return address stamped on it.
“It was just a little white bag with his name and my address,” Borders said. “It was super weird.”
Often receiving junk mail, Borders didn’t think too much about the package. He placed the unopened bag on his coffee table, where it sat for two weeks.
One afternoon, Borders was tidying up his mail stack and decided to go ahead and open the package. There he found the burned Rose Bowl ring.
“I opened it up and went ‘Whoa,’” Borders recalled. “I didn’t want to take a brush to clean it up. I didn’t want to destroy it.”
Borders stored the ring in his safe, and then started doing some research. He searched the name ‘Yerman’ online and discovered he played in the Rose Bowl in 1959.
“I thought maybe the family was getting it restored as a memento,” Borders said. “If this belongs to somebody’s family, that motivated me even more to try to find out who it belongs to.”
Borders said he didn’t want to broadcast the ring everywhere for fear of an impostor trying to claim it. Instead, he reached out to Bruce Yerman on Facebook to try and get it back to his father. Borders and Bruce Yerman met up in Chico to give back the ring, a possession that Jack is thankful to have back in his life.
“I called (Borders) up and thanked him,” Jack Yerman said.
“What are the odds of somebody bringing it back?” said Mattern-Yerman.

Returning home

Both Jack and Carol said they are thankful they were out of town the day of the Camp Fire, but being removed from the situation still leaves them wondering what would have happened had they been at home.
“I’ve got mixed emotions. Sometimes we’re thankful, we really are. But sometimes we wished we were there and what we would have done,” Yerman said. “A lot of mixed emotions.”
Yerman, at one point, was actually on the missing persons list. He had received a few calls from friends asking if he was alive. Since then, the couple has listened to some speakers and done some counseling to deal with the situation.
Yerman still tries to see the silver lining within the situation. His granddaughter, Tori MacKay, a sophomore at Chico High, wrote a song about Paradise that Yerman happily likes to boast about. And at their temporary home, Yerman has grown fond of his neighbors.
“There’s some very nice people here. Nice tenants,” Yerman said.
The couple now lives in Chico off of The Esplanade, in an apartment complex owned by Yerman.
Weeks before the Camp Fire broke out, Yerman was renovating one of the units.
The previous tenants had trashed the place, leaving behind soiled couches and black stains in the bathroom.
“It was disgusting,” Mattern-Yerman said.
After the fire, Jack and Carol lived in a trailer for about six weeks before making the decision to move into the renovated apartment.

V 9 N. 46 One of Jesse Owens' Gold Medals on the Auction Block

November 20, 2019, 10:10 pm

≫ Next: V 9 N. 47 Cross Country Back Then and Some Other Stuff

≪ Previous: V 9 N. 45 Passing of Two Former Olympians and Other News

$

0

0

Jesse Owens' Gold Medal Auction  (clik here for bidding info and picture of the medal)

Just in time for Christmas.    GoldinAuctions.com   is offering one of Jesse Owens' four gold medals.
Minimum bid is  $250,000.00.   The info states that Owens gave this medal to a life long friend
John Terpak. 

Terpak was a two time Olympian in weightlifting 1936 and 1948.  Finished out of the medals both times, but somewhere in his life became good friends with Owens.   Terpak was an executive vice president of the York Barbell Corporation.  Thanks to Dave Elger for this story.

John Terpak

 

V 9 N. 47 Cross Country Back Then and Some Other Stuff

November 27, 2019, 7:55 am

≫ Next: V 7 N, 48 Mo Farah Still Has Skin in the Game

≪ Previous: V 9 N. 46 One of Jesse Owens' Gold Medals on the Auction Block

$

0

0

Our good friend and foreign correspondent, Jerry McFadden, sent some more vintage cross country photos from France this week.  Not a lot of information came with the photos, but they do provide a look back in time at this pure sport.

French Cross Country 1931 Roger Rerolle winning French XC nationals at Maisons -Lafitte  Hippodrome

1921  France  Start of  a new season at Pavillon Sou Bois outside Paris. 7Km race won by a Belgian  Vandevelde in 22:08

Start of the Oxford vs. Cambridge duel meet  1921

Winner N. A. Mac Innes crossing a ditch.  Post race (Ashley) Montague left and Mac Innes. Note Montague's missing shoe and the thick soles on Mac Innes' shoes.

And speaking of past cross country history, remember the British Invasion at Western Kentucky with Nick Rose, Dave Long, Tony Staynings and Swag Hartel?  These guys brought some hard training and hard partying to the sport. What had been upper crust in the older photos above, was now a very blue collar event.

Now for a really cool site on history of the NCAA meet when held in East Lansing Michigan, I recommend this link out of University of Waterloo in Ontario run by Mark Havitz (MSU XC alum 1977-78).  If you click on the "videos" section you can download finish line film of several of the races back in the 1940s.  In the 1946 film you will see Dennis Weaver of "Gunsmoke" fame crossing the line in mid pack for Oklahoma U. wearing the number 141.   Michigan State Cross Country archives


Russians on the Run?

Then we digress to the Russian doping scam which seems never to end with the IOC  holding the white flag and an olive branch  at the Russians and saying that even though we know you are screwing with us, you might still be allowed to send athletes as "neutrals" to compete in Tokyo, provided they test clean.    I can only wonder what the discussions must be like in Putin's office these days.  Certainly a few heads are in danger of being lopped off or at least a re-opening of a residential wing in the Gulags is being considered for some bureaucrats, not for cheating, but for getting caught.  It was a run for your life situation after the balls up at Sochi for the domestic testing lab that got caught switching samples.  


Sean Ingle reported today in The Guardian:

The International Olympic Committee has demanded the “toughest sanctions” against those responsible for deleting Russian doping tests in data handed over to the World Anti-Doping Agency – calling it “an attack on the credibility of sport and an insult to the sporting movement worldwide”. However, the IOC left the door open for Russian athletes to compete at next year’s Tokyo Olympics – provided they can show that they are clean.

That provoked a hostile reaction from the US Anti-Doping Agency chief executive Travis Tygart, who urged Wada to ban all Russian athletes from the 2020 Games after its compliance review committee found that the Moscow lab files, which were handed over to it by the Russians in January, had been manipulated.

“Russia continues to flaunt the world’s anti-doping rules, kick clean athletes in the gut and poke Wada in the eye and get away with it time and time again,” said Tygart. “Wada must stand up to this fraudulent and bullying behaviour as the rules and Olympic values demand.”

Russia was banned from last year’s Pyeongchang Winter Games as punishment for state-sponsored doping at the 2014 Sochi Olympics but 168 Russian athletes with no history of doping were cleared to compete as neutrals – a situation Wada’s compliance committee said may be repeated at Tokyo.

Tygart warned: “The response is inadequate, especially given the deceit perpetuated by the Russian sport system which is controlled by the government. Wada must get tougher and impose the full restriction on Russian athlete participation in the Olympics that the rules allow.”

The IOC maintains that “natural justice” requires them to punish any perpetrators but allow clean Russian athletes to compete. It also says there was no evidence that Russian Olympic Committee members were implicated in the “flagrant” manipulation of the Moscow lab data.

But the IOC was accused of being soft on Russia by lawyers for the whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov, who used to run the Moscow anti-doping laboratory before fleeing the country. “The Russian gangster state continues to deploy a predictable and deplorable policy of deception, evidence tampering and lying to cover up its crimes,” they said.

“The Kremlin must think the people of the world are idiots to believe this shameless and transparent stunt. Wada should be applauded for revealing Russia’s latest crime, but if the IOC and the international sports regulatory framework gives Russia yet another free pass, other countries will simply follow in their footsteps.”

---

V 7 N, 48 Mo Farah Still Has Skin in the Game

November 29, 2019, 9:05 am

≫ Next: V 7 N. 49 Hayward Field Reconstruction Hitting a Few Snags

≪ Previous: V 9 N. 47 Cross Country Back Then and Some Other Stuff

$

0

0

Mo Farah plans to return to the track after a brief sortie into full time road racing.  Here is a report from the Associated Press today Nov. 29, 2019

LONDON (AP) — Olympic champion Mo Farah is returning to the track and wants to defend his 10,000-meter title at next year’s Tokyo Games.

Announcing his plans on his YouTube channel on Friday, Farah said: “I’m really excited to be competing. I’m back on the track.”

Farah is a four-time Olympic gold medalist who won the 5,000-10,000 double at both the 2012 London Olympics and 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games. He switched his focus to the marathon and road races after a farewell 5,000 victory at the Diamond League finals in Zurich in August 2017.

“I hope I haven’t lost my speed,” said the 36-year-old British runner, won the Chicago Marathon in 2018.

Farah’s announcement came one day after UK Athletics said it asked a lawyer to lead a review of its work with banned track coach Alberto Salazar and the Nike Oregon Project.

Salazar worked with Farah from 2011-17, spanning his era of Olympic dominance, and was hired to advise UKA’s endurance program in 2013.

Salazar was banned for four years by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency last month for experiments with supplements and testosterone that were bankrolled and supported by Nike, along with possessing and trafficking testosterone.

Farah was not implicated by USADA, and Salazar denies wrongdoing.

Salazar has filed an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. The case is unlikely to be judged before the Tokyo Olympics open on July 24. The men’s 10,000 final is set for July 31.

Sean Ingle writing for The Guardian today gives us the British point of view on this story.

Shares

23

Two years after retiring from the track to run marathons, Mo Farah has performed a screeching U-turn and will defend his Olympic 10,000m title in Tokyo next summer.

The 36-year-old announced his decision after mulling over his disappointing 10th place at the Chicago marathon in October, although insiders have since revealed a niggle beforehand affected his performance.

Farah has convinced himself he will be more competitive back on the track – and watched the recent world championships 10,000m final in Doha believing he could have beaten the winner, Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda, whose final lap time of 56sec was considerably slower than the Briton’s last 400m when claiming world gold in 2017.

“I decided after Chicago, not straight away, but it was on my mind,” said Farah, who confirmed he would not attempt to double up in the 5,000m. “I was watching the world championship in Doha. I watched the 10,000m, and I watch other races, and part of you gets excited.

Advertisement

“You’re seeing people winning medals, for your country and stuff, and you ask yourself. It almost felt like I needed to be there. I still got a chance with the Olympics. Why would you turn it down?”

Farah, who won double gold over 5,000m and 10,000m at London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympics, added: “I hope I haven’t lost my speed but I’ll train hard for it and see what I can do.”

To qualify for the 10,000m in Tokyo, Farah will need to run 27min 28sec by 21 June. However he does not have to compete at the Night of the 10k PBs in Highgate in June, which doubles as the official British trial.

The qualifying standard should be a breeze for him, given it is nearly 45sec slower than his personal best. However, many in the sport would be surprised if Farah, who will be 37 when the Olympics come round, is able to recapture the staggering last-lap speed that made him an almost unbeatable winning machine between 2011 and 2017.

Farah leaves a mixed legacy at the marathon, having run a European record 2:05:11 in winning the Chicago marathon in 2018 and finished third in London the same year, only to disappoint at the same races this year.

“To win the Chicago marathon was nice, to finish third in London was OK, it was good,” he said. “But next year I’ve decided, Tokyo 2020, I’m going back on the track.”

The London marathon has confirmed Farah will not be runningnext April. However, he has left his options open to competing over 26.1 miles in the future.

___

V 7 N. 49 Hayward Field Reconstruction Hitting a Few Snags

December 2, 2019, 11:36 pm

≫ Next: V 9 N. 50 The Russians Aren't Coming ! The Russians Aren't Coming !!

≪ Previous: V 7 N, 48 Mo Farah Still Has Skin in the Game

$

0

0

Dec. 2, 2019

I've been corresponding with an internet friend about how things were looking at Hayward Field, how the new construction seemed to be coming along down in Eugene, Oregon. He recently drove past the construction site and said that it seemed a long way from being done.   Admittedly he is not a civil engineer nor a construction expert, but he was certainly wondering how Hayward might be ready for the Prefontaine Classic to be run this coming May.  Of course they have a good 18 months to be ready for the 2021 World Championships.  Since we are not experts, we'll give the builders and financers the benefit of the doubt---FOR NOW!

It just got me remembering how  many times we've seen professional sports teams literally hold up a community with threats of moving if the community didn't give a huge tax break or pay for a new stadium to get a pro team to come to town.  The Mike Brown family held up the gullible folks of Hamilton County Ohio to keep the Cincinnati Bengals in place and give the Brown Family a new Paul Brown Stadium.  Plenty of other communities had the same experience.  First the dream merchants come up with some drawings of a modern stadium, with private boxes that rival a honeymoon suite at the Waldorf Astoria.   They tell the public that it will all be financed by private investment, maybe and perhaps a wee bit of a tax break. Some local corporation or Healthcare Network will throw in a few dollars to have their name on the wall.   Then half way through construction, the nabobs and glad handers start whining about unexpected rises in cost to construct and we're gonna need a bailout to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars to complete the project and could we just float a little tax levy to cover the shortfall?  Hell we can cut back on school lunches or housing for the elderly, we're gonna have our  "Beer and Circus"   and eight  Sundays every fall we'll have a game and maybe even a winner and a Super Bowl trophy.  And the voters go crazy and vote to give up some valuable public service in order to have a few overpaid heroes  do battle for them on the weekend.  In 1973 in Montreal, Mayor Jean Darpeau declared that it would be easier for a man to give birth than it would be to lose money on the 1976 Olympics.  That stadium today is basically a seldom used shell that is falling apart. Hell, they actually glued the sections together.  Some architect from France who had never experienced a Canadian winter decided that glue would work better than bolts and welded seams.   The 1976 Olympics lost a ton of money. The Montreal Expos are now playing in Washington D.C.  So it does not surprise me one iota when a story like the following comes out in the Oregonian today.   Here it is.  My comments regarding certain paragraphs are in bold type.   George

By Jeff Manning | The Oregonian/OregonLive

As any track and field athlete knows, progress comes in fits and starts and a big breakthrough can come at any time.  This is true.

Less than two years before the scheduled opening of the 2021 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, organizers and track fans are waiting for a breakthrough from Gov. Kate Brown. Organizers say they need $40 million from the state. Brown seems stuck at about $20 million.  Hey what do they need $40 million for now?  Didn't they have an agreement before they tore the place down and started construction on a new stadium?  Or did they have to spread a lot of untruths to get the project going? Forty Million is seriously off the estimate I assume.  

Since she attended the 2019 World Champions in Doha in September, Brown has been more vocal in her support. She’s promised to produce the full $40 million requested by the event’s organizers, said Paul Weinhold, executive director of the University of Oregon Foundation and chair of Oregon 21, the Eugene-based group organizing the event.

Okay, so it's the U of O Foundation behind all of this.  And what pray tell did Gov. Kate Brown get in Doha to now aspire to go for another $40 million at the risk of her political career?

Newly obtained documents show just how difficult and delicate a task Brown faces: Skeptical lawmakers, a demanding international governing body and a local organizing committee desperately reliant on the state. The hoped-for $40 million represents nearly half of the event’s total expected revenue.  

Wait, they expect $80 million in sales and they are currently $40 million short to even have the place ready?  Sounds like we're cutting things pretty thin here.  And does that mean we won't make a profit if that happens?     Ans.  No, No, George, It simply means that we need all the local yokels, even if they don't follow the sport to now pick up the tab.  The guy buying beer and cigarettes in Bend, OR is going to help finance the Championships.  And when you buy anything else in the state, you're going to get hit.  Oregonians aren't used to sales taxes on anything.  I live in British Columbia and five years ago I went to see the Pre and bought 15 gallons of paint to paint my house back home.  Because there was no sales tax on that paint, I saved enough money to pay my trip down including gas, hotel and food for three days.   So when it comes to asking Ducks to pay tax on something many of them will never see, I think there is going to be a little bit of political push back.  But I could be wrong.  I thought Saddam had weapons of mass destruction.  

“I am proud to have this historic event in Oregon and look forward to continuing our work together,” Brown said in an April 25 letter to Jon Ridgeon, the international federation’s chief executive. She added, “in 2020, I will work to pass legislation to provide additional funding needed.”   Gov. Brown may be racking up a bit of overtime on this one.  I too will be happy to see a World Championship in the US, but I have serious concerns about destroying historic venues for the opportunity to make a few bucks.  Shitty track, but if the Penn Relays can pack in a  good crowd.............

Brown’s spokesman Charles Boyle added, “This is a significant marketing and tourism opportunity to showcase our state and Oregon businesses, and we are working with stakeholders and legislators to identify outstanding needs and make sure they are funded by March of 2020. “  Hey,  Dufus,  your outstanding needs are Education, Health Care, and getting re-elected.  There is going to have to be some serious slight of hand to get this done.  

The other good news for Oregon 21 is that the University of Oregon Foundation has agreed to serve as financial backstop to the event. The international governing body of the sport typically requires a local government or some other deep-pocketed entity to guarantee the event’s financial performance.  Key phrase   "deep-pocketed entitiy". NIKE!!!!!  We need to work on image a bit here since the NOP affair went up in smoke.  Forget the track meet, maybe we can support public education and critical thinking.  Sorry folks, in a country where more than half the population cannot name the three branches of government......we need to do something about education.

Weinhold confirmed his board had settled on the agreement, adding “the foundation has the guarantee in place.”   This I think means,  "The old fixeroo is in".   Hey who is on this U of O Foundation governing board?

That marks a confounding change in direction for the foundation. Last year, it withdrew as the financial guarantor, to the great alarm of the international federation. Now it’s back in. Weinhold declined to explain the foundation’s change of heart.  "Change of Heart?"  Hell have we got a heart?  We need this show to go on and if it means we gotta buy the Oregon legislature to get a tax levy or the equivalent in place, well by golly that's what we're here for.

Still, plenty of hurdles remain.  There's  the 100 HH, 110 HH, 400IH x 2, and the Steeple x 2,  that's a lot of hurdles.  

Organizers and state officials also must fix a tax issue. Under United States’ and Oregon law, the $7.2 million in winnings for athletes is taxable at both the state and federal level. In the past, local governments have simply forgiven the tax. But for that to happen, the athlete prizes would have to increase sufficiently to cover the tax or the Oregon legislature would have to act to make the athletes exempt.

Not quite sure how this works. Your gonna give the athletes more money and make them exempt?  How does this bring more money into public coffers to pay for the Championships?  Oh yeah and lets not forget about that federal grab for the brass ring.

And the Oregon Legislature can’t do anything about the federal tax.  You can always secede from the Union or elect a senator who will create legislation to eliminate all federal tax.  In these times that person might find a lot of agreeable followers.  isn't Oregon noted for its poiitical mavericks?

The Eugene championships would be the first staged in the U.S., so there’s no precedent in solving the problem.  The '84 Olympics in L.A. may have been the exception to the rule in making a profit, but Track doesn't have beach volleyball to sell to the TV watching audience.  

Organizers will also have to go to the legislature to solve another potential issue: The transient lodging tax increase that Brown is relying upon to raise a significant portion of the state’s contribution to the event sunsets next July.  How do you make millions on a transient lodging tax during a 7 or 8 day event when there are so few hotels in Eugene?  And  most of those rooms will go to IOC wonks, heads of 100 national federations and their entourages and the teams.  And those people usually don't expect to pay bills for lodging.  They feel it is owed to them.

The prospect of staging the World Championships in Eugene is thrilling to many American track fans. The town is much revered by athletes, who love the educated fans who pack the stands.  But  but , but, Hayward fugging Field ain't there no more!!

But this is an event normally held in London, Paris and Beijing, world capitals that can easily handle the flood of tourists. In Eugene, lodging, transportation and a host of other logistical issues will be challenging.    Challenging?  I'd rather tackle Mt. Everest in a wheelchair without oxygen.  

Brown and others in Salem are confident that the Legislature will be supportive enough to give Brown what she needs. That is, unless Senate President Peter Courtney’s ongoing financial concerns gain traction with other lawmakers.  Courtney is the guy they should have sent to Doha.   See how the pros raise money out of a pile of sand.

Courtney predicted an enormous wave of additional financial demands as the event comes closer -- and afterwards.  Okay, who's gonna pick up all these Starbucks cups and rebuild Tracktown Pizza?

“It’ll be in the hundreds of millions of dollars before it’s over,” he said. “I’m telling you right now, we don’t know how much money they’re going to need and we have no idea where the money is coming from.”  Come on Mr. Courtney, it will be easier for a man to have a baby, than for Eugene and the state of Oregon to lose money on this venture.

Courtney added that he thinks Brown and the World Championships will carry the day, “I’ve lost,” he said. “The event is coming. I just want to know how big the tsunami is going to be.”  By the way, I've already picked out my tombstone and paid for it.

One thing organizers don’t anticipate is a problem with attendance. Even the newly enlarged Hayward Field should be packed.  Well, if we don't sell all the tickets, we learned in Doha how to pack the stands.  We'll have an illegal immigrant relocation center put in the javelin area.

But an event fan club, formed to connect with future ticket buyers, failed to meet projections. Organizers hoped to have 100,000 people signed up by the end of October. They didn’t get there and it’s unclear how close they got. It's a trade secret, and we ain't sayin'.

Weinhold, who chairs the organizing committee, said he did not know the number. He added that the 100,000 goal was ambitious and that he’s not troubled by the shortfall.

Shortfall, schmortfall, the Ducks are going to the Rose Bowl this year.  

“It is going to be a great thing,” Weinhold said. “We now have a strong team in place. It’s nice to have the government’s promise.”  Wait a minute.  Two things there.  That statement means you started with a weak team?  How did you get away with that for such an important event?  To me it just means that no one thinks long term when there is the promise of a potential gold rush.  It's always the guys that sold the picks and shovels who got rich and then left town.   And what is the value of any government's promise?   Better talk to the hedge fund boys.  

New story:   I really heard this  on the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corp.) radio today that there is an App called 'Cameo'.  On it you can hire a celebrity to record and deliver a message for a fee based on the level of the celebrity's  stardom.    Katelin Jenner will do one of these broadcasts for $2500.  People are using this App  to dump guy friends or girl friends, not necessarily with Katelin  .   Just letting you know if you need a message sent, I am open to discussion on my fee for this service.    George


Comments:

 Geoff Pietsch said...

Not much to add to this devastating commentary on Eugene and Oregon, but I did want to comment on your initial basic point, which was:
"It just got me remembering how many times we've seen professional sports teams literally hold up a community with threats of moving if the community doesn't give a huge tax break or pay for a new stadium to get a pro team to come to town."

In this election season, I wish some candidate would make this an issue. Specifically that professional sports leagues essentially prevent cities from owning teams. Yes, Green Bay is an exception. It was grandfathered in. And clearly the franchise is thriving and will never move from that small city in the icy north to some Sun Belt, big money metropolis. It won't because it is a non-profit owned by over 360,000 stockholders, and no one can own more than roughly 4% of its shares. NFL rules require all other franchises to have a maximum of 32 owners and at least one must own 30%. As I understand it, almost a century ago the Supreme Court exempted Major League Baseball from anti-trust laws (surely a decision that could/should be overturned) and in the 1960s Congress exempted the NFL from anti-trust laws when it came to negotiating TV contracts.

Bill Schnier said"
  George, what a great piece on a typical money grab of the public from sports.  Here is what makes sense.  If a tax base pays for the stadium in part or in whole, they should reap the profits at that same rate.  For instance, in 2000 Hamilton County, Ohio spent $455 million to build Paul Brown Stadium.  The Bengals contributed $44 million and the taxpayers contributed $411 million.  The Bengals reaped all of the profits and the taxpayers none.  Two reasons for this successful holdup were:  (1) the team threatened to move and (2) the Hamilton Co. commissioner who spearheaded this deal did not run again but instead was hired by the Bengals.  This profit sharing would not work unless a federal law were enacted because one state would have profit sharing with the taxpayers and another would not meaning New York would have no NFL teams and Texas would have about 14.  Is the federal government up to that challenge?  Nope, so it will be business as usual in all states including Oregon.

V 9 N. 50 The Russians Aren't Coming ! The Russians Aren't Coming !!

December 9, 2019, 9:32 am

≫ Next: V 9 N. 51 Sir Peter Snell R.I.P.

≪ Previous: V 7 N. 49 Hayward Field Reconstruction Hitting a Few Snags

$

0

0

December 9, 2019

For the younger readers, our headline paraphrases the 1960s  Alan Arkin film, The Russians Are Coming. The Russians Are Coming about a Soviet submarine that runs adrift off a small Cape Cod community and the reaction of the local villagers.

The Russians Are Coming. The Russians Are Coming: Trailer

So The World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) has voted unanimously to ban Russian teams and athletes from competing under their flag at the Tokyo Olympics and the 2022 World Cup football competition in Qatar.  The ban will be for four years.  Seems the Russian sport juggernaught has once again run aground this time hitting a submerged testing lab in Lake Lausanne where WADA hangs out.    

However WADA has thrown out a bone for individual Russian athletes who can test clean.  They will be allowed to compete under a neutral flag.  Don't ask me who designs the neutral flag, I suggest  a white hankie on a stick.  

The Russians can still appeal this decision, which was unanimous, by going before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).  No way a Russian oligarch will be sitting on that voting body.   This will have to be done very quickly to be successful and still permit Russians  to compete under their own Red White and Blue national flag.  Odds aren't very great that this will happen, unless the Russians can come up with some incriminating video of the panel sitting on the CAS.

Travis Tygart, the Execitive Director for the US Anti Doping Agency (USADA) wanted the punishment to go further by not allowing even 'clean' Russian athletes to participate in the Olympics.  

This all boils down to a very politically motivated show of gamesmanship on the part of everyone.  There is no doubt in my mind that the Russians cheated on an institutional level and continue to cheat and attempt manipulation of evidence when given a second chance to come clean.  The world stage is the world stage.  That is why actors wear makeup to aid them in pretending to be some other character.  Now however the commercial side of life makes the selling of advertising and image as important as who wins, and if a little make up will help bring in more glory and sell more tickets, then so be it.    I find it a tad ironic that this same day there was a release of information about how the American public was lied to by three successive governments concerning our involvement in Afghanistan to the cost of $1 Trillion  and 2300 servicemen and women's lives.    George Brose

Comment:  
from Richard Mach

George 

Saw a 2019 movie out of the UK yesterday,  “Official Secrets”, about a female whistleblower working for its equivalent of the CIA during the run up to the Iraq War.  And being asked to find dirty on lesser members of the UN’s Security Council in order to compel them to support what the Yanks and Blair wanted.  And instead leaked it to journalists and what she then endured.   A B movie but nonetheless instructive and jogging any dulled memory around the perfidy of the West.  And as one wag observed ... the first time (Keira) Knightly has appeared in a movie w//out a hooped skirt. 

Comment from Geoff Williams

g.p.williams@shaw.ca	11:23 AM (9 minutes ago)
to me

Well at least they got that far.  I can only repeat my comments to your earlier note on this subject last month.  Why should WADA or the IOC be made to decide whether Russian athletes are clean or not?  Also the World Cup of Soccer is exactly what its name implies-a tournament for the best countries in the world-therefore the team is banned ( or should be) and that is that.  We are putting up with enough lying and cheating in the world and here we have an opportunity to do something really positive.  Also it would be for the long term benefit of individual Russian athletes .  Maybe Felicity Huffman can talk to Putin and tell him the consequences of cheating.

My teeth are gritted fiercely.   Geoff

Geoff,  I suspect that the Russians are still in the Lori Loughlin phase, somewhat in denial and trying to weasel out of any consequences.  George

Great job George. You my beliefs on the use of performance enhancing drugs in track and field. From high school track and field athletes forward,any track and field athlete tested positive for any performance enhancing drugs by US Anti-Doping Agency should be banned for life from any track and field competition in the US.  M. Gregory

V 9 N. 51 Sir Peter Snell R.I.P.

December 13, 2019, 6:15 pm

≫ Next: V9 N. 52 Dean Smith, An American Gold Medallist You May Not Know

≪ Previous: V 9 N. 50 The Russians Aren't Coming ! The Russians Aren't Coming !!

$

0

0

It is with much sadness that we report the passing of a true legend in the world of track and field.
Peter Snell, 1960 800 meters,  1964 800 meters and 1500 meters Olympic Champion who passed away in his sleep last Saturday December 7, 2019.
.
His 800 in 1960 of 1:46.3 was an Olympic record. 

That  win in Rome was a bit of a surprise to everyone, although Murray Halberg had earlier in the day shown the world what the new school of Lydiard trained Kiwis were capable of doing winning the 5000 meters.  In 1962 in his homeland, Peter would take down the world records in the 880 and mile on a short grass track and better the mile a second time on cinders a year later.  He also set a world record at 1000 yards the first time he raced on an indoor track in Los Angeles. 

Winning the 1500 meters at Tokyo

In 1964 he lowered the 800 OR again to 1:45.1, then took the 1500 in 3:38.1 which did not break Herb Elliott's record.  Peter was one that will be remembered for a long time for many reasons but his powerful stride and strength down the straight will be difficult to forget.  He could kick with anyone in his prime and only rarely lost a race unless his fitness level was not what it should have been at the time.  He made a name for himself athletically but then proved himself more than capable in the classroom, earning a Phd. in Excercise Physiology under Phil Gollnick at Washington State University and then  working for many years at the University of Texas in Dallas Fort Worth.

When he retired from running, I believe he was working for a cigarette company, Rothmans,  in New Zealand, but found this work limiting if he were putting in appearances for a product that was so detrimental to the public health even though they supported sport.  In 1971,  he came to the US to participate in a TV game show Super Stars where well known athletes competed with each other in a number of events not necessarily  relating to the sport where the made their name.  Peter won enough money to fund his way through university and eventually settled in the US.

Ten years ago he began experiencing heart problems and collapsed on the squash or racqetball court and was revived  Recently he had been having more cardiac trouble and had passed out at the wheel of his car and struck several vehicles.   Clearly things were not right and he eventually succumbed to heart disease.

Christchurch, NZ 880  with our friend John Bork in the AAU top January, 1962

By 1964, his two Olympic wins were no surprise to anyone.  The only question was who would be second in the two races.  Interestingly Bob Schul ran just as fast his last 200 meters in his 5000 to win that event and on a wet, soggy track.  Add those three races to Billy Mills' wonderful win in the 10,000 and and Abebe Bikila's 2nd marathon victory, and  1964 became  one of the greatest Olympics distance shows of all time.

See our earlier issue on that mile record race in Wanganui, NZ  and a follow up article with an exclusive conversation with Peter.

Mile Record at Wanganui       

A Brief Conversation With Peter Snell in 2012

We’ve recently reported on the racing in New Zealand when Peter Snell set records in the mile, 880, 800,  and then went to Los Angeles and set the indoor 1000 yards record and 880 yards as well during that race.  Ernie Cunliffe put us in touch with Peter, and I sent him a few questions about the race at Wanganui, and he graciously responded. 

My questions centered around the effort of running on a short (less than quarter mile ) track, grass surface, what his expectations were going into the race, and what Arthur Lydiard’s role was in that week when the races occurred.  I also asked Peter about getting into his chosen profession of exercise physiology.   I enquired if he knew one of my former colleagues in the field,  John Ivy, who also works in Texas.  Below are the replies that Peter Snell sent.

Wednesday May 16, 2012

George,

Ernie forwarded the piece on Wanganui written by Roy (Mason)  and quite frankly he has it all in a nutshell.  I’m not sure there is much I can add except my thought processes leading up to and during the race.  For example based on the New Years Day run mentioned by Roy, which was done 3 weeks after racing a marathon and during volume intervals in conjunction with long runs, I felt that 3.57 was conservatively realistic – in keeping with my preference for not raising expectations too high publicly. 

Perhaps you can give me some guidance. 

Regards,

Peter

George,

The above draft was written last week and I lost a large chunk of the text when my application crashed.  I was too bummed to try and do it over again.

I had seen very little of Arthur that summer so all he had to go on were race performances, including the marathon, leading up to the Wanganui event.  He may have been aware of my New Year’s day race and put 2 & 2 together, as did I.  He was present at Wanganui but I did not see him until after the race when news people found him and brought him over for a photo attached if I can find it)  His contribution was to publicly predict I would do 3:55 thus adding unwelcome pressure but it certainly filled the stadium.  The non-standard track was not a problem as many of the club tracks on which I did my training were 5 laps to the mile grass.

I preferred firm closely mowed well-rolled grass to loose cinders such as at Tokyo and Rome.  Californian clay tracks were the best and I hated the bitumen track at San Diego.  Too bad today’s rubberized tracks weren’t developed. 

Yes I know John Ivy very well.  My path to becoming an exercise physiologist started in 1974 when I enrolled as a freshman at UC Davis to educate myself out of an unsatisfying Sports PR job with a tobacco company.  Thanks to an invitation to Superstars late 1976, I made enough money to stay on after graduating in 1977 and spend 4 years at Washington State to with Dave Costill’s colleague Phil Gollnick. 

Thanks for the Jazy photo.  I notice Michael Bernard in the photo.  Jazy must have thought the 5000 was the easier race to win.

Regards,

Peter

Wednesday June 6, 2012

George I just saw your photo of Ron Delany and find it interesting to see how well the 1960’s runners are aging.  With this in mind I’m attaching a photo of me, Jim Bailey (1^st sub-4 on American soil, 1956) and Dave Wottle.  Also a pic of some good 800 guys at reunion organized by the late Bud Greenspan.

Regards,

Peter  

Peter Snell, Tom Courtney, John Woodruff, Dave Wottle

Peter Snell, Jim Bailey, Dave Wottle

V9 N. 52 Dean Smith, An American Gold Medallist You May Not Know

December 17, 2019, 10:03 pm

≫ Next: V 9 N. 53 The Exclusive Five and Ten Club a Review by Paul O'Shea

≪ Previous: V 9 N. 51 Sir Peter Snell R.I.P.

$

0

0

Dean Smith

Thanks to Ricardo Romo for putting me onto the Dean Smith story.  Smith was a Texas Longhorn football player and track sprinter in the late 1940s and early 1950s and one of the fastest men in the US and the planet at that time.  He made the US team in 1952 with Lindy Remigino and finished a close fourth in the 100 meters, then came back in the 4x100 meters and earned a gold medal.  Smith had grown up on a ranch in Texas and had a lot of the skills of a cowboy which would serve him well for the rest of his life.  He had a friend in Hollywood and turned up there after the Olympics and got a job as a stuntman.  His career would enable him to be in ten of John Wayne's western movies including "The Alamo" and "Rio Bravo".  Once he even did a stunt for Maureen O'Hara decked out in a red haired wig.  

Smith between MaDonald Bailey and Lindy Remigino

The Gold Medal 4x100 Relay Team Harrison Dillar, Lindy Remigino, Andy Stanfield, and Dean Smith

As a Texas Longhorn

With James Garner on the "Maverick" Set

At the 1952 NCAA meet Smith and Remigino only finished 4th and 5th, with Jim Golliday of Northwestern winning.  He would get injured and not make it to Helsinki.  Art Bragg was second at the NCAA and won the Olympic trials but was eliminated in the semis at Helsinki.  It would be up to Remigino and Smith to come through for the Americans and the finish was one of the closest ever with only 0.12 seconds separating 1st from 6th places.Smith still feels he might have deserved the bronze or at least a share of it with E. MaDonald Bailey of Great Britain.  He also notes in the video below that Bailey seems to have run into his lane during the race.  

Here is s 7 minute video of Smith and Remigino discussing their experiences at Helsinki. 

Dean Smith at Helsinki   clik here




Smith recently published a memoir,   "Cowboy Stuntman, From Olympic Gold to the Silver Screen".

Smith was born Finis Dean Smith in Breckenridge, Texas,  January 15, 1932.  He won the AAU 100 meters in 1952.   He also had run a 9.4 100 yards.  After the Olympics he did an army hitch, then  signed with the Los Angeles Rams  and later the Pittsburgh Steelers but did not play in any regular season NFL games.  By then his Hollywood career was taking off and he was also competing in the rodeo circuit in bronc riding and calf roping.  

Some of the 100+ films he has appeared in are The Comancheros, How the West Was Won,   McLintock,    Big Jake,  and TV episodes of  Maverick,  Gunsmoke,  Lawman,  Have Gun Will Travel,   and Walker, Texas Ranger

With Maureen O'Hara on the "McClintock!" set

. 

“I could ride, run and jump.  That was my life.”  Dean Smith

By the way,  Dean Smith is still alive.

V 9 N. 53 The Exclusive Five and Ten Club a Review by Paul O'Shea

December 21, 2019, 2:49 pm

≫ Next: V 10 N. 1 Phil Henson, Long Time Coach And Professor at Indiana U. R..I.P.

≪ Previous: V9 N. 52 Dean Smith, An American Gold Medallist You May Not Know

$

0

0

On The Starting Line With The Exclusive Five-and-Ten Club

Book Review

By Paul O'Shea

How do you measure greatness in an athlete?  In distance running at the highest level, the traditional metrics are honors won, meeting performances and world rankings.  Richard Amery offers another test:  runners who set world records at both five thousand and ten thousand meters.  They live in a high-end zip code.

Only ten men in the last 107 years have set world records at both distances.  Since the the IAAF (now World Athletics) began recognizing records in each event in 1912, the shorter race has seen 35 record performances, the longer, 37 marks.

In his splendid new book,  The Five and Ten Men:  Ten Men Who Redefined Distance Running, Amery brings this group to life through an expansive recounting of their careers.  It's a valuable book for the nostalgic fan, as well as the novice who wants to learn more about the sport's rich history.

Emil Zatopek

Amery says in the book's introduction, "I've always been interested in distance running.  Not because of any great ability on my part.  My only ever-decent run was somewhat tainted.  I won the South Australian State marathon but was soon disqualified (later reinstated) for wearing the wrong colored shorts!

The book's subjects choose themselves.  Of the many record holders over these classic distances, there have only ever been ten who held both records.  Were it to be a book on the ten greatest distance runners, the list would probably not be much different."

Paavo Nurmi, the first to hold both records

Taisto  Maki, first to break 30:00

Amery understands that comparing sporting performances over different eras is difficult.  "Distance running, in line with most other sports, has undergone great changes in the last eighty years or so in the period during which the individuals covered in this book competed."

Kenenisa Bekele the latest to hold both records

Meticulously researched and reported,  The Five and Ten Men (2019, 302 pages, Book Depository  and Amazon)  presents such familiar names as Nurmi, Zatopek, Gebrselassie, and Bekele.  Kuts, Clarke, Viren, and Rono are also among the dual record holders.  Mostly forgotten today Taisto Maki and Sandor Iharos.  Geb leads the five-and-ten set with seven world records.  Next are Zatopek and Clarke with six each.  Bekele currently holds both, the first set in 2004, the other a year later.

Haile Gebrselassie

Lasse Viren

Some historically boldface names were never able to set both records.  Among them:  Gunder Hagg, Said Aouita, Paul Tergat, Mo Farah, and Eliud Kipchoge.

Or the more obscure distance doublers, Maki and Iharos each suffered greatly because of the chaotic political  events affecting the world, before and after the Second World War.

Taisto Maki was the first to break thirty minutes for 10,000 meters.  The Finnish distance runner set two world records at that distance, taking ten seconds off his own mark, with 29:52.6. 

Sandor Iharos and Lazlo Tabori

Sandor Iharos was a key member of the highly successful Hungarian trio coached by Mihaly Igloi (Istvan Rozavolgyi, Lazlo Tabori, his compatriots).  He broke the five thousand twice, the second race reclaiming the honor from Kuts.  Iharos was also one of  only two athletes (the other, Nurmi) to hold world records over 1500, 5000, and 10,000 meters.  Amery ably describes the Hungarian revolution enveloping Iharos and others as the country struggled with Russian aggression.  

Henry Rono

Ron Clarke

One of the distance legends covered in The Five and Ten Men is Australian Ron Clarke,  successful from the fifteen hundred to the marathon.  He was the first to run three miles in less than thirteen minutes.  Four days later he was the first to run ten thousand in less than twenty-eight-minutes.

"Clarkey" was a familiar face on the starting line.  During a 44-day European tour in 1965 he competed 18 times and broke twelve world records including he 20,000 meters and the one-hour run.

For Clarke, his record suffered from never having won Oympic gold, notwithstanding a career few exceeded.  Those who saw it in person and those who find it on You Tube, remember Billy Mills' desperate charge in the home stretch of the 1964 Olympic ten thousand, and Clarke's stricken face as the American crosses the finish line several meters ahead to win gold.  His bronze was to be his only Olympic medal; Zatopek gave him one of the Czech's own golds as a gift.

Vladmir Kuts leading Gordon Pirie

Enriching the stories that Amery tells  are thirty-nine photos of the ten in action, many of them this writer had not seen.  The book's cover shows Russian Vladimir Kuts winning the Olympic five thousand at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.

Author, Richard Amery

A retired high school physical education teacher, Amery and his wife, Christine, live in the Adelaide hills of Australia.  (Ed. note.  The Adelaide hills are currently  in the middle of severe forest fires at the time of this writing.)  In his early years he was an accomplished runner.  "Now, on my morning runs with my border collie, I normally see no one, just the wildlife, mainly kangaroos."

"I've always had an interest in both history and distance running, and I hope this book is some demonstration of that interest.  I've tried to tell stories that I think are worth telling, but in many cases have either been forgotten or never really told in the first place."

In an epilogue, the author traces the decline of performances at these distances to the growth of road
racing, especially the big city marathons and their munificent financial rewards. Adding to the
deterioration are the lack of competitive opportunities stemming from the excision of longer races at
international meets. We're approaching Seb Coe's ninety-minute plan.

"The only certainty is that the 5,000m and 10,000m records (as of August 2019) will be broken,"
Amery writes. "Despite the longevity of the present records, sooner or laterthere will be others who
come along with the necessary physical and mental requisites to run better times. I will not be easy.
The last three record holders in both distances have been exceptional talents living in almost ideal
environments from a distance running viewpoint, in addition to undertaking excellent (and hard)
training. But broken they will be. Noting is more certain."

A world record is like a Patek Philippe watch. You never actually own one. You merely look after it
for the next generation.

Current titleholder, Kenenisa Bekele: 12:37.35 and 26:17.53.



----------
Paul O'Shea is a lifelong participant in the track and field world. After retirement from a career in
corporate communications he coached a high school girls cross country team and was a long-time
contributor to Cross Cournty Journal. He writes for Once Upon a Time in the Vest from Northern
Virginia. He can be reached at Poshea17@aol.com.

----------

Ed. Note. In looking for pictures for this article, I found a wealth of them
and want to add some more below.

Jack and Ron Clarke.   Jack, an Aussie Rules footballer is as famous in Australia as his brother.

Lassie Viren

Rozavolgyi and Iharos in the heyday

Paavo Nurmi

Iharos

Viren winning 10,000 at Munich ahead of Puttamens and Yifter

Nurmi

Let's not forget that Rono had WR steeple too.

Zatopek speaking in the streets during the Prague Spring in 1968 He would be banned to working in a uranium factory for this defiance.

Rono

Nurmi looking remarkably like Greta Thunberg

The podium at la Cross de l'Humanite 1955 Jerzy Chromik, Vladmir Kuts, Emil Zatopek

Geb taking down Tergat at Sydney

Gebrselassie with Farah and Bekele

V 10 N. 1 Phil Henson, Long Time Coach And Professor at Indiana U. R..I.P.

January 8, 2020, 7:42 am

≫ Next: V 10 N. 2 Mike Lindsay, Scottish Olympian, Oklahoma Sooner R.I.P. And Buddy Stewart 1000 Yard Man

≪ Previous: V 9 N. 53 The Exclusive Five and Ten Club a Review by Paul O'Shea

$

0

0

I never knew Phil Henson, but he was on our list of subscribers of this blog.  We were recommended to him by best friend, Bill Schnier, U. of Cincinnati Track Coach.   One of the highlights of Phil's  career was serving as meet manager for Track and Field at the Atlanta Olympics. 



Bill wrote these words about his friend.

  I just heard about the passing of Phil Henson but I don't know any details.  Not only was Phil an extremely knowledgeable coach of T&F, especially the field events, but he was also a very good friend whose career in our sport mirrored mine in many respects.  He preceded me as Sam Bell's grad assistant at IU and paved the way for me to eventually take his place when he became an assistant coach at the University of Wisconsin.  When I left IU to take the head coaching job at the University of Cincinnati, Phil returned to IU to teach biomechanics and human performance, at the same time volunteering as an assistant to Sam Bell.  He often told the correct story how we traded off living in the same apartment building at 571 Evermann Apts. at IU for 11 years; Phil and Jane for 5 years, then Kathy and me for 4 years, then Phil and Jane again for 2 more years.  We were at the same university, had the same graduate school major, had the same job, and even lived in the same apartment.  Following the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, Kathy and I continued our honeymoon by going back to Central Connecticut University to stay with Phil and Jane for two days.  Over the years we did many things together in large part due to our parallel lives.  Jane died of cancer about 6 years ago and the last time I saw Phil was on a trip we took a few years ago to the Cass Scenic Railroad in Cass, WV.  Phil loved trains and tractors, owning two tractors which he stored at his home in Bloomington.

   Phil was a wizard in his knowledge of field events.  In addition he was equally skilled at organization, serving as the meet manager for T&F at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.  His career path leaned more toward teaching whereas mine was in coaching, yet we still had so much in common.  When the Big East T&F meet was held in Cincinnati, he served as the head referee.  He was so well regarded that there were no protests during those three days in a conference which was extremely contentious.  He made things go smoothly.

   For the past 15 years or so Phil suffered from MS, causing an increasingly pronounced limp which I suspect was the eventual cause of his death.  Nevertheless, he still lived a normal life, soldiering on in the best way possible.  He was an extremely loyal person, serving Sam and Fran Bell, along with Brian and Brenda Lewis, as Sam and Fran aged. 

   As we age we lose more and more people with whom we share so many experiences of long duration.  Two days ago I was informed of the death of Darrell Dailey, a person with whom I played every sport in grade school and high school for thousands of hours.  Let's all remember our long-time friends and value what they have given us over the years.

The following came from the IU Sports Information Desk
Bloomington, Ind. – Former IU Track and Field Assistant Coach Phil Henson died on Saturday in Bloomington. He was 74 years old. Henson was a long-time assistant coach for the Hoosier program, working alongside legendary head coach Sam Bell from 1980-94. Henson played an integral role on Bell's staff during one of the Hoosier track and field program's most successful periods. He worked closely with numerous Hoosier NCAA champions, All-Americans and Olympians, including DeDee Nathan, Dave Volz and Alan Turner.

In addition to his work with IU Track and Field, he also served the sport in a variety of capacities both nationally and internationally. The highlight of his involvement on the international scene came in 1996, when he served as Director of Competition for Track and Field at the Summer Olympics in Atlanta. 

In addition to those roles, Henson was also a valued member of the Indiana University faculty. Henson, who earned both his Master's and Ph.D. from Indiana University, joined the IU Department of Kinesiology faculty in 1980, serving in a part-time capacity until his retirement from coaching. Upon the completion of his 1996 Olympic responsibilities, he became a full-time assistant professor until his retirement in 2013.

"Phil wore many hats at IU, all the way from full-time coach to professor, and most recently as a volunteer coach working with Coach Jake Wiseman and his multi-athletes," said IU Track and Field Coach Ron Helmer. "Phil's knowledge of track and field was boundless, making him a highly sought after meet referee and official, including his work at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. Beyond that, Phil was just a good man who truly loved what he did. The track and field community lost a good one."

---

V 10 N. 2 Mike Lindsay, Scottish Olympian, Oklahoma Sooner R.I.P. And Buddy Stewart 1000 Yard Man

January 10, 2020, 8:27 pm

≫ Next: V 10 N. 3 Race Across America Eddie Gardner and the Bunion Derbies book review

≪ Previous: V 10 N. 1 Phil Henson, Long Time Coach And Professor at Indiana U. R..I.P.

$

0

0

              Mike Lindsay, Scotland  Discus Thrower and Shot Putter


Mike Lindsay, an outstanding shot and discus thrower at the University of Oklahoma class of 1960 passed away recently (December 11, 2019).  He was 81 years old.   Mike was from Glasgow, Scotland and had represented Great Britain in Rome and Tokyo in 1960 and 64.  But he represented Scotland at several Empire and Commonwealth Games.   He was fifth at Rome behind the three Americans Bill Neider, Dallas Long and Parry O'Brien, and the Russian Viktor Lipsnis.  At the time Mike was throwing 58 feet, but he was used to being around the American trio and was not intimidated by their 60' throws.  He threw his steady 58 feet and placed high.

Chris and Mike Lindsay at Great Britain B match against Norway. Chris was a 400 meter man.

I came to the Unversity a year later and got to know Mike a bit as he worked in Jefferson House for the year after he graduated.  He was an incredibly intelligent man.  He could breeze through his engineering texts prepping for a test and be carrying on a full blown conversation with several people.  Initially that wasn't easy, because no one could understand him with his Scottish burr, and he couldn't get the Okie drawl.  Eventually both he and the Sooners caught on.

Arthur Rowe and Mike Lindsay

As you will see in some of the following obits, he went home, earned a Phd. and became head of the sports science department at Leeds University, one of the top physical education and sports science departments in England.

When Mike arrived at Norman, Oklahoma, he asked, "Where is the weight room?"  People replied, "What's that?"   Mike got them started with a weight program.  At that time football was king as it is today, but there was no weight training program.  The weight room was 'created' under the grandstand in a small unheated space, with a dirt floor.  There was one bench, one barbell and a set of plates and a couple of dumbells, and I'm not referring to the pole vaulters.  Oh yes, there was also a spittoon for Dan Erwin another all American shot putter.  The note in the obit below that Mike benefitted from good facilities and coaching at the university was not quite true.  He was his own coach and he introduced the concept of strength training to the university.  At that time the  only books one could find on weight training were published in England.

It is noted in sme of Mike's obits that he was never accused of doping in all his career.  I remember though his mother used to send him protein supplements from health food stores in Scotland.  He was always adding that powder to his milk in the dining hall.

He held the Scottish records in the discus and shot for  15 years.  When he practiced the discus in the 180 range and we were running track work outs we always had to watch out of the corner of our eye when he was throwing, because the discus often skidded across the track.    More than one runner has had a career ending injury from an errant discus.  One of Igloi's top runners had that fate with the L.A. Track Club.

I never saw this but I heard that Mike used to like to tease some of the track guys by stuffing them in the trash cans in the hall way.  The only guy he couldn't do that to was  6'4" decathlete and pole vaulter J.D. Martin.  He also met his match in a wrestling contest with Tommy Evans the assistant wrestling coach and a 152 pound Olympic sivler medalist.  Tommy pinned Mike in a matter of seconds.

On the track, Mike was the fastest guy out of the blocks on the team including the sprinters, and he could high jump 6. 0".

One of the funniest stories about Mike was when he and Claude Hammond, another thrower were riding double on a bicycle (imagine 450 pounds of people on a bike) one of them on the handlebars.  They came barreling around one corner of the football stadium and had a head on crash with another cyclist who weighed all of 130 pounds.  It should have been no contest, but Hammond dislocated his finger, and when Mike saw it, he threw up and fainted.  The little 130 pounder was standing over both of them trying to console Hammond.  We laughed for days about that.

I had been trying for several years to track down Mike and was not successful.  I wish I had, and could have heard that great Scottish accent one more time.

Another member of that Sooner team also passed away recently.  Buddy Stewart from Woodward, Oklahoma.  Buddy was in the same year as Mike.  He taught me some good life lessons as a rookie. As a runner he fit in between the mile and half mile.  The 1000 yards was made for him and he did very well at that distance.  When I saw him last time he told me he had married a woman who had saved his life when he was drowning in a swimming pool.  He had come in from a training run and jumped in the pool to cool off and cramped up,  and she was able to save him.  Buddy's career wasn't as stellar as Mike Lindsay's but he was one of those people who still teaches you things that you carry along through life.  I miss them both.
George

Buddy Stewart winning the 1000 at Indiana U. Kentucky tri meet at Bloomington.

Here is the Obituary on Mike from The Scotsman, by Jack Davidson

Mike Lindsay, athlete. Born: 
2 November 1938. Died: 
11 December 2019, aged 81

Mike Lindsay, who has died aged 81, was arguably Scotland’s greatest ever shot putter and discus thrower, raising standards in both events to unprecedented levels while winning a stack of honours domestically and internationally. A multiple British and Scottish champion and international on more than 35 occasions in the course of a long career, his high point came when, aged only 21, he secured 5th place in the shot at the 1960 Rome Olympic Games. This was the highest place ever achieved in the event by a British athlete and was subsequently never bettered, albeit equalled once, by Geoff Capes at the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

At the 1962 Commonwealth Games in Perth, Australia, he secured silver medals for Scotland in both shot and discus, in the former missing gold by a mere 4cms. A year later he became the first Scot to breach the 60ft barrier in the shot, a feat as significant athletically as the four-minute mile, while at the World Student Games in Brazil he collected another two silver medals in his speciality events. Being one of the first British athletes to gain a sports scholarship to the USA, to Oklahoma University in the late 1950s, undoubtedly enhanced his development into a world class thrower. Once retired from competition in 1971, he enjoyed an accomplished career in the field of physical education and academia, becoming very involved in the development of the study of bio mechanics.

Michael Robert Lindsay was born in Glasgow, the younger son of Archie and Lucy, at a time when his father was stationed locally in the army. Elder brother Chris was also a noted athlete who represented Great Britain ‘B’ at 440 yards. Because of family connections they soon moved to Coldstream, where Mike attended the local primary school. When Mike was 11 the family moved to London because his father had secured employment with Royal Mail and he attended St Marleybone Grammar School, where his sporting potential was first noted. A talented all-rounder, he shone at rugby, cricket and athletics, initially competing in jumping events. As he developed physically and started weight training, his coach Doug Mannion switched him to throwing events, at which he showed promise.

n online subscription

Subscribe Today

It proved a wise decision as Mike achieved prodigiously as a junior athlete winning the AAA (British) titles at shot and discus in both 1956 and ’57, in the latter year also claiming the senior AAA title at discus while still a junior. He also set a world junior best in the event with a throw over 193ft, beating the previous best by 10ft by the iconic Al Oerter, later multiple Olympic champion.

In 1957, aged 18, he set his first of many Scottish records in the shot at Edinburgh Highland Games, obliterating the previous one by 6ft, represented Scotland in his first international against Ireland in Dublin winning both shot and discus and gained his first British international vest against France. The following year, in Cardiff, he made the first of four appearances for Scotland at the Commonwealth Games, finishing a creditable 4th and 6th at discus and shot respectively, and in 1959 repeated his AAA discus success while runner up in the shot.

Oklahoma University, duly impressed, offered Mike a sports scholarship and he rewarded their faith by setting a British discus record within a year. Access to top level coaching and facilities while competing against throwers of the calibre of Olympic champions Parry O’Brien and Al Oerter edged him towards world class as he made his mark at the Rome Olympics.

After graduating in mechanical engineering in 1962 he returned to continue competing successfully for virtually the next decade under coach Ron Pickering. He added an AAA title in the shot to his CV, won the event for Britain in the 1963 contest against the USA, beating future Olympic champion Randy Matson, competed in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and made further Commonwealth Games appearances in Perth, Kingston and Edinburgh.

By the time of Mike’s final international match in 1971, for Scotland against the Home Nations, he had topped the Scottish ranking lists at shot and discus for 15 years consecutively, an unparalleled dominance. Throughout his career he remained steadfastly drug free at a time when drug misuse had infiltrated the sport.

After Perth 1962 he remained there for six months, teaching at the Scotch College, and on his return undertook a post graduate teaching qualification at Carnegie PE College in Leeds before studying for a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Leeds when the significance of the application of Biomechanics to sport was being recognised. There followed lectureships in Biomechanics at Madeley College, Staffordshire, Dunfermline PE College, Edinburgh and a PhD in Bio Engineering at Strathclyde University. In 1979 he was appointed Director of PE at University of Leeds, where he remained until retiring in 2004, making a major contribution to the development of sports science degrees.

Eminent coach Frank Dick said: “Mike brought greater understanding to the application of Biomechanics to sport and developing athletes. He was also a true gentleman who hid his light under a bushel.”

In 1972 Mike married Vivienne Greener, a teacher and lecturer whom he had met in Leeds and the couple went on to enjoy 47 years together, latterly living in Harrogate.

V 10 N. 3 Race Across America Eddie Gardner and the Bunion Derbies book review

January 11, 2020, 6:07 pm

≫ Next: V 10 N. 4 Gail Hodgson South African and Oklahoma Sooner 1960 R.I.P.

≪ Previous: V 10 N. 2 Mike Lindsay, Scottish Olympian, Oklahoma Sooner R.I.P. And Buddy Stewart 1000 Yard Man

$

0

0

Race across America

Eddie Gardner and the Great Bunion Derbies

By Charles B. Kastner (Seychelles 1980-82)

Syracuse University Press

December 2019

319 pages

Hardcover - $75.00

Paper – $29.95

Reviewed by Thomas E. Coyne

This is a book worth reading!  And well-illustrated, besides!

Actually, it is three books in one, drawing on Charles Kastner’s previous histories

 of the, now largely forgotten, 1928 and 1929 C. C. Pyle’s International-Trans-

Continental Foot Races.  The two races are covered but this is, equally, a focused look 

at race relations in the United States in the 1920’s and the efforts of African Americans 

to achieve full integration into white America.

Author Kastner uses the story of Edward  “Eddie” Gardner to tell his tale. Gardner,

born in Alabama, was a respected African American distance runner in the greater 

Seattle, Washington community. In 1928 he participated in the trans-continental race 

planned by the Route 66 Highway Association to draw attention to the nation’s best-known

national highway.  The Association contracted with C. C. Pyle to conduct the event.

Pyle succeeded, displaying a flair for attention and ballyhoo plus a level of incompetence

and callousness that, in retrospect, makes one marvel even more at the tenacity of the

runners who completed, not one, but two such races.

Money, not glory, was the motivation for these runners.  They were international distance

running stars and poor, but athletic, working class Americans.  The latter, with the same 

desire as countless other Americans, generations before them, who had walked East to 

West next to their covered wagons in pursuit of a better life for their families.

Pyle offered his competitors a shot at $25, 000 for the winner with $10, 000, $5,000 and 

$2,500 for second, third and fourth.  Finishers five through ten would win $1,000.  In 1928, 

this was life changing money for the average person.  To seek it, one hundred ninety-nine 

starters toed the line on March 4, 1928 in Los Angeles and, after running 3,422.3 miles, 

fifty-five crossed a finish line on May 26 in New York City.  

A year later, reality had set in.  Seventy-seven contestants, including forty-three repeaters 

from the first race, started on March 31st in New York City and, running a different route

of 3,553.6 miles, nineteen finished on June 16th in Los Angeles.

A major difference; the runners in the 1928 race received their prize money.  The finishers 

in the 1929 run received worthless promissory notes and never collected. 

In his two previous books the author focused on the races with some attention given to 

efforts by the African American runners to show their fellow white citizens they could 

compete as well as white athletes as distance runners.  In this writing, Kastner shines his 

light on Gardner who finished in eighth place in the 1928 race.  In 1929 he was the sole 

African American to return for the second running and led the run in its early stages but

succumbed to injury and fatigue and dropped out after 1,536.60 miles.

Eddie Gardner clearly wanted to successfully represent his race and African American

newspapers were the primary sources of information about that effort.  Yet, there is no 

doubt he also had the same motivation as the white runners.  Finishing in the top money

 meant a better life for him and his family.

Gardner, however, had to face the Jim Crow South as well as racial prejudice in other

states on his journeys and Kastner’s recounting presents a sobering look at race history 

in the United States.  To the credit of his fellow competitors, Gardner was treated as a 

respected comrade runner who shared the same miserable treatment C. C. Pyle gave 

everybody.  

Kastner deserves accolades for the years of research that have gone into his three books 

about C. C. Pyle’s Bunion Derbies.  This account gives graphic descriptions of men who

ran through rugged terrain and terrible weather conditions at paces per mile that would 

be respectable in modern day marathons and ultra-marathons.  

While the author does not comment on the hundreds of subsequent runs across America, 

he should take pleasure in knowing that the spirit of the bunioneers lives on.  Since Andy

Payne’s 1928 run of 3,422.3 miles in 84 days the cross-continent record has now dropped 

to Pete Kostelnick’s 2016 run of 3100 miles in 42 days-six hours-30 minutes.

Read the book!  The will power of these runners will impress you.

Thomas E. Coyne has been a runner since 1947.  In all that time he never once 

felt the urge to run one step more than the 26.2 mile marathon distance.

Ed. Note: Some of you may recall that Thom Coyne also reviewed the first two books
of this trilogy. The link to that review is: Vol 4 N. 3 April 29, 2014


This review was originally done for a blog by Thom Coyne's brother  John Coyne   for returned Peace Corps Volunteers.  Mr. Kastner was a volunteer in The Seychelles 1980-82

V 10 N. 4 Gail Hodgson South African and Oklahoma Sooner 1960 R.I.P.

January 25, 2020, 3:56 pm

≫ Next: V 10 N. 5 World Indoor Champs Postponed due to Corona Virus and other News

≪ Previous: V 10 N. 3 Race Across America Eddie Gardner and the Bunion Derbies book review

$

0

0

January 15, 2020
Yesterday I received the following email from Neville Soll, South African friend who graduated from the University of Okahoma and was a friend of Gail Hodgson a 4:03 miler back when sub 4 minute miles in university were extremely rare.  George Brose

George,

I had lunch with a friend the other day. She came from Pietermaritzburg the home town of Gail Hodgson. She knew Gail back in the day when he was a school boy. She told me that Gail had passed away. I have tried to confirm this. All that I could find is a notice in a newspaper advertising the winding up of the estate of Michael Gail Hodgson.

It gave the bithdate as 11 January 1938 which would tie up with his age. According to this notice he died on 28 April 2018. As this information came so soon after the passing of Mike Lindsay and Buddy Stewart, it is sad that another Okie of our era has passed on.

The January 1959 Track and Field News made reference to Gail in the following paragraphL

Fearless Harold Clark of South Africa made two attempts at a four minute mile, coming up short on both occasions, but certainly earning respect in the doing. On December 20 in a solo attempt in Kimberley, a city at 5000 feet elevation, he tied Gail Hodgson’s South African record of 4:04.5. Undeterred, six days later he took another shot, this time in the town of Pearl. Nature was not his friend. The temperature was 103 with the track being estimated at 130. Harold proved himself the kind of guy you would want in your foxhole by running 4:04.9.

Gail by evidence of this paragraph, at one time held the South African mile record.  He would lower it a tad in a near solo effort at the Big Eight outdoor championships held in Norman, Oklahoma.  More on that  later.



Here is a letter I received from Gail in 2011 by virtue of connecting on this blog.  I've yet to mention that Gail apart from becoming an architect was also a very good piano player and had a band  The Twisters in Norman.  He mentions a bit about that in this letter.

Hi George

Just to tell you that I have been getting all your fabulous emails over the previous months.....maybe even years !!!!!!!!. Sorry I haven't replied sooner. I just marvel at all the info that has stayed alive, and it's thanks to your efforts that have made it so interesting and meaningful.

I am a semi-retired architect after practicing in Rustenburg South Africa for the last 40 years or so, and am now in Johannesburg trying to come to terms with doing mostly nothing most of the time. My Children.......all grown up now are still in the States.......Denver, and San Marcos. My daughter Kim from Denver is doing real well with my genes and is running great long distant events all over the country.

When I was in Norman I had a rock & roll band called The Twisters.......me on piano and vocals. We backed up guys like Chuck Berry, and Johnny Cash, and I personally backed up the Inkspots, and met Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald by inviting them to perform at OU in about 1960.

I haven't run since getting back to South Africa, but have helped with a bit of coaching over the years.

Thanks again for all the GREAT news......my email is gailarch1@ mweb.co.za.

All the very VERY BEST Gail Hodgson.......OU 1957 to 1960

In 1958 at the Kansas Relays the OU team set a World Record in the Sprint Medley 440, 220,220, 880.  They were using the race as a warmup for another relay.   Gail anchored in 1:48 which on that cinder track was a very good effort.   Here is an account of that race from one of the team members,  Johnny Pellow who was also a half back on the football team.  

1958 Kansas Relay Meet: Event: Sprint Medley.
Gary Parr, Ponca City, OK started with a quarter mile. Dee Givens, Lawton OK followed witha 220 yearder. I, Johnny Pellow, Enid, OK, was next with another 220 yarder and, finally, Gail Hodgson, South Africa , finished with a half mile. Thanks to Gail Hodgson's 1:48 half mile we broke the WORLD RECORD!

I still have a 1958 Kansas Relay Watch given to us for winning the race. ON the back of the watch it reads: SPRINT MEDLEY - WORLD'S RECORD of time: 3:19.5. By the way, the watch still runs.

But, the rest of the story: Gail, Dee, and Gary were all at the very top of their special events. This race was a 9:30AM event and was to be just a warm-up for the three top stars. This was the first race that I had been in since injuring my right Hamstring Muscle two months before this race. I was just a fill-in chosen at the last minute. I remember Coach Carroll telling us just to relax and use this Sprint Medley Race as a warmup before the real afternoon races began. WE BROKE THE WORLD RECORD.

Gail Hodgson leading a Big 8 indoor event in Kansas City, MO. The two runners on the extreme left are from U. of Kansas Bill Dotson (first Kansan under 4:00) and Billy Mills

Later that year at the Big 8 Outdoor Meet held in Norman, OK, Gail made an attempt on a sub four minute mile.  There was little if any competition in the conference that year.  So Gail pretty much did all the work on his own.  I don't know his splits on the first two laps, but he came through the 1320 in   2:58 which was truly amazing on that soft track.  However still on his own he went into the Twilight Zone and came out the other side with a personal best in the 4:03+.  I don't remember the fraction.  I imagine only Wes Santee had done better in the conference.  I did not witness this race, but heard many accounts of it.  Gail stuck around the OU campus for a while, because the architecture degree was a five year program.  We used to listen to The Twisters practice in the dorms.  The other musicians were not athletes.  Gail travelled in a very special world having so many talents besides running.  As he said above, he didn't run after returning home.  He married the sister of SMU pole vaulter Dexter Elkins.

Remembering Gail Hodgson
from Bob Ringo

Both Gail and I began our OU track careers as freshmen in the fall of 1956.  Gail was the
latest athlete to arrive at OU from South Africa.  Peter Duncan, a swimmer,
and Neville Price, a broad jumper, preceded Gail to Norman.

Gail was not only a gifted runner but also a very talented piano player and lover of classical
music.  He inherited his musical skills from his mother who had been an opera singer in the
United States. Gail’s father managed General Motors in South Africa.  After our workouts
we would lie on the cots in Gail’s Lincoln House cubical and listen to classical music.
Today my primary music listening love is classical. 

Gail and I arrived in Norman a little earlier in September than the bulk of students. 
Athletes were allowed early enrollment to ensure they got early morning classes that
would not interfere with their workout schedules.  After Gail and I had finished our
enrollment, we stopped by the Student Union bookstore to pick up a few supplies.
We gathered what we needed and walked to the cash register.  The cute young coed
at the register asked Gail, “Will there be anything else?” Gail replied, “Yes, give me
a couple of rubbers.” After What seemed like an eternity, the blushing young lady
blurted out, “We don’t sell them here.”  As we were walking away, I told Gail in the
United States rubbers are purchased in drug stores. Gail’s reply was, “If I had wanted
those things, I would have asked for “safes”.”

The temperature was in the high nineties when Gail and I arrived in the track dressing
room to get ready for our first workout.  Ron Wade, a senior, was Captain of the
cross-country team. He confidently said, “Let’s warmup with a ten-mile run” knowing
a long run in the heat would “kill off” the newcomer freshmen.  Gail easily completed
the ten mile warmup about a mile ahead of the varsity runners not even breathing hard.
I believe I was five miles to the rear of the last varsity runners.

Our first year in Norman Bill Carroll had just taken over as the head coach from
John “Jake” Jacobs.  Jake still was around to offer bits of wisdom. However, from day
one, Gail was my coach. He prepared each daily workout for us that Bill Carroll
always went along with.  Since we were both distance runners, Gail and I trained
together stride-by-stride every day. Gail taught me how to breath while running.
“Breathe through your belly button.”  He taught me how to hold my finger for
relaxation while running. “Hold your thumb and index finger lightly together
without making a fist.” He taught me how to tie my shoes so if the laces became
untied during a race, the shoe would still fit snugly and not fall off.  Gail and I
roomed together on trips. This way we were able to go over our coming races
a thousand times before actually running them.

In the spring of our junior year, we had finished the Dallas Invitational on a Thursday
night and, then, were flown to Lawrence for the Kansas Relays.  It was my belief that I
would be running my usual second leg (880) of the distance medley relay that was
scheduled for Saturday. For this reason, I stayed behind at the hotel on Friday thinking
there was no hurry in getting to the track.  Bill Carroll hadn’t told me I was to run
the 880 anchor leg of the sprint medley held on Friday. Not finding me around the track,
Bill grabbed Gail and inserted him in my place. Gail ran a splendid race that day coming
from behind and passing everyone on the home stretch finishing first by a hair and helping
OU’s relay team set a new world’s record.

The summer after the National AAU meet in Boulder, Colorado, Gail and I had a few
days before we were to report for our summer jobs that had been arranged for us by the
Athletic Department.  Neither of us had much money, so in the evenings we would find
a bar with a piano and Gail would sit down and begin playing “requests” for cash tips
and/or beer. We used the tip money for food.  The beers were never wasted.

Gail was “drop dead” handsome.  Everywhere he went, there were always plenty of
gorgeous girls eyeing Gail.  No sooner would Gail begin playing the piano in a bar or
hotel, man-hungry girls would rush to sit on the bench next to him as he played.  Finding
girls was not ever a problem for Gail.

The above paragraphs are but a few of the special memories that I have of Gail. 

In summary, Gail was a gifted runner, a talented musician, an excellent architect, and
most of all a great friend.

Bob  Ringo Ed. Note. Bob Ringo was a pretty fair 880 man himself finishing 5th in the National AAU meet one year.

Hi George, 

Paul Ebert here,

I was at OU Jan 1958 to 1962 and Gail was in his prime.

I recall the day he broke the Big Eight record in mile at conference meet (Norman ) 1958 (4:05) 
Gail related to me that he was going to break the 4 min mile and that he would go under 60

first lap, under 2:00  2nd lap, under 3 third lap and take it home.

This he did up to last 220 where it was a struggle and he ended

with 4:05.  I as a  freshman (freshmen couldn't compete) watched the entire race.  

Also in cross country 1958 Big Eight Conference meet Gail was

first 14:00.9 new record.  

     2.  Miles Eisenman (OSU)

     3. Tom Skutka (KU),

     4. Billy Mills (KU)

     5. Ernie  Kleynhans (OU). 

1959 Big Eight Cross Country

     1.  Eisenman 13:55 NR

     2.  Mills (KU) 

     3.  Hodgson (OU).  

1960  Big Eight Cross Country

      9. Ebert  (OU)

     10. Lee Smith (OU)

     11. Hodgson  (OU)  was 11th, Ebert 9th(OU)

 In 1959 Gail was 4th in 1500 National AAU.

It's rare to find one of so many talents and Gail is still remembered by a lot of his old teammates.  I'm sure every team has one or two people who define a team by their talents, 
their actions, their behavior.  Gail gave us a lot of very positive examples in many fields.
R.I.P.  Gail Hodgson.  

Note:  We were sorely pushed to find any photos of Gail.  If any of you have any that could be used here, please send them to irathermediate@gmail.com

V 10 N. 5 World Indoor Champs Postponed due to Corona Virus and other News

January 29, 2020, 5:34 pm

≫ Next: V 10 N. 6 The New Shoe Wars or Vapor Fly vs. the World

≪ Previous: V 10 N. 4 Gail Hodgson South African and Oklahoma Sooner 1960 R.I.P.

$

0

0

World Indoor Championships Postponed to 2021

and Several R.I.P.s

The following story appeared in The Guardian today Jan. 29, 2020

World Indoor Athletics cancelled over coronavirus with Chinese GP at risk

• World Athletics confirms event has been delayed for year
• F1 race on 19 April in Shanghai at risk, says virus expert

Press release from World Athletics

It is with regret that we have agreed with the organisers of the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing (13-15 March 2020) to postpone the event to March 2021.

We know that China is doing all it can to contain the new Coronavirus and we support them in all their efforts but it is necessary to provide our athletes, Member Federations and partners with a clear way forward in what is a complex and fast-moving set of circumstances.

The advice from our medical team, who are in contact with the World Health Organisation, is that the spread of the Coronavirus both within China and outside the country is still at a concerning level and no one should be going ahead with any major gathering that can be postponed.

We have considered the possibility of relocating the event to another country and would like to thank the cities that have volunteered to host the championships. However, given concerns still exist regarding the spread of the virus outside China, we have decided not to go with this option, as it may lead to further postponement at a later date.

The indoor season for athletics falls within a narrow calendar window (up to the end of March) and we believe we will be able to find a suitable date in 2021 to host this event. We would like Nanjing to be the host given the extensive planning and preparation they have put into this event.

We have chosen not to cancel the championships as many of our athletes would like this event to take place so we will now work with our athletes, our partners and the Nanjing organising committee to secure a date in 2021 to stage this event.

OUTV Responds To This Crisis

We called an imediate staff meeting in the headquarters of OUTV on the fourteenth floor (Roy's Corner Office)  this afternoon to discuss the possibilties of greater pressures emanating from this first big cancellation of a sports happening in China due to the outbreak of the Corona Virus.  Roy said he wasn't worried,  he survived measles, chicken pox, diarhhea, and IQ deficiency, all without the aid of any dang vaccinations.  Steve seconded Roy's views saying only that certain diseases he once picked up in SE Asia were all treatable and curable.  Only George was a bit hesitant, saying schistosomiasis was nothing to fool around with and the putzi fly that got into his system in Zimbabwe had to find its own way out through a pimple on his backside.  We all did agree though that this news item has surpassed every story on real TV even the current impeachment procedings.   And the kicker is that the Tokyo Olympics is just around the corner.  If that baby crosses the Sea of Japan and gets into the water in Tokyo Bay, it will be curtains for the Olympics this year.  Only WWI and II have been able to curtail the Olympics. 

"If I were on the Tokyo Olympic Committee I would be sweating my balls off."  said Roy with a nonchalant grin as he looked for his latest electronic issue of TF&N.   

"It's on your computer, dufus." said Steve.   

"If they are serious about dropping the Grand Prix of Shanghai, I'd be worried."  chimed in George.  

In a more serious vein,  a number of former American Olympians have passed away recently.  

Art Bragg and Dean Smith after the Helsinki 100 meters

Arthur Bragg  1952 Olympics.  100 meters,  6th in semis but was injured and finished anyway.  Died Aug 25th 2018 age 87.

Art Bragg didn’t. Brag, that is. About his track exploits at Morgan State or making the 1952 Olympic team or the stacks of plaques and medals squirreled away in his home in Los Angeles.

“Art tended not to dwell on his achievements all those years,” said his wife, Marie Bragg.

A Baltimore native and onetime NCAA sprint champion, Bragg died of cardiac arrest Aug. 25 at a hospital near his residence in Southern California. He was 87.

A star of Morgan State’s mighty track and field teams of the early 1950s, Bragg won four Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association 100-yard dash titles and three 220-yard finals. As a sophomore in 1951, he won the NCAA 100-yard championship in 9.6 seconds. A year later, at the U.S. Olympic Trials, Bragg won again, taking the 100-meter finals in 10.5 seconds.

But there were troubles ahead. Before the 1952 Summer Games in Helsinki, Finland, he pulled a hamstring — and aggravated it in an Olympic qualifying heat. His right leg bandaged, Bragg finished last in the semifinals. The gold medal went to teammate Lindy Remigino, whom he’d beaten in the U.S. t

“I have no alibi,” Bragg told reporters.

“That sounds like Art,” said Tignor Douglass, a longtime friend. “He never made excuses for anything.”

Douglass, 86, of Henderson, Nev., grew up in West Baltimore and met Bragg in grade school.

“On the playground, we’d race from fence to fence and Art always beat everyone,” said Douglass, a retired engineer. “He was outgoing but not boisterous, and well-liked.”

Helena Hicks, 84, played with Bragg as a child and remembered her cousin as “a runner forever. He was always saying, ‘I can get to the store before you’ or, ‘I’ll beat you to the corner.’ 

In a 1952 interview with the Baltimore Afro-American, Bragg’s father, Arthur, recalled the time his 5-year-old just took off running.

“We were walking one morning in Harlem Square,” he said. “All of a sudden he said, ‘Daddy, I’m going to do something,’ and with that, he broke away and ran. I tried to catch him but the kid was running so fast that I gave up the chase.”

Passersby, sensing some urgency, tried to corral the youngster, to no avail. Finally, the father said, his son stopped and “a young woman who had seen it all said, ‘That boy has what it takes to be a great runner someday.’ 

Bragg ran track at Douglass ,High  before attending Morgan State,where he teamed with celebrated athletes like George Rhoden, who won two gold medals in the 1952 Olympics (400 meters and 4x400-meter relay) and Josh Culbreath, a hurdler who won a bronze in 1956. Bragg continued running after college until 1956, when he moved to California to work as a deputy probation officer for Los Angeles County until his retirement in 1993.

A 1974 inductee of the Morgan State Athletic Hall of Fame, he was enshrined a year later into the Maryland State Athletic Hall of Fame.

Bragg stayed active almost to the end, said his wife of 48 years.

“He took a bad fall in January but, prior to that, he was walking as much as three miles a day,” she said. “He didn’t look 87. His body was firm and strong, and he always had handsome legs.”

During the months of recovery that followed, Maria Bragg said, her husband “changed the attitudes of many patients [in physical therapy] with his upbeat attitude. To one downhearted woman who walked by, Art said, ‘Would you save the next dance for me?’ Everyone broke out laughing, and she appreciated that.”

Bragg never forgot a face, his wife said, but his memory was a double-edged sword when he harked back to the 1952 Olympics.

“It always brought sadness to his mind, knowing he’d come so close to his chance to excel before that terrible injury,” she said. “It was something he was never quite able to rise above.” by Mike Klingamen, Baltimore Sun Aug. 28, 2018.

Debbie Thompson (Brown)  1964 Olympics, 200 m , eliminated in lst round

Died Nov 17 2019 age 77

Edith McGuire, Wyomia Tyus, Pam Kilborn, Debbie Thompson Brown indoors

Summoning a burst of energy, sprinter Debbie Thompson Brown unleashed a late surge. When she ran like this, monumental things happened. Races were won, stopwatches displayed unbelievable times, national and world records fell. By finishing second in the 200-meter dash at the U.S. Olympic Trials that day, she earned a spot on the United States Olympic track and field team for the 1964 Games in Tokyo.

Thompson Brown, the only Frederick County native to compete for the United States in the Olympics, and a longtime youth track and field coach in Frederick, died Sunday. She was 72. Thompson Brown’s name is on a relatively short list of Frederick County Maryland athletes who reached their sport’s top tier. And she, along with Frederick Track and Field Club teammate Tammy Davis Thompson and coach Jack Griffin, helped put Frederick on the map in the world of track and field.

The first inkling of Thompson Brown’s world-class potential came when her rare speed was discovered in a school fitness test. Eventually, the unbeatable combination of her natural talent, training and drive yielded milestones that seemed improbable coming from someone who grew up in tiny Frederick.

As a 15-year-old, she broke the world indoor 60-yard dash record held by Wilma Rudolph, an Olympian she emulated, with a time of 6.7 seconds. At Tokyo she was eliminated in the first round of the 200.

by john Cannon Frederick News Post  Nov. 21, 2019

At 17, still a student at Frederick HighSchool, she was one of the youngest members of the U.S. team at the 1964 Olympics, where she was eliminated in the first round of the 200-meter dash.

Jarred Rome 2004 and 2012 Olympics, Discus, 13th in 2004 and 31st in 2012. 

Died Sept 21, 2019 age 42. Two-time Olympic discus thrower Jarred Rome was found dead on Saturday in his hometown in Northern Washington, just days after he was inducted into Snohomish County Sports Hall of Fame.

Rome was a member of Team USA for the 2004 Olympics in Athens and the 2012 Olympics in London. The two-time USA Outdoor champion also won a silver medal at the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico. Rome, who graduated from Boise State in 2000, also won a silver medal at the 1997 NCAA Outdoor Championships.

Rome was inducted into the Snohomish County (Washington) Sports Hall of Fame on Wednesday night. His sister told the Herald that he went out with friends at a casino in town on Friday night, but wasn’t feeling well. People checked in on him repeatedly during the night, but he was found unresponsive on Saturday morning.

Investigators are still working to determine his cause of death.

“I had lots of failure,” Rome said at the Hall of Fame induction ceremony, via the Herald. “I was never the top thrower in high school, I was never the top thrower in college. I considered myself to be the hardest worker. I never had the talent, I frankly never believed I could make the national team, that was never a goal of mine. The support I had shows tonight from the family and friends who are here, without your support I would never be here.”

Ted Vogel winning Yonkeers Marathon 1947

Ted Vogel leading runners out of Olympic Stadium London 1948

Ted Vogel 1948 Olympics, marathon finished 14th.  Died Sept 27, 2019 age 94.

from seacoastonline.com  by Susan Putney  September 24, 2019

DOVER -- Ted Vogel has had a remarkable past, and now he’s being celebrated by Langdon Place, his residence of five years. The 94-year-old is one of Dover’s Olympic heroes and a man who has been supported and revered by the New England running community for decades.

He was discovered by the legendary runner Johnny “Jock” Semple while a student at St. Mary’s in Waltham, Massachusetts, according to Langdon Place. Semple and Vogel served together in the war where Semple was a chief petty officer and Vogel was specialized in naval communications.

During his heyday, Vogel was one of the top runners in the United States. In 1947, he was third at the Boston Marathon and won the Yonkers Marathon. In 1948, he finished second in the Boston Marathon, going head to head with Canadian legend Gerald Cote for the lead during the final miles of the race. Also in 1948, he became the 10,000-meter national champion.

At the 1948 Olympics held in London, Vogel made the U.S. Olympic team and finished 14th in the marathon, the top American.

After he settled in Dover in 1984, he ran local races and was a state record holder in New Hampshire 5K when he was in his 70s. In 1998, he ran one of his final races with the nuns at the St. Charles Children’s Home in Rochester which transitioned to a children’s day school in 2013.

Ted Vogel and his wife, Jean, whom he married in 1996, have called Langdon Place of Dover home since May 2014. During Olympic events, he always wore his USA sweatshirt and waved an American flag proudly to cheer on USA athletes. During Summer Olympic events, he was especially vocal cheering on the USA track team runners and happily reminiscing about his own Olympic experience to residents.

Sadly, many of those memories have faded, according to Langdon Place. In 2008 he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and now resides in the memory unit. His wife Jean has become his biggest cheerleader, happily displaying clippings and photos of Vogel in his running days to guests who visit. She also has his collection of running shoes, which look archaic compared to those worn by athletes today, and proudly has photos of his Olympic marathon framed on the walls of her home.

“Seacoast area residents in general, and residents of Langdon Place of Dover still proudly salute Ted Vogel, our hometown Olympic hero,” said a spokesman.

V 10 N. 6 The New Shoe Wars or Vapor Fly vs. the World

February 6, 2020, 7:55 pm

≫ Next: V 10 N. 7 Update on What's Happening with Doping in Track and Field

≪ Previous: V 10 N. 5 World Indoor Champs Postponed due to Corona Virus and other News

$

0

0

Today, a guitar picking friend and occasional runner sent me an article on the controversy stirred by the Nike Vapor Fly shoe.

If you wish to read the story which is considered a 'long read' in today's world,  anything longer than 3 minutes is a 'long read', you can find it at   How Nike Broke Running  written by Matt Burgess at wired.co.uk.  

I cannot say I entirely agree with Mr. Burgess' beliefs, but the article is well worth reading and may help you form your own opinion about technology and sport.  

Burgess starts off with recounting how the swimming world was affected by the development of swim gear in the form of lycra suits that reduced drag in the water and increased bouyancy of the swimmers, resulting in a crushing of almost every world record in swimming and that have not been surpassed once the international swimming federation decided that those suits would no longer be legal and swimmers would have to go back to shaving their bodies to reduce any bio-drag.  

It is fairly well accepted that the Vapor Fly with its superior construction using carbon fiber inserts and a very high energy return midsole and heel and heel thickness has increased a runner's prospects by 4%.  No one seems to be arguing this specific.  One other consideration is that 'slow' runners may actually get even better than 4% improvement, but they are not going to be setting world records.   

Swimming has allowed the suit-assisted records to stand, and they may well be  broken eventually, but not much has happened in WR setting since the suits went out of competition.  

Now what shall be done about new shoe technology?   World Athletics  have stated that any more new design technology will be disallowed in the immediate future (until after the Olympics) , or maybe until Nike's competitors catch up.  And they, the other shoe companies, are trying to do this.  It is reported that some runners on contract with other brands as sponsors are training in Vapor Fly's and disguising them by painting them another color.  But they surely will not be able to race in the Vapor Fly for money without breaking their contracts with Brooks, New Balance et al.  

If you follow auto racing, you will recall that after many races the cars must undergo a tech inspection after a race to determine if any rules were broken.  This may be the next stage in road racing.  The runners who finish at the top may have their shoes impounded to see if there is any illegal technology in the shoe.  If there is they will be DQ'd or at least not get their money.  Then the next runners moving up the ladder in the results may have to have their shoes inspected.   That is a job I would not like to do, inspecting sweaty post marathon shoes.  Especially in this day of the Corona Virus.


Then how does a guy who is not sponsored and does not have a lot of money to pay $400 for a pair of high tech shoes go up against a guy with the 'diamonds on the soles of his heels' as Paul Simon once wrote.    At my age and speed (ever) I don't think I would have dropped that kind of money for 4%.  I would just have compared myself to others by adding 4% to their times.    The more difficult challenge would be to run side by side with someone you're pretty sure you can beat, but he has the Vapor Flys on his feet and you don't.  There has to be a psychological burden on the runner with the 'ordinary shoes'.

You may recall that fifty-one years ago a similar advantage came with the advent of the all weather tracks.  Puma developed the Brush Spike on which several WR's were made and they, the shoes,  were quickly disallowed.   The following article appeared in Puma Catch Up  Puma's employee magazine Sept. 22, 2014

The PUMA Brush Spikes with 68 needle-like spikes.

How 68 Spikes Scared Off the Competition

It was at the time that Tartan Tracks came on the scene.  Synthetic track surfacing produced a huge advantage.  It let athletes compete in bad weather without worsening their performances.The only bad thing was that regular spikes made for cinder tracks got stuck in the new surface.  Puma did not wait for long and invented the Brush Spike- shoes that came with 68 needle-like spikes in the front of the sole that provided excellent grip on Tartan tracks.

Some athletes happily started to wear them and suddenly one world record after the other came in. With 19.92 seconds US athlete John Carlos was the fastest man over 200 metres at the US Olympic trials in the summer of 1968. His compatriot Vince Matthews clocked in 44,4 seconds over 400 metres two weeks prior to the US Olympic trials.

This was too much for Adidas. They heavily intervened and the IAAF banned the Brush Spikes before the Summer Olympics 1968 in Mexico City. The excuse was a lame one: The spikes would damage the tracks.

Rumour, however, has it that Adidas was frantically trying to copy those innovative PUMA spikes that propelled athletes to world best times. But they were not successful and in order to gain some time, Adidas wanted to have the shoes banned. Adi Dassler sent a representative to visit the IAAF in the Netherlands. The man is said to have paid a total of 75,000 DM to IAAF officials in order have the rules changed.

The world records of John Carlos and Vince Matthews were negated. And up to this date, running shoes must not have more than six spikes.

As I'm writing the piece above,  the following article appears on The Guardian for Feb. 6, 2020.

World Athletics Denies Tipping Off Nike Over New Shoe Regs.

US Company Produced 39.5mm Heel Days After Limit Set at 40

'We Could Look at Our Regs Again' Says World Athletics Spokesman

Wor

Sean Ingle

 @seaningle

Thu 6 Feb 2020 21.30 GMTFirst published on Thu 6 Feb 2020 17.24 GMT

World Athletics has insisted it will not let running-shoe technology spiral further out of control despite the release of another “gamechanging” Nike marathon shoe on Wednesday.Track and field’s governing body also rejected claims that the US company might have had advanced warning of its new regulations, announced last Friday, after the company’s new Air Zoom Alphafly Next% with a 39.5mm heel slipped just inside the new limit of 40mm.

A World Athletics spokesperson told the Guardian: “We spoke to several shoe companies, including Nike, a few days before we released our new shoe regulations to let them know what we were planning. But that was the extent of it.”

The spokesperson added that its regulations may yet change if a large scientific project – which is due to report back by the end of the year – finds that any one shoe has too much of an advantage.

“The working group created the rules based on what is already readily available,” the spokesperson said. “We are now conducting detailed scientific research that will be finished this year on all the new shoes on the market to determine the extent to which they can improve performance.

“If in the process of that research we found that a certain shoe gave too much energy return compared to others on the market, say, we would look at our regulations again.”

Nike’s Vaporfly shoe has revolutionised marathon running since it was introduced in 2016, with both Eliud Kipchoge and Brigid Kosgei setting world records wearing them. However the Alphafly is rumoured to be another great leap forward, with some suggesting it could improve running economy by 7‑8% compared to the 4‑5% offered by the Vaporfly.

Oh well, somehow we'll all manage to get through this, and if the Japanese manage to control the Corona Virus and keep it off their islands, maybe we will see the Olympics this summer, if all the athletes from all over the world can get past Japanese health inspections and immigration formalities.  George Brose

George 

I just think that Nike is being punished for being innovative. 

I believe that as Nike’s competitors are allowed to use the same materials and similar design features the shoes should be allowed. My major objection is that the cost of vapor fly shoes and their life span are a real hindrance to the average none sponsored athlete makes buying vapor fly shoes prohibitive! 

Nike is employing materials technology that has been used in graphite fishing rods for over forty years. And in vaulting poles for 30-40 years.

John Bork

 The questions is always what crosses the line?  Did the brush spike cross the line or was it that Carlos and Matthews were the wearers of those shoes?  Did fiberglass poles cross the line or was that just an invention whose day has come?  Same question for swimming suits, anabolic steroids, pools with better gutters, tracks with better surfaces, shoes with better return of energy even if they yield more than they produce? 

   Maybe the answer is nothing crosses the line because that is the direction we are headed.  If you look at professional halls of fame, MLB requires character and competitive fairness whereas the NFL has no restrictions whatsoever other than performance.  Those two camps define those two halls of fame and I suspect they address these track and swimming issues as well.  Bill Schier