This Day in Track & Field, August 31, 2010, by Walt Murphy, note by Larry Eder

August 31

1909–Running on a 368m track in a Stockholm velodrome, Sweden’s Thure Johansson improved the marathon best to 2:40:34.2.

1924–Paavo
Nurmi ran 30:06.2 in Kuopia, Finland, to regain the World Record for
10,000-meters from fellow Finn WIllie Ritola(30:23.2)

1961–Russia’s
Valeriy Brumel set his 3rd World Record of the season in the high jump
by at the clearing 7-4 1/2(2.25m) World University Games in Sofia,
Bulgaria.

1968–Competing
on the track at Echo Summit (South Lake Tahoe,CA) that would be used
for the U.S. Olympic Trials, Vince Matthews bettered the existing World
Record for 400-meters with his time of 44.4. However, his mark couldn’t
be officially recognized since he was wearing Puma’s illegal “Brush
Spikes”, which featured many more than the allowable number of spikes
allowed on a shoe. John Carlos(200) and Lee Evans(400) would lose
records for the same reason at the Trials.

1978–Italy’s
Sara Simeoni cleared 6-7(2.01m) at the European Championships in Prague
to equal her own World Record in the high jump.

1980–19-year
old Carl Lewis won the 100(10.43) and 200(20.72) at the Pan-American
Junior Championships in Sudbury, Ontario(Aug.29-31). Finishing 2nd in
both races was Calvin Smith (10.51, 20.94), who went on to become a
2-time World Champion in the 200 and a World Record holder in the 100.
Smith and Lewis ran legs 3-4 on the winning 4×100 relay(39.61). Lance
Deal, destined to become America’s #1 hammer thrower, won the discus
with a throw of 184-4. Another double winner was Brazil’s Joaquim
Cruz, who won the 800(1:47.85) and 1500(3:49.96). Cruz would win the
800 at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. 2nd in the 800 was John
Marshall, later a 1984 Olympian. Finishing 1-2 in the women’s 800 were
future stars Joetta Clark(2:05.65) and Kim Gallagher(2:06.52. And who
knew then that the winner of the women’s long jump would become one of
the greatest athletes in history? Jackie Joyner, who had just completed
her senior year at East St.Louis H.S. in Illinois, finished first with
a jump of 20-3 1/4..

1983–The
incomparable Edwin Moses celebrated his 28th birthday in style, running
47.02 in Koblenz, Germany, to set his 4th (and final) world record in
the 400-meter hurdles. Moses, currently the Chairman of the Laureus World Sports Academy(http://www.laureus.com/),
set his first WR(47.64) at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, his
2nd(47.45) at the 1977 U.S. Championships in Los Angeles, and his
3rd(47.13) in Milan, Italy, in 1980. His reign as world record holder
lasted for 16 years until Kevin Young took over when he ran 46.78 at
the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona.
http://www.edwinmoses.com/;
Hall of Fame Bio: http://www.usatf.org/HallOfFame/TF/showBio.asp?HOFIDs=116

1984–Rome–France’s
Thierry Vigneron jumped 19-4 3/4(5.91m) in Rome to break Sergei
Bubka’s World Record of 19-4 1/4(5.90m) , but lost the win and the
record to Bubka, who missed once at 19-4 3/4, then passed to 19-5
3/4(5.94m) , clearing on his first attempt.

2003–18-year
old Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya(12:52.79) was the upset winner in a
thrilling 5000-meters at the World Championships in Paris(St.Denis).
Morocco’s Hicham El Guerrouj(12:52.83) and Ethiopia’s Kenenisa
Bekele(12:53.12) had already won the 1500 and 10,000, respectively, and
were hoping to come away with a 2nd gold medal in the 500
T&F News Cover(October)–     http://www.trackandfieldnews.com/archive/past_issues/2003covers.html

          Other events in history(http://www.historyorb.com/day/August/31)
          1897 – Thomas Edison patented his movie camera (Kinetograph)
                    http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/edhtml/edmvhist.html
          1950 – Brooklyn Dodger Gil Hodges hits 4 HRs & a single in a game vs Braves
                    http://www.gilhodges.com/index.php;
                    http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/hodgegi01.shtml;
                    (The greatest player NOT in the Hall of Fame!–WM)
          1951 – 1st 33 1/3 album introduced in Dusseldorf
          1959 – L.A. Dodger Sandy Koufax strikes out 18 against the San Francisco Giants to tie
                         Bob Feller’s Major League record.
                         http://www.thebaseballpage.com/players/koufasa01.php;
                         YouTube Videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEEmXbalUsA

                    More at: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do
          The #1 song on this day in history–1890s to present:
          http://www.joshhosler.biz/NumberOneInHistory/08/0831.htm

Author

Larry Eder
Larry Eder has had a 52-year involvement in the sport of athletics. Larry has experienced the sport as an athlete, coach, magazine publisher, and now, journalist and blogger. His first article, on Don Bowden, America's first sub-4 minute miler, was published in RW in 1983. Larry has published several magazines on athletics, from American Athletics to the U.S. version of Spikes magazine. He currently manages the content and marketing development of the RunningNetwork, The Shoe Addicts, and RunBlogRun. Of RunBlogRun, his daily pilgrimage with the sport, Larry says: "I have to admit, I love traveling to far away meets, writing about the sport I love, and the athletes I respect, for my readers at runblogrun.com, the most of anything I have ever done, except, maybe running itself." Also does some updates for BBC Sports at key events, which he truly enjoys. Theme song: Greg Allman, " I'm no Angel."
View all posts