by RBR Admin
Walt Murphy is one of the finest track statisticians that I know. Walt does #ThisDayinTrack&FieldHistory, an excellent daily service that provides true geek stories about our sport. You can check out the service for FREE with a free one-month trial subscription! (email: WaltMurphy44@gmail.com ) for the entire daily service. We will post a few historic moments each day, beginning February 1, 2024.
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This Day in Track & Field–July 19
1900— Michel Théato (2:59:45), a native of Luxembourg who was representing France, used his knowledge of the city’s streets gained while working as a baker’s delivery boy to help him win the Marathon at the Paris Olympics. Silver and bronze went to France’s Émile Champion (3:04:17) and Sweden’s Ernst Fast (3:37:14/took a wrong turn). Because some of Théato’s competitors accused him of taking shortcuts along the course, it wasn’t until 1912, after the allegations were disproved, that he finally received his gold medal.
With temperatures reaching 100 degrees (39c), only 6 of the 13 entries finished the race.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Théato
https://www.olympedia.org/results/56066
1953—The Soviet Union’s Leonid Shcherbakov set a World Record of 53-3 (16.23) in the Triple Jump in Moscow.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_jump_world_record_progression
1957–Only three years earlier, Roger Bannister became the first man in history to break four-minutes for the Mile. In this race in London’s White City Stadium, a planned world-record attempt, four men broke the once-impenetrable barrier, led by Great Britain’s Derek Ibbotson, who broke John Landy’s mark of 3:58.0 with his winning time of 3:57.2. Ibbotson, the 1956 Olympic bronze medalist at 5000-meters, was followed across the line by Ireland’s Ron Delany (3:58.8), the gold medalist in the 1500-meters at the Melbourne Olympics, Czech Stanislav Jungwirth (3:59.1), who had set a great World Record of 3:38.1 for 1500-meters just a week earlier, and Brit Ken Wood (3:59.3). (In 1955, 3 men-László Tábori, Chris Chataway and Brian Hewson-had broken 4-minutes on this same track).
At Ibbotson’s request, fellow Brit Ken Blagrove set a fast pace, running splits of 55.3 and 1:55.8, with Jungwirth and Ibbotson following close behind. After Blagrove dropped out, Jungwirth found himself in the lead as the pace slowed to 3-minutes flat at the 3/4-split.
The popular “Ibbo”, who had come close to Landy’s record when he ran 3:58.4 in Glasgow on June 15 (breaking Bannister’s British and European record of 3:58.8), took over on the backstretch and pulled away for his convincing win. Delany, known for his potent kick, had trouble working his way out of a box and was never able to challenge Ibbotson.
Ibbotson and Blagrove became the first true 4-minute milers when they both ran 4:00.0 in London in 1958 in a race won by Australia’s Herb Elliott (3:55.4)!
Sports Illustrated Vault: https://vault.si.com/vault/1957/07/29/four-of-them-made-history
http://www.nuts.org.uk/trackstats/ibbotson.htm
https://www.athleticsweekly.com/athletics-news/derek-ibbotson-dies-aged-84-57936/
1959(18/19)–The setting was the 2nd U.S. vs USSR dual meet, held at Franklin Field in Philadelphia (home of the Penn Relays). The top mark of the first day (7-18) was the 63-2 ½ (19.265) “world record” by Parry O’Brien in the Shot Put (for some unknown reason, the mark was never submitted to the IAAF), but the most memorable event was the Men’s 10,000-meters. The temperature was in the mid-80s, and the humidity was close to 60%–great conditions for sprinters, not so much for distance runners. The race progressed without incident through the first 4-1/2 miles, with American Bob Soth splitting the Soviet duo of leader Aleksey Desyatchikov and Hubert Pyarnakivi and Max Truex, the 2nd American, trailing behind.
It was at this point that Soth began to show early signs of distress. He was able to maintain reasonable form through 5-miles, but then started that scary high-stepping gait of someone who is having serious problems with the heat. Moving backwards at times, Soth continued in this painful-to-watch manner for another three laps before collapsing on the track, his head narrowly missing the inside railing.
While officials attended to Soth, the race continued, with Desyatchikov, handling the heat the best of all, going on to what seemed to be an easy win (30:29.9). But, wait! As Desyatchikov approached the finish, the gun was fired, signaling another lap to go! With about a mile to go, the lap-counter flashed “4 to go” for Desyatchikov and Soth, who was just about to begin his “death march”, and then switched to five for Truex, who had been lapped. The official, who apparently got caught up in Soth’s plight, never returned the lap cards to the correct number, resulting in the confusion at the end. While Desyatchikov took his time completing his extra lap, Truex, knowing he was truly on his final go-round, put on a big finish to overtake Pyarnakivi to take 2nd.
However, mindful of what was going on, 1952 Olympic Steeplechase champion Horace Ashenfelter, working as an inspector, advised Truex to take another lap. Truex did so, then collapsed and joined Soth on a trip to the local hospital for treatment (neither suffered lasting after-effects).Finally, Pyranakivi, who also stopped at the right time, was awarded 2nd place over Truex, since officials assumed that he wouldn’t have run an extra lap if he didn’t think he had to. U.S. officials acknowledged their mistake the following day, but they let stand the original results.
There were many reasons for fans to travel to Philadelphia for this meet. There was the attraction of the American-Soviet rivalry at the height of the Cold War, plus a chance to see stars like Parry O’Brien, Ray Norton, Al Cantello, Hayes Jones, Tamara Press, Vasily Kuznetsov. Dyrol Burleson, Greg Bell, and a young Wilma Rudolph, who was just a year away from her 1960 Olympic glory in Rome. And not many people can say they saw future long-jump great Igor Ter-Ovanesyan compete in a Decathlon (he finished 4th-6853).
But what got my father, my brother Pete, and me (and a handful of other relatives) to make the drive from Brooklyn was another chance to see the family hero–my cousin, Tom Murphy. This wasn’t an easy decision to make, since another cousin in our family was getting married on the 19th, but she (Pat) had given us her blessing. In fact, she watched the 800-meters (which Tom won) on TV in her wedding gown before heading off to the church!
While the victory ceremony for the 800 was going on, Tom was under the stands going through his traditional post-race ritual of “dry-heaving” and was then informed that he was needed to run a leg on the 4×400 relay, which was less than an hour away. By race-time, a torrential downpour had saturated the cinder track, but the U.S., with a lineup of Dave Mills (47.4), Murphy(47.2), Jack Yerman(46.2), and Eddie Southern (46.2), still won easily in 3:07.0.
The Murphy clan then jumped into our cars and raced back to the wedding reception in New York and arrived just in time for dessert–another race well run!
From the Sports Illustrated Vault:
Report on the men’s team selection at the U.S. Championships
https://vault.si.com/vault/1959/06/29/37-men-to-beat-the-russians
“A handsome young Irishman from Manhattan parlayed courage and a fine tactical sense to victory in the 800-meter run, one of the finest races of the meet. Tom Murphy is a thick-legged, heavy-chested runner whose build precludes any hint of grace in his running style: watching him, you get a feeling of immense power but none of the silky smoothness of a runner like, say, (Bill) Dellinger.”
Meet Coverage: https://vault.si.com/vault/1959/07/27/victory-with-a-smile
10k: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypn6TzuD4hM
Soth: https://frontporch.net/olympic-runner-bob-soth-goes-for-the-gold-at-walnut-village/?print=print
1961—Wilma Rudolph won the 100-meters in 11.2 at the USA-West Germany dual meet in Stuttgart to take a tenth off the World Record she shared with Australia’s Shirley Strickland.
WR Progression: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women’s_100_metres_world_record_progression
1975—More than 25,000 fans turned out for the 2nd day of the USA-Pan Africa-West Germany tri-meet in Durham,NC (July 18,19).
Among the highlights:
Ethiopia’s Miruts “The Shifter” Yifter was a double winner, taking the 5000 (13:39.0) a day after finishing 1st in the 10,000(28:44.2).
Uganda’s John Akki-Bua, the 1972 Olympic champion, won the 400-Meter Hurdles in 48.95
Rick Wohlhuter won the 800-Meters in 1:44.1, falling just shy of the World Record of 1:43.7, set by Italy’s Marcello Fiasconaro in 1973.
1997—He didn’t quite get the attention Roger Bannister received when he broke the 4-minute barrier for the Mile in 1954, but Kenya’s Daniel Komen became the first man to run back-to-back sub-4s with his 7:58.61 clocking in Hechtel, Belgium. Finishing a distant 2nd was Bob Kennedy, who ran 8:11.59 to break Marc Davis’s 3-year old American Record of 8:12.74.
Komen, who went through the first mile in 3:59.8, received a $50,000 bonus for his effort, far short of the cool million that was offered to anyone breaking 8-minutes in Hengelo earlier in the season. That race was won by Haile Gebrselassie in 8:01.08. Komen had wanted to compete in that race, but his entry was “politely refused”.
The current World Record holder at 3000-meters (7:20.67), who ran 7:58.91 the following year, had been the only man to break the 8-minute barrier for 2-miles until Jakob Ingebrigtsen set a new WR of 7:54.10 on June 9, 2023. (From T&F News).
Video(Highlights): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOP15TyMSIk
All-Time List: http://www.alltime-athletics.com/m_2miok.htm
