by RBR Admin
Walt Murphy is one of the finest track geeks 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: [email protected] ) for the entire daily service. We will post a few historic moments each day, beginning February 1, 2024.
by Walt Murphy’s News and Results Service ([email protected]), used with permission
This Day in Track & Field–September 27
1922—Sweden’s Sven Lundgren set a World Record of 2:28.6 for 1000-meters on the 385-meter track in Stockholm.
WR Progression: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1000_metres_world_record_progression
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sven_Lundgren
1925—Finland’s Jonni Myyrä, who won his 2nd consecutive Olympic gold medal in the Javelin in 1924, threw a personal best of 224-11 (68.55) in Richmond,CA. Since the meet was not sanctioned by the AAU, the mark was not recognized as a World Record.
His Olympic success made Myyrä a hero in his native Finland, but it was later discovered after he emigrated to the U.S. that he had been involved in some questionable decisions in his role as a bank manager that had a detrimental effect on local businesses and individuals.
There was a recognized World Record set in Turku, Finland, on this date, as Norway’s Charles Hoff raised his own 6-week old standard in the Pole Vault from 13-10 ½ (4.23) to 13-11 ¼ (4.25). It was the 4th World Record of his career. An all-around athlete, Hoff competed in the 400 and 800 at the 1924 Olympics.
WR Progression(PV): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men%27s_pole_vault_world_record_progression
Myyrä: https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/67712
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonni_Myyrä
Hoff: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Hoff
1955—The Soviet Union’s Albert Ivanov ran 1:17:34.0 for 25,000-Meters in Moscow to break the previous World Record of 1:19:11.8 that was set by Czech Emil Zátopek in 1952. Zátopek would regain the record a month later by running 1:16:36.4.
1958—An English team of Mike Blagrove (4:05.4), Peter Clark (4:06.6), Derek Ibbotson (4:08.6), and Brian Hewson (4:10.0) set a World Record of 16:30.6 in the 4-Mile Relay at White City Stadium in London.
Hewson, one of the first men to break 4-minutes for the mile when he ran 3:59.8 in 1955, passed away in 2022 at the age of 89.
1980—The new Jumbo Elliott Track at Villanova was dedicated during the Wildcats’ football game with Boston College. Among the many Olympians on hand who competed for the legendary coach were gold medalists Ron Delany, Charlie Jenkins, Paul Drayton, and Don Bragg.
1988–This was supposed to be a day of rest at the Seoul Olympics. A chance for fans to reflect on the first five days of competition that produced Jackie Joyner-Kersee’s 4th (and final) World Record in the Heptathlon (7,291), repeat Olympic wins for Carl Lewis and Roger Kingdom in the Long Jump and 110-hurdles, respectively, Flo-Jo’s win in the Women’s 100, and a great Men’s 100 that saw Canadian Ben Johnson beat Lewis with a new World Record of 9.79.
And the off-day was going to offer those of us who were working on the NBC production crew a chance to get an extra hour or two of sleep and maybe take care of some laundry needs.
But that all changed in the early morning hours as the word started to spread that Johnson had failed his drug test and would be disqualified! I received a call at about 6am from Pete Cava, who was working with NBC as an Olympic researcher. Announcers Charlie Jones, Frank Shorter, and Dwight Stones were going to discuss the breaking news with Bryant Gumbel and Jane Pauley, who were serving as the hosts for NBC’s broadcast, and Producer John Gonzalez told me to go with them to offer any background information if the need arose. Since a press conference was scheduled to take place at the Seoul Hilton, where we were staying, I asked fellow researcher Ed Gordon to monitor that in case any further developments came up.
When we arrived on the NBC set, Gumbel, realizing the gravity of the situation, put everyone at ease by saying, “All right, boys and girls, let’s have some fun with this”. The segment went as well as could be expected, but there was no fun on the minds of those of us who were deeply involved in the sport.
This would turn out to be our “Day of Infamy”, a day when the general public’s perception of our sport was changed forever. Up until this point, most people looked upon T&F as a pure amateur sport, one in which athletes did all the right things as they pursued their Olympic dreams. Johnson’s subsequent trial and admission of guilt meant that things would never be the same again.
Sports Illustrated Vault:
Coach Comes Clean: https://vault.si.com/vault/1989/03/13/a-dirty-coach-comes-clean
2000—Running out of the dreaded lane one, Angelo Taylor still managed to win the Men’s 400-Meter Hurdles at the Sydney Olympics, setting a personal best of 47.50. He needed an Olympian lean to defeat Hadi Soua’an Somayli of Saudi Arabia, who ran 47.53. South Africa’s Llewellyn Herbert (47.81) beat out American James Carter (48.04) for the bronze medal.
Taylor, who would win his 2nd gold medal in the event 8 years later in Beijing, followed in the footsteps of Uganda’s John Akii-Bua, who also won the 400-hurdles out of lane one at the 1972 Games in Munich.
While Taylor was already well-known in the event, that wasn’t the case for Russia’s Irina Privalova, one of the world’s best sprinters throughout the 1990s. A rookie in the Women’s 400-hurdles, Privalova won the gold medal with a personal best time of 53.02 and beat Jamaica’s Deon Hemmings (53.45), the defending champion, in the process. 3rd was Morocco’s Nezha Bidouane (53.57), who would win her 2nd World title the following year.
After a surprisingly slow first 400 (53.43), all 8 finalists in the Men’s 800-Meters were in contention at the end of the final backstretch. Italy’s Andrea Longo edged ahead on the turn, but crowded Switzerland’s André Bucher, forcing him to take a few strides in the infield. Longo was still in front midway through the homestretch, but faded to 6th and was later disqualified for his earlier foul on Bucher. Meanwhile, Germany’s Nils Schumann (1:45.08) had taken the lead and was able to hold off the late rush by Denmark’s Wilson Kipketer (1:45.14), the World Record holder. Algeria’s Djabir Saïd-Guerni (1:45.18) won the bronze medal.
Winning gold and bronze in the Women’s Discus were Belarus’s Ellina Zvereva (224-5 [68.40]) and Iryna Yatchenko
(213-11 [65.20]), with Greece’s Anastasía Kelesídou (215-7 [65.71]) winning the silver medal.
Kazakhstan’s Olga Shishigina (12.65) edged Nigeria’s Glory Alozie (12.68) to win the Women’s 100-Meter Hurdles, with American Melissa Morrison (12.76) winning the bronze medal.
Gail Devers, a 2-time gold medalist in the 100-Meters (1992,1996), continued to have hard luck in the hurdles at the Olympics as she pulled up with a sore hamstring in her semi-final race. Devers had tripped over the final hurdle while leading in the final at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona.
Sergey Bubka’s Olympic problems also continued as the 6-time World Champion no-heighted in the qualifying round of the Men’s Pole Vault. After winning gold at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, he no-heighted in the final in Barcelona in 1992 and an injury kept him out of the 1996 Games in Atlanta.
http://tinyurl.com/NYT-AngeloTaylor2000
Results: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_2000_Summer_Olympics
Videos: M400h W400h M800 W100h
2019—The World Championships opened up in Doha, Qatar, with the Women’s Marathon starting at midnight to avoid the stifling heat (finishing on the 28th), but it was still 90 degrees (32c) with 72% humidity as the race began. In a survival of the fittest affair, Kenya’s Ruth Chepngetich emerged as the winner in 2:32:43, the slowest winning time in World Championship (and Olympic) history. 2nd was Bahrain’s (and Kenya’s) Rose Chelimo (2:33:46), the defending champion, and Helalia Johannes (2:34:15) won the bronze medal, the first for a Namibian woman at the Worlds.
41-year old Roberta Groner (2:38:44), a mother of 3 sons and a full-time nursing supervisor, who is coached by Steve Magness, was the top American finisher, collecting $6,000 in prize money for placing 6th!
Only 40 of the original 68 starters were able to finish the race.
Medalists/Results: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_World_Athletics_Championships
Video(Full Race): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZRE8_VEODk
T&F News Coverage(for subscribers)
Marathon: https://trackandfieldnews.com/article/world-champs-womens-marathon-hot-from-the-get-go/
