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: [email protected] ) for the entire daily service. We will post a few historic moments each day, beginning February 1, 2024.
Track & Field History is copyrighted by Walt Murphy News and Results Services, and all rights are reserved. RunBlogRun uses this content with permission.
This Day in Track & Field–September 7
1934—The inaugural European Championships began in Turin, Italy, and continued through September 9th.
Finland’s Matti Järvinen, the gold medalist at the 1932 Olympics, provided the main highlight on the opening day, setting his 9th World Record in the Javelin with his winning throw of 251-6 (76.66). He would set his 10th (and final) WR the following year (253-4 [77.23]).
Italy’s Luigi Beccali, another reigning Olympic Champion, won the 1500-Meters in 3:54.6.
Missing from the list of the 15 countries that competed were the Soviet Union, which had not yet become a member of the IAAF, and Great Britain, which refused to participate since traditionally it considered the competitive season as ending on the first Sunday in August!
Medalists: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1934_European_Athletics_Championships
Results: https://www.european-athletics.com/historical-data/calendar-results/6980719
History: https://www.european-athletics.com/competitions/european-athletics-championships/past-editions
1960–Al Oerter’s eventual status as one of the “gods” of the sport was in serious trouble as the Discus entered the 5th round at the Rome Olympics. Teammate Rink Babka was leading with his 1st-round toss of 190-4 (58.02), with defending champion Oerter standing in 2nd with a best of 189-1 (57.64m). But Oerter, thanks to some advice given to him by his good friend Babka, came through in fine style, throwing an Olympic record of 194-2 (59.18) to lock up the 2nd of his 4 straight gold medals. It was a U.S. sweep, with Babka winning the silver medal over teammate Dick Cochran(187-10 [57.26]).
Don “Tarzan” Bragg set an Olympic Record of 15-5 (4.70m) in the Pole Vault, while U.S. teammate Ron Morris won the silver medal with a jump of 15-1 (4.60), and the bronze went to Finland’s Eeles Landström (14-11 [4.55]). Rolando Cruz, like Bragg a Villanova Wildcat, finished 4th (on misses) for Puerto Rico. It’s been reported that Bragg let loose his signature Tarzan yell from the victory stand!
Bragg grew up in New Jersey emulating the print and movie character Tarzan by swinging on ropes in his backyard. His childhood fantasy became reality when he actually played the King of the Jungle in a movie, that, unfortunately, was never released! He would regale ensuing generations of vaulters with his stories and, of course, would treat them to the famous Tarzan yell.
The Women’s 800-Meters, back at the Olympics for the 1st time since 1928, was won by the Soviet Union’s Lyudmila Shevtsova, who equaled her own World Record of 2:04.3. She edged Australia’s Brenda Jones (2:04.4) for the gold and the bronze went to East Germany’s Ursula Donath (2:05.6). 18-year old Dixie Willis of Australia was leading when she stepped on the curb with 70-meters to go in the race and stopped running. She eventually got back on the track, finishing in about 2:27.5.
Great Britain’s Donald Thompson set an Olympic record in the Men’s 50k-walk (4:25:30.0). It was sweet redemption for Thompson, who was one of several men who dropped out of the 50k walk four years earlier due to the extreme heat at the Melbourne Olympics. Angry at himself for not finishing the race in Melbourne, he had turned his London-area apartment into a steam chamber, and exercised in it (somehow) through intense heat to prepare for the heat of Rome! (From Elliott Denman, who was 11th in the Melbourne race!)
And Pat Butcher adds, “…as I understand it, he simply filled the bath with boiling water, closed the door and windows, and walked on the spot in the bathroom for hours; replenishing the water as it cooled”.
Medalists: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_1960_Summer_Olympics
Olympedia Reports: http://www.olympedia.org/editions/15/sports/ATH
WR Progression(W800): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/800_metres_world_record_progression
Videos: W800 MPV MDT(4 golds/commentary by Oerter)
Thompson: https://www.worldathletics.org/heritage/news/don-thompson-1960-olympic-50km-race-walk
Other Bragg Links
NY Times Obituary: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/18/obituaries/don-bragg-dead.html
(2003 article): http://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/WHERE-ARE-THEY-NOW-Don-Bragg-Bragg-lives-out-2666334.php
Photos: http://tinyurl.com/BraggPhotos “I Don’t Make a Good Pet”(1980-SI)
1963–Belgium’s Gaston Roelants ran 8:29.6 in Leuven, France, to set a World Record in the Men’s Steeplechase.
WR Progression: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steeplechase_(athletics)
Sports Illustrated Vault(1967): https://vault.si.com/vault/1967/07/17/fleming-with-a-flair
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaston_Roelants
1972–The Olympic T&F schedule in Munich was pushed back a day to accommodate a memorial service inside the main stadium for the slain Israelis.
Vince Matthews (44.66) and Wayne Collett (44.80) finished 1-2 in the Men’s 400, but teammate John Smith couldn’t overcome an injured hamstring and pulled up in the first 100-meters. When the race was over, Collett and Matthews helped Smith make his way off the track. The bronze medal was won by Kenya’s Patrick Sang (44.92).
With the memory of the Tommie Smith-John Carlos protest from 4 years earlier still fresh in everyone’s mind, Matthews and Collett were barred from further Olympic competition because of their “relaxed” attitude during the medal ceremony.
Collett succumbed to cancer in 2010 at the age of 60. From his NY Times obituary (see link below): “Collett defended his actions many times. ‘I couldn’t stand there and sing the words because I don’t believe they’re true’, he once said, adding, ‘I believe we have the potential to have a beautiful country, but I don’t think we do.’
In 2002, he told The Los Angeles Times: “I love America. I just don’t think it’s lived up to its promise. I’m not anti-American at all. To suggest otherwise is to not understand the struggles of blacks in America at the time.”
American Rod Milburn edged France’s Guy Drut (13.34) for the gold medal in the 110-meter hurdles and set a World Record of 13.24. Thomas Hill won the bronze medal (13.48). Under the rules in effect at the time, Milburn’s time was rounded to 13.2, which equaled the World Record held jointly by Germany’s Martin Lauer and Americans Lee Calhoun, Earl McCullouch, and Willie Davenport. Milburn’s 13.24 was acknowledged as the sole World Record when the IAAF started recognizing auto-times in 1977.
The Soviet Union’s Nadezhda Chizhova, the bronze medalist in 1968, set the 7th (of her 9) World Record of her career while winning the Women’s Shot Put with a toss of 69-0 [21.03]). 2nd and 3rd were East Germany’s Margitta Gummel (66-4 ¼ [20.22]), the 1968 gold medalist, and Bulgaria’s Ivanka Khristova (63-6 [19.35]).
East Germany’s Renate Stecher won the Women’s 200-Meters in the official time of 22.4 (22.40), equaling the World Record set by Taipei’s Chi Cheng in 1970. Pressing Stecher down the homestretch was Australia’s Raelene Boyle (22.45), who won the silver medal for the 2nd Games in a row. Poland’s Irena Kirszenstein-Szewińska (22.74) won the bronze to complete her set of Olympic medals in the event, having won silver in 1964 and gold in 1968!
East Germany’s Monika Zehrt won the Women’s 400-Meters with an Olympic Record time of 51.08, and 2nd went to West Germany’s Rita Whilden (51.21). Kathy Hammond won the bronze medal and set an American Record of 51.64. It was the 4th time in Munich that the AR had been lowered. Mable Ferguson, who finished 5th (51.96) in the final, ran 52.05 in the first round (9-2), and then Hammond ran 51.92 in the first semi-final (9-4), only to have Ferguson regain the record, at least for a few days, by running 51.91 in the 2nd semi.
Medalists in the Men’s Hammer were the Soviet Union’s (and Ukraine’s) Anatoliy Bondarchuk (247-8 [75.50], East
Germany’s Jochen Sachse (245-11 [74.96]), Soviet Union’s (and Belarus’s) Vasiliy Khmelevskiy (242-11 [74.04])
Medalists/Results: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_1972_Summer_Olympics
W200: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQkbsu_wUYg
Collett Obituaries:
NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/18/sports/18collett.html
LA Times: http://tinyurl.com/2vc5p2y
WR Progressions:
M110h: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men%27s_110_metres_hurdles_world_record_progression
W200: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_200_metres_world_record_progression
My Race Be Won(Matthews book with Neil Amdur):
http://www.amazon.com/My-race-won-Vincent-Matthews/dp/0883270234
Ceremony Photos: http://tinyurl.com/MatthewsCollettCeremony
1985—Mary Decker Slaney ran 8:25.83 at the first Mobil Grand Prix Final in front of 58,000 fans in Rome to set an American Outdoor Record for 3000-meters. Finishing 2nd in 8:27.83 was Romania’s Maricia Puică, the 1984 Olympic gold medalist in the event, and 3rd in 8:28.83 (a World Junior Record at the time) was 19-year old Zola Budd-Pieterse, who was the key figure in Slaney’s spectacular fall in the previous year’s Olympic final. Slaney’s record stood for 39 years until Elise Cranny ran 8:25.20 in 2024. (Alicia Monson set an American Indoor Record of 8:25.05 in 2023).
A 2nd American Record was set by Judi Brown-King, who won the 400-meter hurdles in 54.38 to break the old mark of 54.66 that she shared with Latanya Sheffield.
Other event winners included Sergey Bubka (PV/19-2 ¼ [5.85]), Florence Griffith (100-11.00), and Jackie Joyner (LJ/22-8 [6.91]).
Overall winners of the GP titles were Doug Padilla and Slaney, both of whom won a total of $35,000.
Medalists: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985_IAAF_Grand_Prix_Final
AR Progressions
W3000: http://trackfield.brinkster.net/RecProg_AllUSA.asp?RecCode=WR&EventCode=WA6&Gender=W&P=F
W400h: http://trackfield.brinkster.net/RecProg_AllUSA.asp?RecCode=WR&EventCode=WB2&Gender=W&P=F
1986—Bulgaria’s Yordanka Donkova ran 12.26 in Ljubljana, Yugoslavia, to lower her World Record in the 100-meter hurdles. It was her 4th record of the season.
12.36 Sofia August 13 (Tied)
12.34 Cologne August 17 (heat)
12.29 Cologne August 17 (final)
12.26 Ljubjlana September 7
Donkova would lose the record to countrywoman Ginka Zagorcheva, who ran 12.25 in 1987, but would regain it a year later when she ran 12.21. That mark stood as the WR for 28 years until Keni Harrison ran 12.20 in London in 2016. Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan set the current WR of 12.12 in her semi-final race at the 2022 World Championships.
WR Progression: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_100_metres_hurdles_world_record_progression
1996—Lance Deal, who had won the silver medal at the Atlanta Olympics earlier in the year, set an American Record of 270-9 (82.52) in the Hammer Throw in Milan, Italy. (The record lasted until 2021, when Rudy Winkler threw 271-4 (82.71) at the U.S. Olympic Trials).
Deal, a 21-time U.S. champion (9-outdoor, 12-indoor/WT), was a coach and then the Director of Track & Field venues and Program Support at the University of Oregon before retiring and going into business for himself. He is now building innovative throwing cages (such as the one currently in use at Hayward Field) and is a Licensed Massage Therapist. He was inducted into the National Hall of Fame in 2014.
Hall of Fame Bio: https://www.usatf.org/athlete-bios/lance-earl-deal
AR Progression: http://trackfield.brinkster.net/RecProg_AllUSA.asp?RecCode=WR&EventCode=MF7&Gender=M&P=F
1999—Getting great pacing from Kenyans Robert Kibet and William Tanui, the 1992 Olympic Champion at 800-meters, Morocco’s Hicham El Guerrouj ran 4:44.79 for 2000-meters at the Golden League Final in Berlin to take more than 3 seconds off the previous World Record of 4:47.88 that was set by Algeria’s Noureddine Morceli in 1995. It was El G’s 3rd WR of the season. Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen set the current WR of 4:43.13 in 2023.
Splitting the $1,000,000 Jackpot for winning their respective events in at least 5 of the 7 GL meets during the season were Denmark’s Wilson Kipketer (800) and Romania’s Gabriela Szabo (3000/5000). Szabo, already guaranteed her share after winning the 5000, was the first person to congratulate Kipketer when he crossed the finish line of the 800.
Meet Winners: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_IAAF_Golden_League
Video(2000): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsr0mZiRbNw
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/2000m-record-broken/
2001—Many athletes who won Olympic gold in Sydney the year before returned to Australia and followed up with wins at the 5th(and final) Goodwill Games in Brisbane (Sep.4-7).
The repeat winners during the 4 days of competition were:
MEN
Mile—Kenya’s Noah Ngeny 3:56.64
Long Jump—Cuba’s Ivan Pedroso 26-9 ¼ (8.16)
Triple Jump—Great Britain’s Jonathan Edwards 56-7 ½ (17.26)
Javelin—Czech Jan Železný 287-2 (87.52)
WOMEN
800–Mozambique’s Maria Mutola 1:58.76
10,000—Ethiopia’s Derartu Tulu 31:48.19
Pole Vault—American Stacy Dragila 14-11 (4.55)
Hammer—Poland’s Kamila Skolimowska 230-8 (70.31)
(Marion Jones was among the double “winners” [100]), but her results were later voided after she was later found
guilty of doping violations)
Other highlights:
MEN
Mile—2.Kevin Sullivan (CAN-3:56.81)…5.Bernard Lagat (KEN-3:57.10), 6.Craig Mottram(AUS-3:58.24)
110h-1.Allen Johnson (USA-13.16), 2.Anier García (CUB-13.20), 3.Larry Wade (USA-13.46), 4.Terrence
Trammell (USA) 13.49, 5.Colin Jackson (GBR-13.63), 6.Mark Crear (USA-13.63)
400h-1. Félix Sánchez (DOM-48.47)
Pole Vault-1.Tim Mack (USA/19-1/4 [5.80])
Long Jump-1. Iván Pedroso (CUB/26-9 ¼ [8.16])
Triple Jump-1.Jonathan Edwards (GBR/56-7 ½ [17.26])
Shot Put-1.Adam Nelson (USA/68-7 ¼ [20.91]), 2.John Godina (USA/68-1 ½ [20.76])
Javelin-2.Breaux Greer (USA/281-8 [85.86])…4.Steve Backley (GBR/273-5 [83.34])
Decathlon-1. Tomáš Dvořák (CZE-8514, 2.Erki Nool (EST-8420/2000 Olympic Champion)
WOMEN
400-1.Ana Guevara (MEX-50.32)…4.Jearl Miles-Clark (USA-51.44)
800-2.Kelly Holmes (GBR-1:59.27)
100h-1.Gail Devers (USA-12.61)
400h-1. Tetyana Tereshchuk-Antipova (UKR-54.47), 2.Tonja Buford-Bailey (USA-54.75)
High Jump-1.Hestrie Cloete (RSA/6-6 ¾ [2.00]), 2.Kajsa Bergqvist (SWE/6-5 ½ [1.97])
Results: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_2001_Goodwill_Games_–_Results
History: https://www.worldathletics.org/news/feature/remembering-goodwill-games
https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1112628/brisbane-2032-olympics-goodwill-games
2012–Aries Merritt had already had a dream season–he won the gold medal in the 60-meter hurdles at the World Indoor Championships in Istanbul in March and another gold medal in the 110-meter hurdles at the London Olympics. Not content to rest on his laurels, he then shocked the world of T&F by running 12.80 in Brussels to smash the existing World Record of 12.87, which was set by Cuba’s Dayron Robles in 2008. Like many others in the event, Merritt had made the adjustment from 8 to 7 steps to the first hurdle at the beginning of the season.
In his post-race interview, Merritt talked about what went through his mind when he tried to grasp what he had done. “When I saw 12.81 come up, it was just like…what, what is this I’m seeing here? I was in complete shock. I just couldn’t believe 12.81 popped up on the board and then they round it down to 12.80, and I just started screaming….I couldn’t believe that I ran that fast. My vision, when I did break the World Record, was to run 12.85, (which) is all over everything—my email, my password for my phone. I think I need to change my password!”.
Merritt won the bronze medal at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing and then underwent a kidney transplant (from his sister) four days later in Phoenix. A complication caused him to have a second surgery seven weeks after the first one. He had been told before the transplant that his career might be over, but he resumed training in December. His dream of defending his Olympic title ended when he finished a close 4th at the 2016 U.S. Trials!
WR Progression: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men%27s_110_metres_hurdles_world_record_progression
Kidney Transplant
http://olympics.nbcsports.com/2015/08/21/aries-merritt-reaches-worlds-amid-kidney-disease-battle/
