by RBR AdminThis Day in Track & Field–December 1
1956–Australian fans were hoping that John Landy, the 2nd man to break 4-minutes for the mile and the current World Record holder in the event (3:58.0), could bring home a gold medal in the Men’s 1500-meters on the final day of competition at the Melbourne Olympics.
But he was by no means the favorite. In fact, Bert Nelson wrote in Track and Field News that as many as 10 of the 12 finalists were potential winners. The early pace was quick, but cautious, with everyone still within striking distance as another Aussie, Merv Lincoln, led the tightly bunched pack through 800-meters in 2:00.1. With a lap to go (2:46.6), positions had started to change, but everyone was still in contention, with Villanova’s Ron Delany, who had won the first of his three NCAA 1500/mile titles in June, sitting in 10th place. The Irishman then started his amazing kick, one that would become familiar to American fans over the next few years, and started to quickly pass one runner after another. He finally took the lead coming off the final turn and went on to win the gold medal with an Olympic Record time of 3:41.2. Germany’s Klaus Richtzenhain edged Landy for the silver medal (3:42.0 for both).
Delany, with his “herky-jerky” stride, had already started his fabled indoor career by winning the first of his four straight Wanamaker Miles at the Millrose Games earlier in the year, and he would eventually become one of the most popular runners ever to grace the boards at NY’s Madison Square Garden.
The Irishman almost didn’t make it to Melbourne. Members of the Olympic Council of Ireland had voted 6-6 on whether or not to send him to the Games (finances being one of the considerations). Lord Killanin, the Chairman of the Olympic Council of Ireland (and the future Chairman of the IOC), cast the deciding vote in favor of Delany, clearing the way for one of Ireland’s greatest Olympic moments.
With a lineup that included 3 of the top 4 finishers in the 100, the U.S. was heavily favored to win the Men’s 4×100, but, even 60+ years ago, there was concern about the team’s ability to get the baton safely around the track. The handoffs were less than perfect in the previous day’s first round, as well as in the semi-finals, which were held earlier on this final day of competition, but the Americans won each of their races.
In the final, 5’-4” (1.63) Ira Murchison ran a great lead-off leg to give the U.S. the lead, which was extended by Leamon King. Much of that lead was lost in the botched hand-off from King to Thane Baker (they had a similar mishap in the first round), but Baker maintained his composure and handed off the baton in the lead to anchorman Bobby Morrow. The Abilene Christian star, who had earlier won the 100 and 200, closed out his memorable Olympics by bringing the U.S. home first in the World Record time of 39.5. The Soviet Union finished 2nd in 39.8, followed by Germany in 40.3. Morrow was the 3rd athlete to be selected as Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Year (following Roger Bannister in 1954 and baseball’s Johnny Podres in 1955). He was also featured on the cover of Life magazine (see links).
Great Britain’s Thelma Hopkins (1.74 [5-8 ½]) and Romania’s 19-year old Iolanda Balaș (1.75 [5-8 ¾]) had each set World Records during the year and were the favorites for the gold medal in the Women’s High Jump. But it was American Mildred “Tex” McDaniel who became Olympic Champion. The former basketball player at Tuskegee Institute, a future Hall-of-Famer, was the only one to clear 5-7 (1.70), which was one centimeter better than her previous American Record. She then cleared a World Record of 5-9 ¼ (1.76) on her 2nd attempt. Hopkins tied for 2nd (1.67 [5-5 ¾]) with the Soviet Union’s (and Russia’s) Mariya Pisareva, while Balaș, who was destined to become one of the greatest performers in T&F history (two Olympic golds, 13 additional WRs, and a 140-meet winning streak), finished 5th (1.67 [5-5 ¾]).
Lou Jones, the World Record holder in the 400, had run the anchor leg for the U.S. in the heats of the Men’s 4×400 relay, but he was switched to the lead-off leg for the final. He opened with a 47.1 split that gave the U.S. a slight lead over Australia. With 100,000 fans going wild, David Lean kept the Aussies even with American J.W. Mashburn (46.4). After winning the gold medal in the 400, Charlie Jenkins was given the option to run the anchor leg by U.S. coaches, but he chose to run the 3rd leg.
Jenkins, aware that he was about to run his 6th 1-lapper in four days, explained the switch by saying recently, ”I was just trying to look out for my teammates when deciding to run the third leg”. Jenkins’s concern about fatigue was unfounded, though, as his 45.5 carry, the fastest of the day, broke open the race and gave the U.S. a lead it wouldn’t relinquish. Anchor Tom Courtney, who won the 800-meters on November 26th, had four days of rest before he ran in the relay qualifying round. The former Fordham star, who had actually beaten Jenkins to win the 400 at the AAU Championships in June, closed out the winning effort with the 2nd-fastest split of the race–45.8 (3:04.8).
Kevan Gosper, the 1955 Big-10 400-meter Champion while at Michigan State, anchored Australia to a set of silver medals (3:06.2), while Great Britain finished 3rd (3:07.2).
For Jenkins, it was a natural progression of success in the relay. He was the anchor on the Rindge Tech (Cambridge,Ma) team that set a U.S. National H.S. record in 1953 and had already anchored Villanova to two wins at the Penn Relays (he would anchor a 3rd in 1957–Ron Delany ran the 3rd leg in 1956!). Carrying on the family tradition, his son Chip also won Olympic gold after running in the first round of the relay at the 1992 Olympics.
The partisan crowd was thrilled as Betty (“The Golden Girl”) Cuthbert brought Australia from behind on the anchor leg in the Women’s 4×100 relay to beat Great Britain for the gold medals (it was her 3rd gold medal of the Games). Both teams (44.5-44.7) bettered the previous World Record of 44.9, which had been set by the Aussies and Germany in the first heat earlier in the day.
The U.S. fielded a team that Included future Hall-of-Famers Mae Faggs and Wilma Rudolph, who was only 16 at the time, but they had to settle for the bronze medals, despite equaling the hours-old WR of 44.9. Faggs had won a gold medal in the relay as the lead-off runner on the winning team at the 1952 Games in Helsinki, while Rudolph went on to attain legend status with her 3 gold medals at the 1960 Games in Rome.
France’s Alain Mimoun took the lead in the Marathon 1/2-way through the race and was never challenged as he went on to win the gold medal with a time of 2:25:00 in the warm conditions (80s). Winning the silver and bronze were Yugoslavia’s Franjo Mihalić (2:26:32) and Finland’s Veikko Karvonen (2:27:47). Finishing 6th towards the end of his career was the great Emil Zátopek (Czech.), the defending champion who had beaten Mimoun to win the gold medal in the 10,000-meters at the 1948 and 1952 Olympics. Americans Nick Costes (2:42:20) and John (the “younger) Kelley (2:43:40) finished 20th and 21st, respectively.
Thanks to ’56 U.S. Olympian Elliott Denman, 11th in the 50k Walk, for providing many personal memories and related tidbits from the Games as we chronicled each day of competition.
Complete Results: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_1956_Summer_Olympics
Olympedia Reports: https://www.olympedia.org/editions/14/sports/ATH
Delany Remembers: http://www.iaaf.org/news/news/delany-reminisces-as-melbourne-celebrates-50t
1500 Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u696YRFCfFg
Delany Photos:
http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-vn4278496-s227
http://tinyurl.com/DelanyGoogle
Delany’s Book-Staying The Distance: http://tinyurl.com/DelanyBook
Sports Illustrated Vault: https://vault.si.com/vault/1956/12/10/golden-melbourne
Morrow:
Sports Illustrated Man of the Year (Morrow)
1974 – Jaqi (aka Jacki) Hansen set a Women’s World Record of 2:43:54.5 on her “home course” at the Western Hemisphere Marathon in Culver City, California. Hansen, the winner of the 1973 Boston Marathon, was at the forefront of the fight to have women’s distance events added to the Olympic program.
She talks about her preparation for the race in this excerpt from her book, “A Long Time Coming”.
https://www.jacquelinehansen.com/2019/09/01/culver-city-my-home-course/
https://www.amazon.com/Long-Time-Coming-marathon-revolution-ebook/dp/B01DD06XNQ
http://www.jacquelinehansen.com/
2nd WR: http://tinyurl.com/JackiHansen
Coached by László Tábori (1988 article):
László Tábori seemed a little embarrassed when asked if he could have foreseen that Jacqueline Hansen would become one of this country’s premier distance runners after he began coaching her in the fall of 1970.
“Quite honestly, no”, he said.
Less than 3 years later, Hansen won the Boston Marathon. Twice, she set world marathon records, in 1975 becoming the first woman to run the 26.2-mile race faster than 2 hours 40 minutes(2:38:19).
But all Tábori could see in the fall of 1970, when he met the 21-year-old college junior, was that she had difficulty fitting into her running shorts. “I’ll admit it,” Hansen said. “I was fat.”
(For Subscribers): http://articles.latimes.com/1988-11-28/sports/sp-415_1_jacqueline-hansen
WR Progression: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marathon_world_record_progression
2006-Josh Hembrough (Northern,MI) set a National H.S. Record of 7.85 in the 60-meter hurdles (42”) at the Clemson Invitation. He went on to become a 3-time Big-10 Champion while at Purdue—110-meter hurdles (2008,2009, 60m-hurdles (2008). Born deaf, he received cochlear implants at the age of 9.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGpik6lJ1pY
https://www.worldathletics.org/athletes/united-states/josh-hembrough-14240432
https://www.purdueexponent.org/features/article_f6ff1c49-18a2-5afd-a14a-4091533b3152.html
2007—A tribute to Larry James, who was battling cancer at the time (he passed away the following November). This is what I wrote at the time:
“It was an event as thrilling and memorable as a day at the Olympics. And no wonder–everywhere you looked, there were Olympians, many of them medalists.
Hosted by The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, an estimated 1,000 people showed up on December 1 to pay tribute to 2-time Olympic medalist “Mr. G. Larry James” for his “Four Decades of Excellence”. (James won gold [4×400] and silver[400] medals at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City).”
You can read the complete article here:
https://villanova.com/news/2007/12/18/A_Tribute_to_Larry_James.aspx
NY Times Obituary: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/08/sports/othersports/08james.html
2018–Grand Valley State swept the team titles at the NCAA Div.II Championships on a muddy course in Pittsburgh. It was the 5th title in the last 7 years for the women, while it was the first for the men. The individual winners were Marcelo Laguera (CSU-Pueblo/10k-31:46.4) and Sarah Berger (GVS/6k-22:07.7).
Recap:
https://results.leonetiming.com/XC.html?mid=1504
2018—The top finishers at the Nike Cross Nationals (NXN) in Portland, Oregon:
Girls: Junior Katelyn Tuohy (16:37.8/North Rockland,NY) won the 2nd of her eventual 3 NXN titles. 2nd was senior Kelsey Chmiel (16:54.8/Saratoga Springs,NY) and 3rd was versatile junior Taylor Ewert (17:06.7/Beavercreek,OH), the best young race-walker in the U.S. Summit (OR) won the team title. Chmiel and Tuohy led North Carolina State to the 2021 and 2022 NCAA X-Country team titles (Tuohy was the individual champion in 2022). Tuohy led the Wolfpack to a 3rd NCAA title in 2023, while an injured Chmiel had to cheer from the sidelines.
Boys: 1.Senior Liam Anderson (14:57.6-Meet Record/Redwood,NC), 2.Senior Cole Hocker (Indianapolis Cathedral,I N(15:00.9/), 3.Junior Cole Sprout (Valor Christian,CO(15:02.7). Loudoun County(VA) won the team title. Hocker was a finalist (6th) in the 1500 Meters at the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo and went on to win the gold medal at the 2024 Olympics in Paris!
https://nxn.runnerspace.com/eprofile.php?event_id=13&title_id=187&do=title&folder_id=1186
https://www.runnersworld.com/news/a25368761/katelyn-tuohy-wins-second-national-cross-country-title/
https://nxn.runnerspace.com/eprofile.php?event_id=13&year=2018&do=videos
https://www.milesplit.com/videos/313363/liam-anderson-grabs-meet-record-1457-at-nxn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E12z1ZCu9FM
Past Winners: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nike_Cross_Nationals
