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Only time an American man has won the Olympic 10,000 meters - Printable Version

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Only time an American man has won the Olympic 10,000 meters - Mick - 05-13-2014

4 minute video on Billy Mills' triumph in 1964 in Tokyo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5F5iCsymMj0

Re: Only time an American man has won the Olympic 10,000 meters - Leftcoast - 05-13-2014

Dang, that's fast.  I haven't watched the video but if Billy Mills ran a 10K in 4 minutes it's NO WONDER he won!  ;-)

(Heck, the current world record is still at 26 minutes.)

Re: Only time an American man has won the Olympic 10,000 meters - BobK - 05-13-2014

It is one of the greatest races ever.  And the field was alowed to be lapped and stay in the way of the three great runners.

Uncle Chuck where are you, need T&F fans here. 

Re: Only time an American man has won the Olympic 10,000 meters - Stymie - 05-14-2014

Thanks, BobK.  I watched that race on TV and also the only 5000 M Olympic race won by an American (Bob Schul).  Along with Bob Hayes' amazing final leg of the 4X100 relay, those were the T&F highlights for me of Tokyo.

Re: Only time an American man has won the Olympic 10,000 meters - 81alum - 05-14-2014

An amazing race.  I kept trying to find the Stanford connection, but sadly Billy Mills was a University of Kansas athlete.  He was also the second Native American to win Olympic gold, and was a marine Lieutenant when he won that race.  Quite a few unique characteristics!

The finish is just so unexpected and improbable.  It is hard to fathom where that sudden burst of speed in the last few tens of meters came from.

Re: Only time an American man has won the Olympic 10,000 meters - FarmBoy - 05-14-2014

Perhaps most stunning was beating his personal best by 40+ seconds in that kind of environment. He must have just had an out of body experience to have done that in that circumstance.

Out of body T&F experiences - Mick - 05-14-2014

Bob Beamon breaking the LJ record by nearly two feet in Mex City in 1968

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEt_Xgg8dzc

Re: Only time an American man has won the Olympic 10,000 meters - Cowboy1 - 05-14-2014

"Running Brave" is a movie about Billie Mills' journey up to that race. He has become a great motivational speaker for Native American youth.

Re: Out of body T&F experiences - yvonne - 05-14-2014

(05-14-2014, 07:40 AM)Mick link Wrote:Bob Beamon breaking the LJ record by nearly two feet in Mex City in 1968

The thing about the long jump record is how enduring it was. Mike Conley and Carl Lewis had a bitter rivalry flirting with setting it before Mike Powell stepped in and broke it when the other two were nearing the end of their careers. And guess what? Powell's record is now 23 years old.

The sad thing is that the event has regressed and current jumpers aren't close to the mark.

Re: Only time an American man has won the Olympic 10,000 meters - FarmBoy - 05-14-2014

That Beamon jump is a thing of beauty. I saw a documentary on the most iconic sports photos and elling the back story. And if I recall correctly, That jump was almost unnoticed in the stadium because of a premier race taking place on the track. So few people in the stadium even saw it happen live.

Re: Only time an American man has won the Olympic 10,000 meters - yvonne - 05-14-2014

Yes. If you look at current track records, those set at altitude now have an a after them, and those that have wind over a certain limit are considered wind aided. For many years, experts didn't think the long jump record could be broken at sea level.

Re: Only time an American man has won the Olympic 10,000 meters - BobK - 05-14-2014

NO is the answer.  Not in setting the record which Beamon broke by so much.  As the the distance yes. 

Re: Only time an American man has won the Olympic 10,000 meters - yvonne - 05-14-2014

Come on, he still would have won, and he still would have had the record, but it would have been by less.

http://home.comcast.net/~saintjohnboscooffice/images/martikean/articles/11.pdf

Quote:Together, the contributions from increased takeoff velocity and decreased in-flight drag are about .267 meters (10 1/2 inches), suggesting that Bob Beamon's jump of 8.90 corresponds to a sea level jump of 8.63 meters.

p 729

Evidence goes both ways... - Mick - 05-14-2014

That certainly makes sense if you compare the 1964 Olymp LJ with 1968.  The top 16 jumpers in Tokyo in 1964 had an average top mark of 7.656 meters.  The average in Mexico City was 7.96 for a disparity of .3633 meter per average top mark, which indicates that Olympic level jumpers could expect to jump 14 19/64" further at altitude than at sea level.

But if you compare the averages of the top 16 jumpers at the 72 olympics with those from the 68 olympics, the disparity is much narrower.  As noted, the top 16 from Mexico City jumped 7.9606 whereas the top 16 from the 1972 Munich Olympics jumped an average of 7.9256 meters, making the difference between top 16 marks just 1 3/8" which is negligible.

Re: Only time an American man has won the Olympic 10,000 meters - 82 Card - 05-14-2014

(05-14-2014, 06:58 AM)FarmBoy link Wrote:Perhaps most stunning was beating his personal best by 40+ seconds in that kind of environment. He must have just had an out of body experience to have done that in that circumstance.

It looked like they were running on a chewed up cinder track in the rain. In high school, I ran on a cinder track. A sinder track is slower than most of today's tracks. When wet and chewed up, it can make your feet feel like you have lead weights on. Not sure how he still had the energy to sustain what looked to me like a rather long all out charge at the end. His charge started long before the point where you see him leave the others in the dust. That was just the point where the others' charges collapsed.

Was that maneuver by the Tunisian legal back then?

Under more ideal conditions, large improvements in personal best are not unheard of. Two weekends ago, Aisling Cuffe improved her personal best in the 5K by 42 seconds. Just felt to compelled to throw in a reference to Stanford sports.