October 18, 1968 has been A Red-Letter Day in athletics history. That was the day when Bob Beamon soared to a stunning world record in the long jump competition of the Mexico City Games.
New Zealand Champion Peter Snell winning the gold medal in the 1500m in the Tokyo Olympics 1964. He won the 800 m also
Billy Mills pulled off the biggest upset of the Tokyo Games in 1964 by defeating favourite Ron Clarke in the 10,000m. Australian Clarke, one of the greatest distance runners the world had seen, was not prepared for the last-ditch rush of Mills, an American with Sioux lineage, with 50 metres to go. He just gave up and allowed Tunisian Mohammed Gammoudi to take the silver behind Mills. The American timed an Olympic record of 28:24.4, Gammoudi was home in 28:24.8 while Clarke took the bronze in 28:25.8. Clarke, owner of 18 world records, was never destined to win a major championship even though he was one of the legends of distance running.
Peter Snell scored the 8001500 double in Tokyo. He had surprised some of the best in the 800m in 1960 and in 1964 he wanted to go for the double. Snell had bettered the world records in the 800m (1:44.3), 880 yards (1:45.1) and the mile (3:54.4) in 1962. He was thus the favourite in Tokyo. Coached by the famous Arthur Lydiard, whose punishing hill running schedule conditioned his body to tackle the double in Tokyo, Snell ran six races in a week’s span. Boxed in the 800m final he came out and ran in the fourth lane for an Olympic record of 1:45.1 with Bill Crothers of Canada taking silver in 1:45.6. Snell had an easier time in winning the 1500m in 3:38.1 with Josef Odlozil, in whose memory an international meet is run in Prague, Czech Republic, second in 3:39.6.
This story is from the July 30, 2016 edition of Sportstar.
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This story is from the July 30, 2016 edition of Sportstar.
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