Walt Murphy’s News and Results Service ([email protected])
This Day in Track & Field–October 17
1964—The fiberglass pole had revolutionized the Pole Vault since the previous Olympics in Rome, leading to 13 men clearing 15-5 (4.70) in Tokyo to better the previous Olympic Record.
American Fred Hansen, who had set a World Record of 17-3 ¾ (5.28) in July, was one of four men to clear 16-4 ¾ (5.00) on their opening attempt. He then passed at 16-6 ¾ (5.05), a height only cleared by West Germany’s Wolfgang Reinhardt. Hansen then “stole” the gold medal from Reinhardt by narrowly clearing 16-8 ¾ (5.10/Olympic Record) on his final attempt. Reinhardt won the silver medal and teammate Klaus Lehnertz won the bronze on fewer misses over East Germany’s Manfred Preussger.
Dallas Long (66-8 ½ [20.33]) and Randy Matson (66-3 ¼ [20.20]) gave the U.S. a 1-2 finish in the Men’s Shot Put. Finishing 4th in his 4th Games was Parry O’Brien (63-0 [19.20]), the Olympic Champion in 1952 and 1956 (he won the silver medal in 1960). All 3 are members of the National Hall of Fame. Hungary’s Vilmos Varjú (63-7 ½ [19.39]) won the bronze medal.
The U.S. got another 1-2 finish in the Men’s 200-Meters, with Henry Carr (20.3/20.36/Olympic Record) finishing ahead of Paul Drayton (20.5/20.58). Winning the bronze was Trinidad and Tobago’s Edwin Roberts (20.6/20.63), who has been a long-time official at the Penn Relays. 4th was Canada’s Harry Jerome (20.7/20.79), the bronze medalist in the 100, and 5th was Italy’s Livio Berruti (20.8/20.83), the defending champion.
The Soviet Union’s Irina Press won the 5-event Pentathlon, a new event on the Olympic program, with a World Record score of 5246 points. Winning silver and bronze were Great Britain’s Mary Bignall-Rand (5035), the winner of the Long Jump, and the Soviet Union’s (and Azerbaijan’s) Galina Bystrova (4956).
Betty Cuthbert, Australia’s Golden Girl, became the first Olympic Champion in the Women’s 400-Meters, running 52.01 to beat Great Britain’s Ann Packer (52.2/52.20). 3rd was another Australian, Judy Amoore (53.4).
Cuthbert had won 3 gold medals in the 1956 Olympics (100,200,4×100), but was injured in 1960 and found athletics a chore by then. By 1964 she had recovered her enthusiasm, and had a remarkably emotional reaction to her win – “in Tokyo the fact that I had won came over me right away. It was splendid – it was like losing something you love very much and then finding it again. I felt tremendous gratitude”. (From the IAAF Progression of World Records)
Belgium’s Gaston Roelants won the Steeplechase (8:30.8-OR) over Great Britain’s Maurice Herriott (8:32.4) and the Soviet Union’s (and Russia’s) Ivan Belyayev (8:33.8). American George Young finished 5th (8:38.2).
Medalists/Results: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_1964_Summer_Olympics
Olympedia Reports: http://www.olympedia.org/editions/16/sports/ATH
Hansen-A Look Back(2018)
Cuthbert: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty_Cuthbert
https://www.athletics.com.au/hall-of-fame-directory/betty-cuthbert/
Videos
M200: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdfB8ni1FK0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzI2Y7KoPL8
Hall of Fame Bios
O’Brien(1974-Charter Member): (Currently not available)
Wiki Bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parry_O%27Brien
Long(1996): https://www.usatf.org/athlete-bios/dallas-long
Matson(1984): https://www.usatf.org/athlete-bios/randy-matson
Carr(1997): https://www.usatf.org/athlete-bios/henry-carr
1968–East Germany’s Christoph Höhne won the 50k-Walk (4:20:13.6) at the Mexico City Olympics over Hungary’s Antal Kiss (4:30:17.0) and American Larry Young (4:31:55.4). Future Hall-of-Famer Young, who is an accomplished sculptor, repeated his feat 4 years later at the 1972 Games in Munich.
From his website (http://www.youngsculpture.com/) :”…has placed over 50 monumental outdoor sculptures nationally and abroad. Most of his work has been in bronze, but he also works with stainless steel, marble, and other materials.
Whenever Young would be called up to the podium to speak at various functions, he wouldn’t casually make his way from his table, he would go into full race-walk mode!
There was almost a U.S. sweep in the 110-Meter Hurdles, but Leon Coleman (13.6/13.67) hit the 6th hurdle and wound up 4th behind Willie Davenport (13.3/13.33), Erv Hall (13.4/13.42), and Italian Eddy Ottoz (13.4/13.46).
Mexico City’s altitude was a major factor in the Triple Jump as the World Record was broken 5 times!
Italy’s Giuseppe Gentile got the ball rolling by jumping 56-1 ¼(17.10) in the qualifying round(10-16) to break the previous mark of 55-10 ½ (17.03), which was set by Poland’s Józef Schmidt in 1960.
Gentile improved to 56-6 (17.22) in the opening round of the final to take the early lead. That would be his longest jump, but it would only earn him the bronze medal!
The Soviet Union’s (and Georgia’s) Viktor Saneyev went into the lead with his 3rd-round jump of 56-6 ½ (17.23). Next to improve the World Record was Brazil’s Nelson Prudêncio, who reached out to 56-8 (17.27) on his 5th jump. Saneyev put the final touch on this amazing event by becoming the first man to jump farther than 57-feet with his final effort of 57-3/4 (17.39). It was the first of three Olympic titles for Saneyev.
Four days after winning bronze in the 10,000, Tunisia’s Mohammed Gammoudi (14:05.01) held off challenges from the Kenyan duo of Kip Keino (14:05.16) and Naftali Temu (14:06.41) to win the gold medal in the 5000-meters. Gammoudi had won the silver medal (behind Billy Mills) in the 10,000-meters at the 1964 Olympics.
Hungary’s Gyula Zsivótzky won the Hammer Throw with an Olympic Record toss of 240-8 (73.36). Winning silver and bronze were the Soviet Union’s (and Belarus’s) Romuald Klim (240-5 [73.28]), the defending champion, and Hungary’s Lázár Lovász (228-11[69.78]).
Medalists in the Women’s High Jump were Czech Milena Rezková (5-11 ½ [1.82]) and the Soviet duo of Antonina Lazareva (Russia) and Valentyna Kozyr (Ukraine), both of whom cleared 5-10 ¾ (1.80).
Medalists/Results: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_1968_Summer_Olympics
Olympedia Reports: http://www.olympedia.org/editions/17/sports/ATH
Videos:
Hall of Fame Bios
(Young): https://www.usatf.org/athlete-bios/larry-young
(Davenport): https://www.usatf.org/athlete-bios/willie-davenport
Walking His Way Through College(Young/2011):
http://real.columbiacollegealumni.org/2011/05/larry-young-hes-walking-his-way-through.html
Photos: http://tinyurl.com/8vunjv7
1972—The Soviet Union’s (and Georgia’s) Viktor Saneyev regained the World Record in the Triple Jump with a leap of
57-2 ¾ (17.44) in Sukhumi, Finland. Cuba’s Pedro Pérez had jumped 57-1 (17.40) in the altitude of Cali, Colombia, in 1971, to break Saneyev’s previous mark of 57-3/4 (17.39), which was also set at altitude at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City(see above).
Wiki Bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Saneyev
2020—Kenya’s Peres Jepchirchir ran 65:16 at the World Half-Marathon Championships in Gdynia, Poland, breaking her own “women’s-only” World Record of 65:34.
Winner of the men’s race was Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo, who set an event record of 58:49. 4th was countryman Joshua Cheptegei(59:21), the new World Record holder at 5000 and 10,000 meters.
The event was originally scheduled to be held in March, but was postponed due to the pandemic.
World Athletics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_World_Athletics_Half_Marathon_Championships
Men: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRoUAKLpqgI
Born On This Day*
Georgia Hunter-Bell—Great Britain 32 (1993) 2024 Olympic bronze medalist—1500m
Silver medalist in the 800 at the 2025 World Championships
Bronze medalist in the 1500 at the 2025 World Indoor Championships…4th in 2024
Competed at Cal-Berkeley in 2016-2017
Trains with Keely Hodgkinson, the 2024 Olympic champion at 800-meters
PBs: 1:54.90 (2025/#9 All-Time), 3:52.61 (2024/#12 A-T), 4:23.35i (2025), 8:36.96i (2025)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_Hunter_Bell
https://worldathletics.org/athletes/great-britain-ni/georgia-hunter-bell-14329797
https://www.instagram.com/georgiabelltheduathlete/?hl=en
Switching Events: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7kMZVktQtY
Videos: 2024 OG 2025 WC
Chris Derrick 35 (1990) 3-time U.S. X-Country Champion (2013-2015); 10th at the 2013 World XC Championships;
Ran 2:12:50 in his marathon debut in Chicago in 2017 (was 9th, 15th in 2021)
2018 U.S. ½-marathon champion
18th in the 10,000-Meters at the 2013 World Championships
Winner at the 2007 Nike Cross Nationals—led Neuqua Valley(IL) to the team title.
Never won an NCAA title, but was a 14-time All-American at Stanford
2008—XC (7)
2009—3ki (5), 5ki (4), 5k (3), XC (3)
2010—5k (4), XC (5)
2011—5ki (8), 5k (4), 10k (4), XC (2)
2012—3ki (2), 5ki (2), 10k (3)
PBs:3:39.45 (’13), 7:43.77 (’15), 13:08.04 (’13), 27:31.38 (’12), 61:12 (’17), 2:12:50 (’17);
Last competed in 2021 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Derrick
https://www.runnersworld.com/website-only/throwback-thursday-chris-derrick
Jared Tallent-Australia 41 (1984) 4-time Olympic Medalist (Walks)
Gold (2012-50k) Originally finished 2nd to Russia’s Sergey Kirdyapkin, who was subsequently disqualified for a
doping violation. Received his gold medal in 2016.
Silver (2008-50k, 2016-50k)
Bronze (20k-2008)
3-time silver medalist in the 50k-Walk at the World Championships (2011,2013,2015)
Other global finishes: 2009 WC (20k Walk-5th, 50k Walk-6th); 2012 OG(20k Walk-7th)
PBs: 1:19:15 (20k Walk), 3:36:53 (50k Walk)
Wife Claire Woods was 27th in the Women’s 20k Walk at the 2008 Olympics
Sister Rachel was 40th in the Women’s 20k Walk at the 2016 Olympics
https://www.olympics.com.au/olympians/jared-tallent/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jared_Tallent
https://worldathletics.org/athletes/australia/jared-tallent-14178716
https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/114642
Delayed Gold
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HpS3S_Qu6U
Showed a sense of humor by staging a mock award ceremony!
www.theguardian.com/sport/video/2016/may/26/australian-walker-jared-tallent-awards-himself-mock-olympic-medal-video
Jesús Ángel García-Spain 56 (1969) 1993 World Champion-50k Walk
3-time silver medalist at the World Championships—1997, 2001, 2009
2-time medalist at the European Championships—Bronze (2002), Silver (2006)
Competed at 8 Olympics and 13 World Championships over a span of 29 years (1992-2019, 2021)
Other Global Placings:
OG(8): 1992 (10th), 1996 (DNF), 2000 (12th), 2004 (5th), 2008 (4th), 2012 (17th), 2016 (20th), 2021 (35th)
WC: 1995 (5th), 1999 (DNF), 2003 (6th), 2005 (DQ), 2007 (DQ), 2011 (DQ), 2013 (11th), 2015 (9th), 2019 (8th)
PBs: 1:23:00/20k (2009), 2:08:47/30k (2001), 2:31:06/35k (1994), 3:39:54 (1997)
Retired after competing at the 2021 Olympics at the age of 51!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesús_Ángel_García
https://worldathletics.org/athletes/spain/jesus-angel-garcia-14166435
Bob Seagren 79 (1946) 1968 Olympic gold medalist—Pole Vault (silver-1972)
3-time U.S. Champion (‘66,’69,’70); 3-time U.S. Indoor Champion (’66,’67, ’70)
2-time NCAA Champion (USC/1967,1969); 1967 NCAA Indoor Champion
Set 4 World Records:
1966: 17-5 ½ (ratified as 5.32)
1967: 17-7 (5.36)
1968: 17-9 (5.41)
1972: 18-5 ½ (5.63)
Also set 8 World Indoor Records
Inducted into the U.S. Hall of Fame in 1986
HOF Bio: https://www.usatf.org/athlete-bios/bob-seagren
Wiki Bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Seagren
1972 “Pole Controversy”
Acting Career: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0780479/
https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/79014
Superstars: http://www.thesuperstars.org/athletes/seagren.html
Tom Tellez 92 (1933) Legendary coach at the University of Houston…also coached the Santa Monica Track Club
Among the athletes he coached: Carl and Carol Lewis, Leroy Burrell, Mike Marsh, Kirk Baptiste, Joe DeLoach, Willie
Banks, Mike Tully, Michelle Finn-Burrell,
Previously coached at Fullerton College and UCLA
Inducted into the USTFCCCA Coaches Hall of Fame in 1998
Received the USATF Legend Coach Award in 2018
http://www.ustfccca.org/awards/tom-tellez-ustfccca-class-of-1998
https://uhcougars.com/news/2016/7/1/Tom_Tellez_Honored_as_USATF_Legend_Coach
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Tellez
http://fullertoncollegecentennial.com/staff-stories/tom-tellez.html
Science of Speed
AloJapan.com