This Day in Track & Field, August 16, Charlie Paddock wins 1920 Antwerp 100 meters, Mary Decker sets 800m AR, 1:56.90 (1985), by Walt Murphy News and Results Services

This Day in Track & Field–August 16

1920–Using his patented finish-line leap, American Charley Paddock edged teammate Morris Kirksey to win the 100-meter at the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium, with both being timed in 10.8. Kirksey might have lost the gold medal when he glanced to his right just as Paddock crossed the finish line. Great Britain’s Harry Edward edged American Jackson Scholz to take the bronze medal(estimated time of 10.9 for both). Loren Murchison, the winner at the U.S. Trials, was left in the blocks after thinking that a recall gun was about to be fired and wound up last in the 6-man field.

Unhappy with the living quarters on the ship carrying the U.S. team across the Atlantic to Antwerp, Paddock led the “Mutiny on the Matoika,” gathering signatures from his fellow athletes on a petition asking for more suitable conditions when they arrived in the host city. This was a noble gesture, but the athletes’ plea apparently fell on deaf ears, and Paddock ended up renting his own apartment so he could better prepare for the Games.

Paddock won the silver medal in the 200 in Antwerp and ran the lead-off leg on the U.S. team that won the 4×100 relay. He competed in two more Olympics, winning the silver medal in the 200 in 1924.

            Paddock had a brief acting career after befriending Hollywood’s Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., on the trip to the 1924 Games in Paris. He enlisted in the Marines when World War II broke out, serving as a Morale Officer, and was killed in a plane crash in Alaska in 1943 while serving in that capacity.

            It was a medal sweep for the U.S. in the 400-meter Hurdles, with the winner, Frank Loomis, setting a World Record of 54.0. John Norton(54.6e) won silver and bronze, who had set a WR of 54.2 for the slightly longer 440-yard event at the Western Trials earlier in the year, and August Desch(54.7e).

            Finland’s Eero Lehtonen won the first of his two gold medals in the 5-event Pentathlon, while teammate Hugo Lahtinen won the bronze. American Everett Bradley won the silver medal.

Medalists: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_1920_Summer_Olympics

Great video feature on Paddock(includes the Olympic final): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PU7Ei5IbIAw

Paddock: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charley_Paddock

Kirksey: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morris_Kirksey

1980—While the first full…