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by Walt Murphy’s News and Results Service (wmurphy25@aol.com), used with permission
This Day in Track & Field-October 21
1964–Ethiopia’s legendary Abebe Bikila, who had his appendix removed only six weeks earlier, won his 2nd Olympic Marathon title on the final day of action at the 1964 Games in Tokyo. Winning silver and bronze were Great Britain’s Basil Heatley (2:16:19.2) and Japan’s Kokichi Tsuburaya (2:16:22.8).
Bikila, who ran barefoot when he won his first gold medal four years earlier at the 1960 Olympics in Rome, wore shoes this time as he ran a world best of 2:12:11.2. He won by more than 4 minutes, still the largest margin of victory since the 1924 Olympics. Tragically, Bikila was involved in an automobile accident the following year that left him paralyzed from the waist down and he died from a brain hemorrhage in 1973 at the age of 41. 3rd-placer Tsuburaya’s life also had a tragic ending, the 27-year old committing suicide prior to the 1968 Olympics, where he was expected to compete again in the Marathon. Read his full story at: http://www.olympedia.org/athletes/72647
Other notable finishers in the race included Americans Buddy Edelen, who finished a creditable 6th (2:18:12.4) and Billy Mills (14th-2:22:55.4). Australian Ron Clarke, who set a fast early pace in the race, finished 9th (2:20:26.8).
New Zealand’s Peter Snell finished off his double gold medal performance by winning the 1500-meters (3:38.1) five days after defending his title in the 800-meters (1:45.1).
Content to stay off the lead in a slow-paced race (3:00/1200m), Snell exploded on the final backstretch, moving to the front and pulling away to win by 1.5 seconds.
There was a 5-way battle for silver and bronze, with Czech Josef Odložil (3:39.6) and New Zealand’s John Davies (3:39.6) winning out over Great Britain’s Alan Simpson (3:39.7), American Dyrol Burleson (3:40.0) and Poland’s Witold Baran (3:40.3)
Running arguably the greatest 100-meters in…
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