Walt Murphy’s News and Results Service ([email protected])
This Day in Track & Field–September 10
1911—Eric Lemming, the 1908 Olympic Champion in the Javelin, celebrated the first anniversary of his 12th (Pre-IAAF) World Record of 185-8 (56.60) by improving it to 191-2 (58.27) in Lidköping, Sweden. Lemming would win his 2nd Olympic gold medal in 1912. (He also won the gold medal in the “freestyle” javelin in 1908).
1912 Video (free signup required): http://www.olympic.org/eric-lemming
1955—Hungary’s Sándor Iharos ran 13:50.8 for 5000-meters in Budapest to break Vladimir Kuts’s year-old World Record of 13:51.2.
Kuts would regain the record 8 days later, running 13:46.8 in Belgrade, only to have Iharos improve the record the following month by a whopping 6.2 seconds with his clocking of 13:40.6 back in Budapest.
Great Britain’s Gordon Pirie would break Iharos’s mark when he ran 13:36.8 in 1956, while Kuts would get the record back a final time by running 13:35.0 in 1957. He would hold on to the record for more than 7 years until Australia’s Ron Clarke ran 13:34.8 early in 1965.
WR Progression: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5000_metres_world_record_progression
1960–Ethiopia’s Abebe Bikila, running barefoot, closed out the T&F portion of the Rome Olympics by winning the Marathon in the World Record time of 2:15:16.2. Finishing in dramatic fashion at night, under the Arch of Constantine, Bikila became the first East African to win an Olympic gold medal. He would win his 2nd Olympic marathon 4 years later in Tokyo. Winning silver and bronze in Rome were Morocco’s Rhadi ben Abdesselem (2:15:41.6), and New Zealand’s Barry Magee (2:17:18.2). Johnny (“The Younger”) Kelley (2:24:58) was the top American finisher in 19th place.
Results: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_1960_Summer_Olympics_–_Men%27s_marathon
Olympedia Reports: http://www.olympedia.org/editions/15/sports/ATH
Videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_zRr9KOFWE
Rome/Tokyo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_Nygi01VqI
IAAF Hall of Fame: https://worldathletics.org/news/news/hall-of-fame-profile-abebe-bikila-ethiopia
Photos: http://tinyurl.com/jmte7
SI Vault–National Hero(1965):
https://vault.si.com/vault/1965/04/12/the-number-two-lion-in-the-land-of-sheba
1966—Averaging better than 60-seconds per lap, Germany’s Harald Norpoth became the first man to break…
CLICK HERE to Read the Full Original Article at runblogrun…