Seb coming back from illness....well, the rest is history!
Seb coming back from illness....well, the rest is history!
Wow!
Didn't realise his last 100m was so fast.
Thanks for link.
3 August 1984 800m 1:45.71 1h Los Angeles, USA Olympic Games
4 August 1984 800m 1:46.75 3qf Los Angeles, USA Olympic Games
5 August 1984 800m 1:45.51 1sf Los Angeles, USA Olympic Games
6 August 1984 800m 1:43.64 2 Final Los Angeles, USA Olympic Games
9 August 1984 1500m 3:45.30 2h Los Angeles, USA Olympic Games
10 August 1984 1500m 3:35.81 3sf Los Angeles, USA Olympic Games
11 August 1984 1500m 3:32.53 1 Final Los Angeles, USA Olympic Games
the best series of races ever?
Bingo jim wrote:
3 August 1984 800m 1:45.71 1h Los Angeles, USA Olympic Games
4 August 1984 800m 1:46.75 3qf Los Angeles, USA Olympic Games
5 August 1984 800m 1:45.51 1sf Los Angeles, USA Olympic Games
6 August 1984 800m 1:43.64 2 Final Los Angeles, USA Olympic Games
9 August 1984 1500m 3:45.30 2h Los Angeles, USA Olympic Games
10 August 1984 1500m 3:35.81 3sf Los Angeles, USA Olympic Games
11 August 1984 1500m 3:32.53 1 Final Los Angeles, USA Olympic Games
the best series of races ever?
I'd say yes. Especially given the context of what happened to the other guys that attempted the double there, and where Coe had been just 6 months earlier.
Hungry hungry EPO.
Wrong but thanks for sharing.
I was sitting near the start and when Coe swept by with 300 to go he was flying like no one I've ever seen before or since.
Saz wrote:
Seb coming back from illness....well, the rest is history!
http://linkbee.com/EFCT1
He won a ho hum race against a weak field in slow time, big deal.
Wrong but (no) thanks for sharing.
Oh? How many Russians were there then.
The countries which did not feel safe in Los Angeles: Afghanistan
Angola
Bulgaria
Cuba
Czechoslovakia
Ethiopia
German Democratic Republic
Hungary
Iran
Laos
Libya
Mongolia
North Korea
Poland
Soviet Union
Vietnam
afraid of the Russians wrote:
Oh? How many Russians were there then.
The countries which did not feel safe in Los Angeles: Afghanistan
Angola
Bulgaria
Cuba
Czechoslovakia
Ethiopia
German Democratic Republic
Hungary
Iran
Laos
Libya
Mongolia
North Korea
Poland
Soviet Union
Vietnam
How many potential contenders can you really pull from these countries?
It was "only" an Olympic record that stood for some time. How much faster is the Olympic record now?
yeah, that's just ridiculous. and ending it with an olympic record in the 1500. the middle 50% of elite world class middle distance runners would be satisfied with just running 1:43 and 3:32 for a summer, let alone at the olympics in a series of 7 highly competitive races.that's a big thumbs up to peter coe as well. not bad for an engineer with no physiology degree.
Bingo jim wrote:
3 August 1984 800m 1:45.71 1h Los Angeles, USA Olympic Games
4 August 1984 800m 1:46.75 3qf Los Angeles, USA Olympic Games
5 August 1984 800m 1:45.51 1sf Los Angeles, USA Olympic Games
6 August 1984 800m 1:43.64 2 Final Los Angeles, USA Olympic Games
9 August 1984 1500m 3:45.30 2h Los Angeles, USA Olympic Games
10 August 1984 1500m 3:35.81 3sf Los Angeles, USA Olympic Games
11 August 1984 1500m 3:32.53 1 Final Los Angeles, USA Olympic Games
the best series of races ever?
You obviously have not seen Crammy's 3.46.3 mile WR - last lap in 53 - last 200 in 25.5
Ed Smallwood wrote:
I was sitting near the start and when Coe swept by with 300 to go he was flying like no one I've ever seen before or since.
Cram's was a one off race, Coe's was in a championship final after 7 races in 9 days. There's a big difference.
Coe's 3:32 was only 1.7 behind the WR and while his last lap was basically the same as Cram's (53.2), his last 800 was faster (1:49.8 to 1:51.3) and so was his last 100m (12.7 to 12.9). Their last 200m was similar (25.5 Cram to 25.7 Coe). So Cram wasn't any faster.
The guy also said he was there and has never seen anyone before or since run faster. That means live in the stadium. He probably wasn't in Oslo when Cram run and the sensation of watching speed on tv isn't the same.
If we really want to talk about moving fast, then Coe's 12.1 last 100m in Moscow is the fastest last 100 in any championship (before or since) and he also has the fastest last 100m in any international 800m race;- 11.3 in the Europa Cup semi of '81 (1:47.**)when he pulled a dozen metres clear of Olympic bronze medallist Kirov in the homestraight.
Rick Rocket wrote:
Hungry hungry EPO.
EPO wasn't even invented until the early/mid '90's (about '93 I think) idiot!
So unless the Coe's had a time machine that went into the future to pick some up, then your comment is ignorant.
I know Peter Coe was ahead of his time, but not literally.
afraid of the Russians wrote:
Oh? How many Russians were there then.
The countries which did not feel safe in Los Angeles: Afghanistan
Angola
Bulgaria
Cuba
Czechoslovakia
Ethiopia
German Democratic Republic
Hungary
Iran
Laos
Libya
Mongolia
North Korea
Poland
Soviet Union
Vietnam
He beat all of their athletes in Moscow and then a week after LA in Zurich. ;0)
Coe's old man used the ealier races (which were far from 6 fat out races to peak him. You can't have it both ways.
Cram finished faster in a faster race.
You obviously know little about the circumstances or background of Coe that season. Yes, he did use those races to help him reach a peak for the 1500m, but only because HE HAD TO! It wouldn't have been their first choice of preparation.
Due to his illness he was behind everyone else with his training that year; not having had a full winter (only started training with kids at Haringey in the Jan). He was always playing catch up to be ready in time, so had no choice but to take the risk to train in the US for 3 weeks solid prior to Games, which meant he went without races. It's not hard to grasp that it wasn't the perfect build up for him.
And since when is 12.9 faster than 12.7? So I repeat, Cram did not finish faster than Coe. Perhaps you should check basic place value in numbers.
You also clearly have no understanding of basic pace distribution. What is capable of even pacing is not off erratic, or when the pace gets increasingly faster.
Cram's mile was off 2 almost identical first laps of 57.2 & 57.3, followed by a breather of 58.6. One would expect a fast last lap with such a breakdown, especially with Cram's style of running; he always went full out from 3-400m.
Coe's Olympic run started off at 58.9, then got increasingly faster, almost every 100m, ~ 58.0, 56.4, 39.2 (53.2). His last 4 100's got faster, at 14.0, 13.5, 13.0 & 12.7. He only really started moving with about 120m to go. He wasn't at full stretch over the entire last lap as Cram was in Oslo.
It remains the most memorable race I've ever seen. I've posted this before, but here it is again anyway:
I was 20 rows up from the track on the last turn.
Coe barely made the British team in '84. He had been hospitalized with toxoplasmosis, a sometimes fatal protozoan infection of the lymph nodes, the previous year and had missed months of training. He could not even begin jogging again until December of '83. He had some poor (for him) showings in the spring and early summer of '84 and was given the last spot on the British team at both 800 and 1500. The British press crucified him (that's a whole other story) and claimed he shouldn't be on the team at all.
He gets Oly silver in the 800 behind Joaquim Cruz, the starts the 1500 heats. I also saw his 1500 heats and thought he looked good.
But no way was I prepared for what happened in the 1500 final.
The athletes came out of the tunnel and were milling around, staying loose and waiting for the start of the 1500. They were on the turn right in front of us. I was taking pictures using a large telephoto lens. Coe happens to casually glance up into the stands just as I trained my camera on him.
What I saw through the viewfinder literally made the hair on the back of neck stand up and sent a chill down my spine. I couldn't even snap the picture I was so startled.
I laid the camera down and turned to my father and said, "They don't even need to run this race."
He asked me why not and I responded, "Look at Coe's eyes."
I have never seen a look like that in anyone's eyes in any circumstances either before or since. It wasn't fire in his eyes, it was a conviction, a look that he somehow was in a different place or had some unique insight. It was a look that was at once both utter peaceful and absolutely violent. I honestly cannot describe that look.
But I'll never forget it. Ever.
Coe ran a tactically perfect race, and shattered the Olympic record in 3:32. Only Morceli in his heat in '96 has ever run faster in Olympic competition, and then only by a couple of tenths. Coe ran faster than El G, Lagat and Ngeny ever did in Olympic competition, and he did it on a hot day doubling back from the 800. He also became the first, and still only, man to ever win the Oly 1500 twice.
Almost immediately after Coe crossed the line, you see him turn to the stands, point with both hands and shout something. Track and Field News later reported that Coe was pointing to the British press box, and what he shouted was, "NOW BELIEVE IN ME!!!"
Here's a link to the race.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KupBT6XdC2c
Watch the entire race. You see him point to the stands about 3:30 into the video.
Starting with his near-fatal infection the year before, his brutal treatment by the British press in his fight to even make the team, then the absolutely bone-chilling look in his eyes waiting to go to the line, on through the tactically perfect race, the Oly record, the second 1500 gold and the redemption shouted at the British press box, Coe's race will always be to me the embodiment of everything I have loved about this sport since I was 14.