Deanouk wrote:
Sad to hear of the death of one of the greatest 2 lap runners of all time.
Doesn't get much better than double Olympic champion and world record holder in the same event.
I think sometimes we under value the exploits of some of the old guys, especially if there are not many people still alive who saw them.
I have read a bit about him this morning and it seemed like he had a great life, achieving and doing many worthy things.
My condolences to his family and friends.
R.I.P Mal Whitfield
Editor's note: We changed the title of this thread to denote Whitfieild's passing
Thanks for creating this post. I did a book report on Mal while in middle school, this was an adventures choice being that there was no information on him in the school library. I was fortunate enough to meet Mal (Mr. Whitfield) on 2 occasions. I also met his daughter Fredricka Whitfield who is a CNN news anchor. Mal spent some of his most productive running years in the military, self coached, training alone and sometime without access to a track. A little know fact, Mal to a large degree is responsible for starting the pipeline of Kenyan athletes to U.S colleges. I am sorry to hear about his passing, but he definitely lived full life.