I opened up the Sunday NY Times at age 16, and read about the race. It blew my mind. Two guys under the world record, done from the front. There were not a lot of guys running much faster than 3:36 back in the early 70s, once Jim Ryun was past his brilliance.
Bayi was an original, he went with his natural inclination to run the tactics that most naive high school freshmen use in the their first miles races. It got him an African championship in '73 and the WR in '74. Too bad he wasn't in the '76 Olympics.
It wouldn't have worked for Bayi by 1976. The field would have followed him and not allowed a 20m gap. In '74 he was relatively unknown and his tactics were new.
In 1973 Bayi was a total sensation, both for his bold front running and fast times. Bayi was the guy fans wanted to see, and they paid attention from the gun. He did not surprise anyone with his strategy or his ability to hold the pace.
The 1974 CG was a breakout race for John Walker, who was good before, but here he became a legitimate contender to take over in years to come.
As has been alluded to, put the newest, latest greatest super spikes on Bayi and Walker and run on the best tracks with state of the art surface and Bayi and Walker would have run even faster times.
I met Mr Bayi once. We had a short chat. I first mentioned this race and how it moved me so much, and he immediately talked about missing '76. I think that still stung.
It wouldn't have worked for Bayi by 1976. The field would have followed him and not allowed a 20m gap. In '74 he was relatively unknown and his tactics were new.
A year and a half later he broke the mile record in the same fashion.
This is probably the most exciting and authentic era since the 70's. The Coe/Ovett era was exciting and authentic, but they were dominant and rarely raced each other. Now you have a number of guys who could all beat each other on the day. Jakob is still arguably the best in the world, but he's not yet dominant, and might never be if he doesn't work on his 800m speed.
And the boycotts of the '80s leading to incomplete fields. This era is better with so much unpredictability on who could win, fast races, and deep competition from all over.
The '90s there are plenty of drug suspicions and it is hard to look at athletes like Morceli, El Guerrouj, Cacho and so on and know what to think given all the drug innuendo. The 2000 (despite the Moroccan pacing) and 2004 olympics 1500m finals were great however, but the World Champs in most of these years were just a dud throughout with teammates pacing in finals (lame) and drama-free dominant victories by El G/Morceli.
You are speaking to the one that named your Tim a potatoes and is accusing your Kenyans of drug using days and night. Continue licking him, he will appreciate well this era as long as his Brits are there.
It wouldn't have worked for Bayi by 1976. The field would have followed him and not allowed a 20m gap. In '74 he was relatively unknown and his tactics were new.
A year and a half later he broke the mile record in the same fashion.
So did Walker, who ran 1.6secs faster. But in a championship race in '74 Bayi's tactics were new. It wouldn't have worked against Walker in '75 or the Olympic final in '76.
It wouldn't have worked for Bayi by 1976. The field would have followed him and not allowed a 20m gap. In '74 he was relatively unknown and his tactics were new.
In 1973 Bayi was a total sensation, both for his bold front running and fast times. Bayi was the guy fans wanted to see, and they paid attention from the gun. He did not surprise anyone with his strategy or his ability to hold the pace.
The 1974 CG was a breakout race for John Walker, who was good before, but here he became a legitimate contender to take over in years to come.
I saw the race. No one believed he could win with those tactics, so the field let him go. It wouldn't have happened in '75/76.
American made a movy for Billy (the Olympic Gold usurper) but they never cared about this gray skinny North African. His name is written in America Forgotten book volume.
Well, Mills is American, so it makes sense that America would make a movie about him. Presumably Tunisia should have done the same for Gammoudi. In any case, I assure you that Gammoudi is well-respected among American runners with knowledge of the history of the sport.
In 1973 Bayi was a total sensation, both for his bold front running and fast times. Bayi was the guy fans wanted to see, and they paid attention from the gun. He did not surprise anyone with his strategy or his ability to hold the pace.
The 1974 CG was a breakout race for John Walker, who was good before, but here he became a legitimate contender to take over in years to come.
I saw the race. No one believed he could win with those tactics, so the field let him go. It wouldn't have happened in '75/76.
If Bayi had used those tactics in 1976, the “field” would have let Bayi and Walker go.
I also met Mr Gammoudi. He wore white suits and smoked cigars when I met him. He was so proud of his achievements. My french was terrible, as was his english, but I pulled out my copy of an Olympics photo book that Coe had co-authored, and Mr Gammoudi smiled and signed away on the appropriate pics. A true gentleman.
A year and a half later he broke the mile record in the same fashion.
So did Walker, who ran 1.6secs faster. But in a championship race in '74 Bayi's tactics were new. It wouldn't have worked against Walker in '75 or the Olympic final in '76.
You are not objective here at all. Therefore your opinion, while not meaningless, is influenced heavily by bias. The truth is you have no idea.
A year and a half later he broke the mile record in the same fashion.
So did Walker, who ran 1.6secs faster. But in a championship race in '74 Bayi's tactics were new. It wouldn't have worked against Walker in '75 or the Olympic final in '76.
Walker might have beaten Bayi in '75 because he was a better runner than he was in '74 but he would not have gone with Bayi to do so. It would have been even less likely in '76.
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