Mohamed Gammoudi even more impressive than I thought.

Trivia question:

What other distance runner in the post-WWII era also achieved what Gammoudi did, winning medals in a distance event in three successive Olympics?

Alain Mimoun:

1948: Silver medal in the 10,000

1952: Silver medal in the 5,000 and 10,000

1956: Gold medal in the marathon

Living in the Past wrote:

I'm sure that many of you read in yesterday's NY Times the comment about the aging process by Andy Hampsten, who once won the Alp d'Huez stage in the Tour de France. He said that after the age of 32, an athlete lacks the recovery needed to win multiday endurance events, even though he may still have the same level of endurance.

If so, then Hampsten's comment about an athlete losing recoverablity after the age of 32 seems pretty accurate.

There is a notable exception to Hampsten's claim re cyclists finishing at 32. One of the greatest cyclists of all time was Raymond Poulidor. He finished 3rd in the 1976 Tour de France at the grand old age of 40! Poulidor competed in a hot era when he first had Jacques Anquetil to contend with and then the great Eddy Merckx. Amazingly he never wore the yellow jersey despite coming 2nd three times and 3rd 5 times.

Living in the Past wrote:

I'm sure that many of you read in yesterday's NY Times the comment about the aging process by Andy Hampsten, who once won the Alp d'Huez stage in the Tour de France. He said that after the age of 32, an athlete lacks the recovery needed to win multiday endurance events, even though he may still have the same level of endurance.

If so, then Hampsten's comment about an athlete losing recoverablity after the age of 32 seems pretty accurate.

There is a notable exception to Hampsten's claim re cyclists finishing at 32. One of the greatest cyclists of all time was Raymond Poulidor. He finished 3rd in the 1976 Tour de France at the grand old age of 40! Poulidor competed in a hot era when he first had Jacques Anquetil to contend with and then the great Eddy Merckx. Amazingly he never wore the yellow jersey despite coming 2nd three times and 3rd 5 times. He was cruelly one time just 14 seconds off Anquetil's yellow jersey and only lost by 55 seconds in Paris.

past his prime wrote:

Thanks for the link--and the article! I found it a fascinating discussion of several topics that interest me.

Not to hijack your worthwhile thread, but I've wondered why it is that ice hockey seems to have more ageless wonders than the other high-intensity sports (my apologies to any this might offend but golf and baseball, though certainly sports, are not high-intensity). Gordie Howe played into his 50s; Steve Yzerman and Brett Hull played to ripe old ages, and so on. I'd say the percentage of guys who are still contributing meaningfully at age 40 or above in the NHL is far higher than the NFL (especially if you exclude kickers), the NBA, MLS, track and field, swimming, wrestling, or any other like sport I can imagine. Why is that?

My theory is that that the pounding the legs take from running around is what does in most players in most sports. It is why basketball players have such short careers -- all that continous pounding combined with a lot of body weight.

Hockey players don't really pound at all. They glide.

Camoo wrote:

Gammoudi was also a world cross country champion. And he was an athlete NOT raised at altitude who won a distance race in Mexico City in '68

He did spend two years in the Pyrenees training. That helped a lot.

Meats Mortensen wrote:

Camoo wrote:

Gammoudi was also a world cross country champion. And he was an athlete NOT raised at altitude who won a distance race in Mexico City in '68

He did spend two years in the Pyrenees training. That helped a lot.

Tunisians received a lot of assistance from the French. Weren't they a colony? When you look at Gammoudi's kick in 1968 & 1972, how did he not blow away Mills & Clarke at Tokyo?

I knew a 1972 Olympian who said Gammoudi was quite small, but to compensate had a gorgeous French wife.

Great runner, but why not more good Tunisian runners?

your post was very interesting Average Joe....if I was EIGHT years old. Come on people. Anyway ever hear of Carlos Lopes, or Paul Tergat or Moses Tanui or Stephane Schweickhardt or Andres Espinoza or Philip Chirchir or...oh never mind...you don't get it, you won't get, and the possibility exists that you can't get it.

Or the guy that won today's stage (Vasseur) who is 37. But other than that and the numerous other guys that are over 35, Hampsten is right on.

Another possibility is that Hampsten couldn't keep going so rather than say, I can't handle this anymore, he has to find an excuse. Something that wouldn't injure his precious/fragile ego. Maybe something like, lets see, age maybe?