I have seen a few, especially indoors when New York's Madison Square Garden had the US Olympic Invitational, Millrose and the AAU Champs every winter. The most unforgettable was Carl Lewis jumping 28'10 3/4" on the short runway.
But I will tell you that I got goose bumps like never before in Montreal in 1976 when I heard the announcer say, "First, an Olympic Champion..." Every time was magical.
One; KB's 2000 indoor in Birmingham, UK Feb 2007, 4:49.99
Bruce Jenner Decathlon WR 8/10/75, Eugene, OR
1986 Heptathlon JJK 7148 (Houston)
1987 TJ Hudson 13.85 (San Jose)
1991 100 Burrell 9.90 (NYC)
1996 200 Johnson 19.66 (Atl)
1996 100 Bailey 9.84 (Atl)
1996 200 Johnson 19.32 (Atl)
Also, Steve Scott...indoor 1000 yds at Mason Dixon Games in 1981...how's that for obscure! Probably seen quite a few more WRs at the Fayetteville track but can't recall.
I think here in the US, Bob Hersh, G. Hill, and Howard Schmertz combined have several hundred.
Me - a few dozen! Signed a few World Record Applications.
Two of my favorite involved Stacey Dragilia.
The first was at the OT in 2000. I was at the pv during the warm ups when she asked the bar to be raised to a new WR - which she cleared. Hours later in the competition, after winning she asked the bar to be raised to a WR height. I went over to the Referee and asked him to get a a WR application out. He said "what for". I told him Stacey was about to break the WR. He said "she hasn't done it yet". I told him "trust me, she did it a few hours ago". End of story - she broke the WR!
The second time was at the Millrose Games. Stacey had told the press that she wanted to win the Waterford Crystal Bowl for the Outstanding Athlete. Howard and I told her that she would get it if she broke the WR.
The night of the meet she easily won the competition. Then missed her first attempt at a WR. While she was checking her pole plant at the box, I ran over and placed the Waterford Crystal at the far end of the runway. As she walked back for her second attempt she saw the Crystal. I pointed to the crystal and then the crossbar at WR height. She broke the WR on her next attempt.
latently homosexual teenager wrote:
WTF.....Usain Bolt 9.72 in 1998?????????
2008. His first senior WR, as far as I know.
Never seen a world record live Wejo, but I was at UCLA around 1988 when Danny Everett broke some kind of 400 record (may have been the collegiate record), with frosh Steve Lewis and another UCLA guy in tow. My memeory is foggy. Just an awesome sight to see. Of course, these guys went on to medal in the Olympics later that year, with Lewis surprisingly taking the gold as a young buck.
toro wrote:Mike Marsh missed by .01 four years earlier in an eased up semi but got a head-wind in the final
as he did in the semi
it didn't make nearly 0.4s difference
he ran a "tight" race in the final & maybe also had a lot of fatigue from previous day's semi
Saw three in about 1 hour at Zurich in 1997 - 800, steeple and 5000. Amazingly all 3 WRs were broken within 2 weeks.
I've watched pretty much every world record online, or on tv since I started running in 2001. Well I haven't seen all the road race wr's during that time, ie 15k, 20k, etc.
in person? none
My first ones were at the 1971 AAU in Eugene. They were still running yards. 100y - Dr. Del Meriwether ran 9.0w (so not a record); 440y - John Smith 44.5; 120yHH - 13.0 Rod Milburn. So, I guess only two officially.
100m- Leroy Burrell at US Champs 9.90 (1991)
Leroy again, in Lausanne, 9.85 in 1994
Donovan Bailey in Atlanta, 9.84
Flo-Jo in Indy 1988, 10.49
200m- MJ in Indy 1996, 19.66 (missed his Atlanta run when I flew back to Dallas for a contract)
5000m- Moses Kiptanui, 12:55.30 Roma 1995
10000m- Yobes Ondieki, Oslo 1993, 26:58.38
PV- Bubka X 4
SP- Randy Barnes, 23.12 at LA in 1990
JT- Patrick Boden in Austin, 89.10 in 1990
Hept.- JJK in 1986 in Houston and again in Indy in 1988.
Indoors? Even more maybe 30 or so.
I believe I saw about 25 perhaps as many as 30 Indoor records in MSG
My first Millrose was in '57 or 58. I think there was a walk WR that first meet but not sure. I do remember John Thomas going 7 foot in '59 and Hayes Jones 7 flat the next year.
I've only missed a few Indoor meets in MSG since 1960, so if it was set in NYC/Meadowlands I was there- missed 67-68 in Army, one or two in the 80s and a couple around the turn of the century when I was in the hospital.
At one time we had NYAC, Millrose. AAU Champs, AAU Scholastic Champs, Metropolitain Intercollegiate, Knights of Columbus, IC4A, VitalisOlympic, ITA Pro and the Colgates series final meets
Now it is the lone Millrose and that is hanging on by a thread a very thin thread.
not so many WR outdoors
Saw Frank Budd WR 9.2 yards at Downing Stadium cinders of course
Burrell 9.90m Downing 1990 on allweather surface autotime
and Bolts 9.72 at Icahn( almost the same footprint as Downing)
Davenport 13:47
a couple of drug takedowns wiped at least one relay from my list
Defar 14:24xx
Worlds Best was the term---not sure what the rules for "seeing a roadrace/marathon" but was at the finish for Beth Bonner in Philly in the spring of `71 and going sub 3 in the fall in NYC, Grete's races in 1978/9 and the whatever distance '80 race.
I was at BostonAA for some 1970s runs and I think in one the womans race was one but for the life of me I have no idea who.
I should have kept a list!!!
Just one. I was at Braves game in Atlanta where they broke the WR for the most banjos playing Foggy Mountain Breakdown at the same time. It was like over 200 banjo pickers!!
Saw various indoor WRs beginning in 1968 in the leading NYC indoor meets. First real outdoor records were probably the 400H and 800 at the '76 Olympics. Was there at the '88 Olympic trials for Flo-jo's so-called 10.49. Then went to the major European meets from 1990 to 2005, including 15 straight Zurich meets, many Brussels, a couple Oslo, and so on. Saw lots of great records in that span: all-time favorites were Zurich 95, Zurich 97, and Brussels 97.
i once was in a race at duke, and came to find out as soon as the race was over that john hinton had broken the masters 1500 record. i can't remember what either of our times were, but i barely got him! (i was in college at the time) not technically an overall WR, but pretty cool stuff nonetheless
I don't think anybody can top Ventolin^3. He saw Quincy Watts world record as well as many others.
ventolin^3 wrote:
toro wrote:Mike Marsh missed by .01 four years earlier in an eased up semi but got a head-wind in the finalas he did in the semi
it didn't make nearly 0.4s difference
he ran a "tight" race in the final & maybe also had a lot of fatigue from previous day's semi
Marsh had a 0.2 headwind in the semi and 1.0 headwind in the final.
He also won by .12 s over Fredericks in the final so I don't know how "tight" he was.
He was 0.3s off from the WR in the final, not 0.4.
And factoring the curve all 1.0 headwinds are do not equally affect the runner.
A headwind angling from lane 8 towards lane 1 would be more of a hindrence than a headwind angling from lane 1 to lane 8 as you are coming out of the curve but could give the same wind reading.
All that being said, no, the final effort was not likely a world record effort but the conditions were not as ideal as in the semi.
It was the evening of Friday, July 15, 1960. I was sitting on the grass infield of the track in Saskatoon watching the 100 meters final during the Canadian Championships/Olympic trials. A 19 year old surged far ahead of the other runners and those around me shook their heads and said nothing about the time on their watches. Harry Jerome had just tied the pending 100 meter World Record with a 10 flat clocking. Some of those sitting in the stands and near me had timed him in 9.9. I believe that was my first world record. Since that day I have seen many of the bigger indoor and outdoor track and field meets on this continent plus 7 Olympic Games and 5 World Championships.
I have no idea how many world records I have seen but taking just my first four Olympics (1964, '68, '72 and '76), I saw the following gold medalists break or tie the world record in their event:
Hayes, Hines, Tommie Smith, Lee Evans, Doubell, Juantorena, Garderud, Viren, Bikila, Milburn, Hemery, Akii-Bua, Moses, the '64, '68 and '72 US 4 x 100 teams, the '64 and '68 US 4 x 400 relay teams, and Nemeth in the javelin in 1976 plus the following women: Tyus, Stecher, Szewinski, Stecher, Packer, Kazankina, Bragina in the 1500 in her heat and then in her semi and final races thus lowering the world record 3 times in one meet, Erhardt, Poland in the 4x 100, the US in the 4x 100, West Germany in the 1972 4 x 400, East Germany in the '72 and '76, Metfarth, Rand, Viscopoleanu, Gummel, Chizova, Irena Press and Peters in the Pentathlon.
In 1968 in Mexico City the world record in the mens' triple jump won by Saneyev was broken 5 time by three differnt competitors in the one day.
And then theres the great world record that I did not see but did hear. Pete Mundle and I were staying at the same place in Mittenwald Germany. We had missed our train to Munich and as we climbed the steps to enter the stadium we heard a tremendous roar that lasted for some time. When we entered the stadium we saw Bob Beaman on his knees just in front of where we should have been sitting. The day turned out to be not totally wasted because after the session was over we met with Coach Bill Bowerman in the Olympic Village. Before we left the Village we spent some time watching the big screen where they played that jump over and over and over and over.
A couple of other world records that I saw live and that quickly come to mind are those of Toomey, Bolt, Mills and Lindgren.
OrvilleAtkins said: And then theres the great world record that I did not see but did hear. Pete Mundle and I were staying at the same place in Mittenwald Germany. We had missed our train to Munich and as we climbed the steps to enter the stadium we heard a tremendous roar that lasted for some time. When we entered the stadium we saw Bob Beaman on his knees just in front of where we should have been sitting.
Uhm, Beamon (correct spelling here) did it in Mexico City. That must have been some roar.