As I wrote, "in individual events, Femke Bol […] won the 400m hurdles title at the 2023 WC.” I didn’t refer to her two additional gold (WC 2023 & OG 2024) in relays.
Im not sure why your undies are in a bunch. What i said was true. As was what you said. Lighten up francis.
She has ZERO individual golds. Thasts nuts, she might be the most talented to not have a Gold.
Joe Kovacks won the last three Olympic Silver medals in the shot put. He has won a couple of WC Golds.
Yeah, his throw to win the silver medal in Paris was one of my favorite moments of last year's Olympics. He was in fourth place and down to his last throw, in the rain. He came up clutch, almost as if to say, "Only Crouser can beat me. That silver is MINE!"
Here's the video, with his silver-winning throw at 3:45:
While researching this, I also took note of some agonizingly close losses:
Sandi Morris had two instances (2016 and 2022) in which she vaulted the same height as the winner, 4.85m both years.
As many of us know, Paul Tergat's margin of defeat to Haile Gebrselassie at the 2000 Olympics was narrower than the margin of defeat in the men's 100m at those Games. He lost 27:18.20 to 27:18.29.
Will Claye was barely outjumped by Christian Taylor 17.68-17.63 in 2017
Butch Reynolds lost to Michael Johnson 43.87-43.93 in 1992.
Hasna Benhassi lost to Kelly Holmes 1:56.38-1:56.43 in 2004.
Perhaps the most heartbreaking loss for our Silver Surfers is Terrence Trammell's 110m hurdles loss at the world championships in Berlin in 2009. He turned 30 going into that year, so the clock was ticking on his career. By that point, he had already won four silver medals, losing three of those races to two of the greatest ever in his event: Allen Johnson and Liu Xiang (twice).
Finally, it looked like luck would be on Trammell's side in 2009. Liu Xiang, the reigning world champion, was out of action due to injury. David Oliver, who medaled in the Olympics the year before and had the second-fasted time in the world in 2009, had to miss the U.S. Championships with his own injury. Then, at the world championships, world-record-holder and 2008 Olympic champion Dayron Robles failed to finish his semifinal due to, you guessed it, injury.
With Robles, Xiang, and Oliver out of the picture, Trammell was tied with fellow American David Payne as the fastest men in 2009 who would be lining up for the world championship final. Payne won silver at the 2008 Olympics and barely edged out Trammell to win the 2009 U.S. championship in a photo finish with both men running 13.12. If Trammell could find a way to beat Payne, he'd probably win gold. In a race that went down to the wire, Trammell and Payne would once again finish with the same time, clocking 13.15. Except this time, Trammell beat him! The problem? Ryan Brathwaite from the Barbados ran 13.14 to win gold, which would turn out to be his only championship medal at the senior level in his career.
Trammell would never make another U.S. outdoor team.
Sandi Morris good example-- 3 silvers no Gold.. But then lets just say the obvious...Sam Kendricks and the boys are probably in the most lopsided era ever for an event.
Sandi Morris good example-- 3 silvers no Gold.. But then lets just say the obvious...Sam Kendricks and the boys are probably in the most lopsided era ever for an event.
It's a good thing for Kendricks he won those two world championships while Mondo was a teenager.
Not a silver medal, but Ta Lou consistently finished in 4th behind 3x all time Jamaican greats.
Yes, she's finished 4th three times at the Olympics plus a 5th and an 8th. She does, however, have two world championship silvers and a bronze, so she at least knows what it's like to be on a podium.
Sorry if he's mentioned, but Ron Clarke won 1 Olympic bronze and I think 4 Commonwealth silvers despite setting somewhere near 800 world records.
Good one! You're the first to mention him in this thread. Yes, you're right. In addition to his 1964 Olympic bronze behind Billy Mills and Mohammed Gammoudi (and finishing 5th and 6th in 1968), Clarke won four Commonwealth silvers, losing to a different man each time:
1962 3 miles: lost to reigning Olympic 5K champion Murray Halberg
1966 3 miles: lost to future Olympic 1500m champion Kip Keino
1966 6 miles: lost to future Olympic 10K champion Naftali Temu
1970 10K: lost to Lachie Stewart
Here's a good article on Clarke's record-breaking spree in 1965. I learned the following:
Cruelly, the supreme record-breaker was destined never to claim an Olympic title, almost losing his life when he collapsed in a state of unconsciousness after finishing sixth in the 10,000m final in the dangerously thin air of Mexico City in 1968.
He did, however, famously receive the gift of an Olympic gold medal, courtesy of the admiring Emil Zatopek.
It came as a surprise to Ron Clarke himself that his wondrous year of world record wrecking began on the grassy slopes of North Hobart Oval 60 years ago today.
I have not looked it up yet, but how many silvers has Femke got behind Syd? Or will have? Both are young and have 1 or 2 Olympics and 1 or 2 Worlds to go, and that gap in the 400H is not closing at all. I know she's 0-4 against in finals. But I think there was bronze in there and a relay. Syd didn't run Budapest, nor hardly anything else.
Side note- weird that Phelps has 28 medals in the olympics....3 are silver. In a sport where winners are hundredths.
how many silvers has Femke got behind Syd?
1 only
Both are young and have 1 or 2 Olympics and 1 or 2 Worlds to go
While researching this, I also took note of some agonizingly close losses:
Sandi Morris had two instances (2016 and 2022) in which she vaulted the same height as the winner, 4.85m both years.
As many of us know, Paul Tergat's margin of defeat to Haile Gebrselassie at the 2000 Olympics was narrower than the margin of defeat in the men's 100m at those Games. He lost 27:18.20 to 27:18.29.
Will Claye was barely outjumped by Christian Taylor 17.68-17.63 in 2017
Butch Reynolds lost to Michael Johnson 43.87-43.93 in 1992.
Hasna Benhassi lost to Kelly Holmes 1:56.38-1:56.43 in 2004.
Not sure where you got that stat from, but it's not close to correct. Neither Johnson (200 only) or Reynolds (see False Positive documentary) contested the 400 in the 1992 Olympics. Reynolds did get silver behind Johnson in both 1993 and 1995, but neither were close (1993 was 43.65-44.13 and 1995 was 43.39-44.22).
While researching this, I also took note of some agonizingly close losses:
Sandi Morris had two instances (2016 and 2022) in which she vaulted the same height as the winner, 4.85m both years.
As many of us know, Paul Tergat's margin of defeat to Haile Gebrselassie at the 2000 Olympics was narrower than the margin of defeat in the men's 100m at those Games. He lost 27:18.20 to 27:18.29.
Will Claye was barely outjumped by Christian Taylor 17.68-17.63 in 2017
Butch Reynolds lost to Michael Johnson 43.87-43.93 in 1992.
Hasna Benhassi lost to Kelly Holmes 1:56.38-1:56.43 in 2004.
Not sure where you got that stat from, but it's not close to correct. Neither Johnson (200 only) or Reynolds (see False Positive documentary) contested the 400 in the 1992 Olympics. Reynolds did get silver behind Johnson in both 1993 and 1995, but neither were close (1993 was 43.65-44.13 and 1995 was 43.39-44.22).
Good catch. Butch Reynolds lost to Steve Lewis 43.87-43.93 in Seoul 1988.
Not sure where you got that stat from, but it's not close to correct. Neither Johnson (200 only) or Reynolds (see False Positive documentary) contested the 400 in the 1992 Olympics. Reynolds did get silver behind Johnson in both 1993 and 1995, but neither were close (1993 was 43.65-44.13 and 1995 was 43.39-44.22).
Good catch. Butch Reynolds lost to Steve Lewis 43.87-43.93 in Seoul 1988.
Thanks for the correction. Yes, I had the times right, but the wrong year and wrong winner. My apologies, I was writing late at night. To make up for it, here's the video:
Yeah, his throw to win the silver medal in Paris was one of my favorite moments of last year's Olympics. He was in fourth place and down to his last throw, in the rain. He came up clutch, almost as if to say, "Only Crouser can beat me. That silver is MINE!"
Here's the video, with his silver-winning throw at 3:45:
I'm happy for Kovacs that he has those two WC golds.
oooh, that's one we missed. Very good call. Bad timing for Kovacs and Walsh.
I just learned that Joe Kovacs wasn't the first Joseph Kovacs to win Olympic silver. József Kovács won silver in the 10K at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne!
Born just 3.5 years after the great Emil Zátopek, the elder Kovács ran faster than Zátopek in both the 5K and 10K, but he never held the world records because Kovács' Hungarian countryman, Sándor Iharos, broke the 10K record first, followed by Vladimir Kuts. Likewise, others ran faster than Zátopek in the 5K before Kovács did.
Side note: the mid-1950s were wild for breaking distance records. Gunder Hägg was the first man to break 14:00 in the 5K, and he held that record for almost 12 years before Zátopek broke it by one second in May, 1954. It was then broken eight more times between then and October, 1957, going all the way from 13:57 down to 13:35. Zátopek became the first man to go under 29:00 in the 10K in June, 1954 and by September, 1956 Kuts had brought it down to 28:30. I wonder if distance running fans back then complained about the impact of new shoe technology. Sorry, I digress.
Back to József Kovács, distance runner: Even he was not the first József Kovács to be an Olympian! There was a József Kovács, also from Hungary, who competed in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin! According to his Olympedia profile, the most senior József Kovács Olympian won 29 Hungarian championships and set 20 Hungarian records in multiple events. He was the first Hungarian to run 400 metres under 48 seconds and the first under 15 seconds in the 110 metre hurdles. His national record at 200 metres was only broken 31 years later. He never won an Olympic medal - his highest finish was 6th as a member of Hungary's 4x400m relay team - but he did win the European Championship in the 110 hurdles in 1934.
Herb McKenley of Jamaica won three individual Silvers: London 400, Helsinki 100 and 400. He did win gold in Helsinki 4x400.
Excellent addition, thank you! He also finished 4th in the 200 in 1948. Here's his Olympic bio:
Herb McKenley was a legendary runner in Jamaica, winning everything available to him except an individual gold medal. He attended Boston College and won the AAU Championship in 1945 and 1947-48, after finishing as runner-up in 1944 and 1946. He is uniquely the only man to have made the final round at the Olympics in all three sprints – 100, 200, and 400, and in 1951, at the Pan American Games, he was the bronze medalist in all three events. In 1948 he twice set individual world records, once for 400 metres (45.9) and once for 440 yards (46.0). He later became a track coach and administrator in his native Jamaica, and maintained a guiding hand in the track & field program at his alma mater, Calabar High School.
