Emile Puttemans, the Belgian gardner, was WR in the 5K at 13:13.1 and the silver medalist in '72 in the Oly 10K. He rarely is mentioned despite enjoying a great career from the late 60's to the late 70's. How about Dick Quax - he broke Putteman's 5K record but was hidden in the shadows of his more illustrious teamates Walker and Dixon (presumably because they were 1500 or miler types)?
Next one...name the runner who won two gold medals for a nation that, at the time, had never existed.
jsquire wrote:
Next one...name the runner who won two gold medals for a nation that, at the time, had never existed.
Armin Hary?
The Aouita of his day Hungarian Sandor Iharos who set 6 world records in 1955 : 1500, 3000, 2 miles, 5000 (twice) and 3 miles. A year later he added the 6 miles and 10000 records. Apparently troubled by sore ankles and the Soviet invasion of Hungary he never competed in the Melbourne Olympics.
Living in the Past wrote:
Juha Vatainen ran the last lap of the 1971 European Championships 10,000 meters in 53.8 seconds to finish in 27:51, narrowly holding off Jurgen Haase. That was arguably the greatest 10,000 performance up to that time, as five guys went under 28 minutes.
Vaatainen also won the 5,000 meters, beating Laase Viren and pleasing the local Helsinki crowd. The following year, Vaatainen was injured and basically retired from the sport. He's rarely mentioned these days, but he was the best distance runner in the world in 1971.
Viren wasn't a factor in the 5000 finishing 7th. Vaatainen lit up Jean Wadeux (sp) and Norpoth in that 5000, low 13:30s. I believe he was 53 point in the 5k and 52 point in the 10k.
Hannes Kolehmainen, Gold Medalist in the 5 & 10 at the 1912 Olympics for Finland. At the time Finland was part of Russia and prior to that had belonged to Sweden. It didn't become an independent country until the Russian Revolution in 1917. As super nerd of the night I'd like to have my beer at Twiggs in Blowing Rock, NC.
You beat me to the punch with Baillie, Quax and Hodgie-san. So, let's add Akio Usami, Van Nelson (dual gold medallist at 5,000/10,000 in the 1967 Pan Am games)Jim Hogan, Bill Adcock, Ian Thompson, Johan Halberstadt, and Gerard Nijboer.
PS,
Karl Lismont
Ian Thompson! I was a huge fan of his! Quax had the compartment syndrome in his shin and struggled for a long time while Walker and Dixon took some recognition. I guess Richard Tayler would be one of them as well--Lydiard always said he could have beaten Viren if he didn't have ankylosing spondilitis (or however you spell it). New Zealand had a bunch of great runners who didn't have much opportunity to come out of downunder and excell. Japanese, on the other hand, always had some great runners but, for some reason, they didn't want to come abroad to compete. It is still their problem. Seko won Boston, Chicago and London marathons. Then Taniguchi won Rotterdam as well. Anybody remember a tiny Japanese girl by the name of Akemi Masuda? She ran 2:30:30 and won OTC marathon when she was 18 or 19. She could have been pretty darn good...
HRE, I've been trying to call you. Answer your damn phone once in a while!
Sorry to correct you, Malmo. I know it is very rare for you to make a mistake about track trivia. But Vatainen\'s last 400 meters in the 10,000 was 53.8. It\'s in the \"Dave Bedford Story,\" to cite just one source. (I did get Vatainen\'s finishing time wrong. I said 27:51, but it was actually 27:52.8.)
You\'re certainly right about Viren not being a factor in the 5,000 at Helsinki. And as you point out, the real challengers were Wadoux and Norpoth, who were famously great finishers who were overpowered by Vatainen\'s kick.
By the way, someone above mentioned Emiel Puttemans. He finished sixth in that race. (Puttemans was also in the 1968 Olympic 5,000, at the age of 20.)
http://62.232.35.140/athletics-heroes/stats_athletics/european/1971_m.asp
Vatainen made the Olympic final the following year in the 5,000, but he finished near the back with Dave Bedford. He was injured for most of that year and wasn\'t at peak fitness.
Who else here knows this one?
Ron Stonitsch: Penn Relays Most Valuable Athlete, 4:01 miler in the late 1960s, beat Prefontaine twice at longer distances, beat Frank Shorter in a majority of the times they raced, national xc champion, and 9-time all-American from CW Post University. After college, injury and one or two aborted comeback attempts.
Anyone?
Oooh! Ron Stonitsch! You should get some sort of prize for that one. I'll see your Ron Stonitsch and raise you a Norm Higgins and an Oscar Moore.
Nobby,
I've been home for two nights in the past three weeks. We were travelling and now are visiting my mother-in-law. I'll be home tomorrow night for a couple of days and will call you.
Oh, and Rex Maddaford as well.
malmo wrote:
Viren wasn't a factor
Of course not. It wasn't an Olympic year!
Add Art Dulong to that particular bin. Totally dominant in the northeast. If injuries hadn't cut short his career, we would all know his name.
Gary Tuttle
When was Stonitsch MVP at Penn Relays?
When did he ever beat Steve Prefontaine at anything?
Micah Kogo
George Young
I saw Rex Maddaford win the Texas Relays six mile in 1970. Arthur Lydiard was there. In that same meet, Texas A&M set a world record in the 880 relay, anchored by Curtis Mills.
So who's the greatest runner not yet mentioned? How about the Australian steeplechaser Kerry O'Brien?
If you're going to include Norm Higgins, who was a 2:16 marathoner, you ought to also mention Eamon O'Reilly, who ran a 2:11 marathon in Boston in 1970. Ron Hill hasn't been mentioned, either. He won Boston that year. Jerome Drayton also won in 1977. He also won Fukuoka three times.
And what about Art DuLong of Holy Cross? He was almost unbeatable in IC4A cross country. His only real rival was Steve Stageberg, who beat Dulong one year and is also very underrated. In 1971, Stageberg gave Prefontaine a scare in the AAU three-mile championship.