Why Johnny Gray was so good

Poor John Hall might still be buried under the tartan track at SMC under the old dirt track. He ran himself into the ground to help push Johnny in the early 80s. He was an animal. I'm sure Johnny would give Hall a tip of the hat for the company in those workouts. Cruising for Gray; 90% for Hall.

You were awesome, and arguably, the man responsible for no less than 4 sub 1:43's in the same race- the Atlanta '96 Olympic final. But of course, that's what happens when you take it out in nearly 50 flat! A pretty memorable way to finish your fourth final. We had fun watching too.

Thanks for it all!

Toro, i think you hit the nail on the head

The 800 is an unpredictable race and yet Johnny was always near the top.

If you run the 800, you realize what a crapshoot it really is. Everyone has one bullet to fire and you have to figure out when you are going to use yours.BUT it really depends on when everyone else fires their bullet. In the mile you can strategize more but the 800 is filled with guys just waiting to take you down. Look at what Wottle did in the Olympic final, that was amazing. But it is typical of a world class final. The 800 at that level is really controlled chaos.

Johnny Gray ran sub-1:46 every year from 1982-1999 ... thats 18 straight years!

I just watched the Zurich 85 video, it is amazing how many surges Johnny did in that race jockeying for position, he pushes Barbosa who cut in front of him went from 3rd to 7th surged back up to third, got caught in a box, had to slow and come around from about 8th, surged back up, closed a big gap to 3rd and stayed there through the sprint, maybe even closing a little on Cram in the final straight. Cram made one move, Gray made at least 4 and still ran sub 1:45. awesome.

Geez..great times in the mid 80s to late 90s....can anyone say dopers??

Say what? wrote:

Gray ran 1:12.81 for 600m.

That is simply absurd.

Not sure if it's becuase it's just not run frequently enough or just too specialized a distance, but nobody's come close in 20 years:

1 1:12.81 Johnny Gray USA 19.06.60 1 Santa Monica 24.05.1986

2 1:13.49 Joseph Mutua Mwengi KEN 10.12.78 1 Naimette-Xhovémont 27.08.2002

3 1:13.72 Joseph Mutua Mwengi KEN 10.12.78 1 Naimette-Xhovémont 02.09.2003

4 1:13.80 Earl Jones USA 17.07.64 2 Santa Monica 24.05.1986

5 1:14.15 David Mack USA 30.05.61 3 Santa Monica 24.05.1986

6 1:14.16 Johnny Gray USA 19.06.60 1 Sacramento 21.07.1984

7 1:14.3A Lee Evans USA 25.02.47 1 Echo Summit 31.08.1968

8 1:14.41 Andrea Longo ITA 26.06.75 1 Rovereto 30.08.2000

9 1:14.48 Trinity Gray USA 03.04.78 2 Rovereto 30.08.2000

10 1:14.6A Larry James USA 06.11.47 2 Echo Summit 31.08.1968

11 1:14.72 André Bucher SUI 19.10.76 1 Bellinzona 01.09.1999

11 1:14.72 Gary Reed CAN 25.10.81 2 Naimette-Xhovémont 02.09.2003

13 1:14.8A Mark Winzenried USA 13.10.49 3 Echo Summit 31.08.1968

14 1:14.84 James Robinson USA 27.08.54 2 Sacramento 21.07.1984

15 1:14.9 Martin McGrady USA 20.04.46 1 Melbourne 17.03.1970

16 1:14.94 Wilfred Bungei KEN 24.07.80 2 Bellinzona 01.09.1999

17 1:14.95 Steve Heard GBR 29.04.62 1 London 14.07.1991

18 1:14.96 André Bucher SUI 19.10.76 1 Gold Coast 17.09.2000

Whoa....The 1st 200m has to be like he is running a wide open 400M at least a 22.8. What in the world was his first 400m 46?

World Masters All-Time Rankings - 800 metres

Men / Women >>

Men - M 40 - 44

Time

Name

Nation

DOB

Meet Location

Meet Date

1:48.81 i

Johnny Gray

USA

19.06.60

Atlanta

02.03.2001

1:50.40 i

Johnny Gray - 2

New York

02.02.2001

1:50.69

Colm J. Rothery

IRL

28.01.60

Stretford

05.09.2000

1:51.25

Peter Browne

GBR

03.02.49

Ealing

19.08.1991

1:51.52

Ronald Mercelina

NED

18.04.46

Herrhugonaard

24.09.1986

1:51.56

Robert McCubbin

AUS

08.03.63

Canberra

13.03.2004

I dunno but I am sure there a quite a few guys on here who are happy just to lay down a 73 second 400.

Gray and Spivey have the remaining ARs to be broken. I believe Spivey still own the AR for the 2000 meters.

Interesting, there is not much records on any Gray 1500/mile runs. He was a pure 800 meter runner.

as someone mentioned he did run a few 1500s and a mile or 2, but never a concentrated effort or targeting a big race or to run a fast time.

former SMTC guy wrote:

'Why' was Johnny Gray so good?

1)God-given talent and natural speed and endurance. No surprise there. That's what most world class runners have in common.

2)He worked VERY hard. His coach, Merle MGee, was an old school coach who believed in high mileage and high intensity at the right times.

I watched him train and he trained more like a miler or even a 5k runner at times, esp. in the fall, than an 800m guy. Don't get me wrong, he did the fast intervals when that time of the season was in progress; but the guy logged alot of miles. I always tried to talk him into running the mile a few times, just to get a sub 4, but he never did.

While Johnny certainly had talent, he was never the guy with the most endurance or the most raw speed. To the best of my knowledge (and from what I was told), he was a 46x quarter miler and about equivalent a 4 minute miler...that's good, but not great when you consider how he ran his 800s.

Johnny trained like a madman and raced the same way. To be successful in the 800, you really have to attack it, whether from the front or from the rear...either way, you can't be pussycat about it.

As someone that ran against Johnny is high school, trained with him at SMTC, and has known him since 1977, I can say that he was not a doper. May have been others, but not him. He worked incredibly hard with very few injuries over his 20+ year career; add in talent, and you have a superior record. Not doing too poorly as a coach, either, he really has done well with Khadevis.

Coach T wrote:

Not doing too poorly as a coach, either, he really has done well with Khadevis.

too bad Robinson doesn't have a little humility, like Johnny did.

Given his still standing 600 World record, I'd say it's obvious his potential was at 800 and below- not at greater distances.

I remember watching his race in the 1992 Olympics with my dad... Gray went out like a maniac. We didn't really follow track, and my dad thought that Gray was out of his mind!

I don't think there's anything ballsier than taking the Olympic final field through 400 meters in a 49 (or whatever it was) and holding on for the bronze! He was a complete badass that day, and nobody will take that away from him!

dean moriarty wrote:

I remember watching his race in the 1992 Olympics with my dad... Gray went out like a maniac. We didn't really follow track, and my dad thought that Gray was out of his mind!

I don't think there's anything ballsier than taking the Olympic final field through 400 meters in a 49 (or whatever it was) and holding on for the bronze! He was a complete badass that day, and nobody will take that away from him!

In defense of Mr. Gray - the reason he went out hard was he ran to his strengths. although he had speed, it was the long, sustained 400 meter type speed; not the leg speed sprint finish type that Seb Coe had. So pushing from the gun was better suited to him.

Is that a fair assessment, Mr. Gray?

John Kipkurgat ran a 1:13.2 600m split in an 800m in 1974 -that last 200 must have hurt as he ran slower than 1:45. Per BMC News Autumn 2002 Paul Ereng ran 1:14 at 600m in the 1988 Kenyan Olympic trials and finished with a 31 to just make the Olympic team ... the rest is history.