Dick Quax, RIP

Awesome story, weltschmerz. THAT sets the day for sure!

Malmo, what is the source for that great Marty Liquori quote?

SlowFatMaster wrote:

Malmo, what is the source for that great Marty Liquori quote?

Marty Liquori.

Yeah, but in print somewhere or a personal conversation you had with him?

I love rest and recovery stories, both with happy endings (Moses Kiptanui, Kenny Moore) and not so happy endings like Bruce Tulloh. I want to add this to the happy endings list.

SlowFatMaster wrote:

Yeah, but in print somewhere or a personal conversation you had with him?

Yesterday. Verbatim. Message to me.

Did he say any more, like did Quax jog fast or was Marty just tired?

longjack wrote:

viren had his transfusion after the heats.

Interesting. What is the source for this claim?

Anyway, so far there does not seem to exist any hard evidence that Viren doped, only rumours...

But Dick Quax was a great athlete. He (and Dixon) could have beat Viren if they had run a bit smarter in the final...

Quax was really sick, flu or something like that, I can't recall after all this time, and had to miss the 10,000. You have to wonder if he was totally over it for the 5,000. He might have won the 5,000 if he hadn't been sick so soon beforehand.

HRE wrote:

Quax was really sick, flu or something like that, I can't recall after all this time, and had to miss the 10,000. You have to wonder if he was totally over it for the 5,000. He might have won the 5,000 if he hadn't been sick so soon beforehand.

Quax was over his bug for the 5000 in Montreal. He easily won his 5000 meter heat with a fast final 400.

Viren was in the same heat, and coasted the last 400 for 4th place in the heat, but still good enough to make the final.

And Viren might have run a faster 5000 final had he not been coming off of two 10000 meter runs on 7/23 and 7/26. The 5000 final was on 7/30.

btw, Quax did run a 10000 heat, but failed to qualify for the final.

runfunner wrote:

longjack wrote:

viren had his transfusion after the heats.

Interesting. What is the source for this claim?

Anyway, so far there does not seem to exist any hard evidence that Viren doped, only rumours...

But Dick Quax was a great athlete. He (and Dixon) could have beat Viren if they had run a bit smarter in the final...

https://wp.demokraatti.fi/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/quax-1024x675.jpg

"What is the source for this claim?"

There is no reliable source, lol.

Viren gets treated unfairly on this matter, imo. Brendan Foster, who ran strongly in that Montreal final, has stated in his book that he never believed the blood doping rumors. He held Viren in very high regard, as did Puttemans and Yifter, among others.

And as far as Quax and Dixon beating Viren if they had run "a bit smarter in the final", yes, that possibly could be true.

But doesn't the use of smart tactics factor in the overall makeup of being a complete runner?

The greatest distance runner of that era, imo, won that 5000 final.

RIP, Mr Quax.

runfunner wrote:

longjack wrote:

viren had his transfusion after the heats.

Interesting. What is the source for this claim?

Anyway, so far there does not seem to exist any hard evidence that Viren doped, only rumours...

But Dick Quax was a great athlete. He (and Dixon) could have beat Viren if they had run a bit smarter in the final...

https://wp.demokraatti.fi/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/quax-1024x675.jpg

I wonder whatever became of Klaus Hildenbrand?

Anyone know?

I don't recall hearing anything about him post-Montreal.

sky wrote:

"What is the source for this claim?"

There is no reliable source, lol.

Viren gets treated unfairly on this matter, imo. Brendan Foster, who ran strongly in that Montreal final, has stated in his book that he never believed the blood doping rumors. He held Viren in very high regard, as did Puttemans and Yifter, among others.

And as far as Quax and Dixon beating Viren if they had run "a bit smarter in the final", yes, that possibly could be true.

But doesn't the use of smart tactics factor in the overall makeup of being a complete runner?

The greatest distance runner of that era, imo, won that 5000 final.

RIP, Mr Quax.

Yes, I agree with you. It feels a bit sad to always hear these unproven doping rumors about Viren. It should also be remembered that Viren trained very hard also for the European championships in 1974 and 1978, but he was injured both those years. He was in a very good shape in spring 1978, winning Finnish cross-country championships easily (beating e.g. Vainio) but injured his knee later and could not participate in the European championships (where Vainio won the 10k).

What comes to tactics, characteristically Viren always kept the inside lane whenever possible so he ran a much shorter distance than e.g. Prefontaine in 1972 or Dixon in 1976.

Quax was so sick when he turned up in Montreal, he shouldn't have been near other athletes. Even Venti reckons that Foster wouldn't have gotten a medal if Quax was well.

Foster was ill as well. He was just healthy enough to get out there.

The Fokus wrote:

Foster was ill as well. He was just healthy enough to get out there.

Yes correct, I think that Foster said that he didn’t know whether to sprint or crap himself. But I was commenting on Venti's claim on here last year that Quax could have won the 5000m or won a 10000m medal as well if he wasn't sick.

sky wrote:

I wonder whatever became of Klaus Hildenbrand?

Anyone know?

I don't recall hearing anything about him post-Montreal.

Chronic knee and Achilles injuries. He was still trying to come back in '84.

Smooth runner. Here he is on the road in '80.

no way quax or dixon was beating viren on the day, viren set it up for them by taking the lead, and they could sit in the pack and draft, at the end, viren was pulling away... mind you viren did take the shortest route and the rest had to surge and move around. ... no it was viren and his reindeer juice on the day.

while the chickenshiit sit and kick method is the most efficient, all the olympics, the win goes to the gambler and the bold with a smart plan. 76 distance races and middle distances are the prime examples, all the way through to certro 1500 pole to pole.

take that to the bank.

KPH wrote:

sky wrote:

I wonder whatever became of Klaus Hildenbrand?

Anyone know?

I don't recall hearing anything about him post-Montreal.

Chronic knee and Achilles injuries. He was still trying to come back in '84.

Smooth runner. Here he is on the road in '80.

Here he is where?