I couldn't have said it better. The 10K field at Tokyo was superb for its time. Mills ran a courageous race and I am sure Lindgren, had he not hurt his foot, would have been up there too.
Clark was one of the really great runners of his age. Zatopek a gold medalist in 1948 and 1952 gave Clark one of his medals after Clark visited him. he thought that highly of him.
The 5K was tactical and slow and the Americans girls were not prepared for that type of race mentally. Either was anyone else in the field except the two Ethiopians. They mentally dominated the field so much that everyone else just cued off of them.
I was never in their class but could run in 15's for 5K back in the day and if I was in a race where we were running 30-45 seconds off pace, I took off and ran my own race. It's like the 1500 at Barcelona in 1992. Slow first 3 laps followed by a kick. The Spaniard won it because he was the fastest over the last lap not because he was fastest runner in the race.