AW has an interesting article out on the WR and how ridiculous Kratochvílová’s double at Worlds was that year:
Trickiest of all was Tuesday August 9 when she won her 400m semi-final in 51.08 and the 800m final in 1:54.68 just 35 minutes later, although AW’s coverage at the time suggests there was as little as 24 minutes between her leaving the track after the 400m and returning for the 800m. Then, the following day, she passed 200m in 23.2 before clocking 47.99 in the 400m final to beat Koch’s world record of 48.16.
What is really amazing when you think about it is The Women who is most likely to Break Kratochvilova's 800 World Record (Athing Mu) was not even Born when that Record was set.
Other Records where the One Who breaks it was not born when the Record was set.
Marita Koch 400 Record she set it first in 1978 lost it from 1983-85 to kratochvilova, reset it in 1985 and has held it since
What is really amazing when you think about it is The Women who is most likely to Break Kratochvilova's 800 World Record (Athing Mu) was not even Born when that Record was set.
On July 26, 1983, Czechoslovakia’s Jarmila Kratochvilova set the world record in the 800m with an astonishing time of 1:53.28 in Munich, West Germany. She negative split in 56.82/56.46. She was 32 years old at the time. Primarily a 400m runner (Olympic silver in 1980), this was only the second time she had ever competed in the 800m. Her only previous race was in September 1982 when she ran 1:56.59.
Two weeks later, at the first World Championships held in Helsinki, Finland, Kratochvilova broke the world record in the 400m with a time of 47.99, becoming the first woman to break 48 seconds. (Her record was broken two years later by East Germany’s Marita Koch but remains the #2 time ever run). In addition to the WR and gold in the 400m, she also won gold in the 800m in a time of 1:54.68 (#7 all-time) and anchored the 4x400m relay to a silver medal.
At age 27, her best 200m was 23.96; five years later, at age 32, she ran the 400m at nearly the identical pace (47.99).
According to the World Athletics Tables: 23.96 = 1040 points = 54.28 = 2:07.05 47.99 = 1288 points 1:53.28 = 1286 points
Her 400m progression was as follows: Age 25 – 53.39 Age 27 – 51.09 Age 28 – 52.31 Age 29 – 49.46 Age 30 – 48.61 (#2 all-time when it was run) Age 31 – 48.85 Age 32 – 47.99 (World record at the time) Age 33 – 49.02 Age 34 – 49.89
Kratochvilova’s PRs at the time she set the 800m record were: 100m – 11.09 200m – 21.97 (4th fastest ever at the time, #3 performer – only Marita Koch and Evelyn Ashford had run faster) 400m – 48.45 (dropped to 47.99 two weeks later)
In 1943, the world record was 2:16.8; forty years later, the record was 1:53.28. Another forty years later, the record remains 1:53.28.
As far as I know, there is no video of the 800m race in its entirety. Below is a video of the second lap of the WR race. The 400m world record from Helsinki is also linked, as is a 1995 documentary about Kratochvilova.
Someone supposedly pulled info from the book Čekání by Jarmila Kratochvílová and her coach Miroslav Kváč. Didn't really start athletics training until she was 16. Interesting that a 200-400m runner (at the time) would run 7.5 miles with a 13lb weight vest.
1976 (PB 11,5ht and 23,6ht) [Edit: 53.39 400m in Aug '76 at 25 years old] April: SU-I-150 jumps, abs work II- 8 km run with 13lb weight vest MO-I-6x500m (1:45) 6min. rest II- circle training(4 x 2 min.) TU-I-4x350m (200m29s) rest6min. WE-I-6x500m (1:35) with 13lb weight vest rest 7min. II- games + circle training (4x2min.) TH- I-rest (sauna) FR- I-3x100m easy, 8x starts till 60m, 3x100m accele., 3x100mF-E-F, 4x40m fast II- 2 x 6 x 150m rest4min./12min (90%) SA- I- running excercises with weight vest, weights, II- 12km run with 13lb weight vest According to her coach that was like walk with the child.
JUNE 1981 last couple of days before World Cup in Rome where she ran 48.61 and was 0.01 behind WR. 1day) Competition 400m- 49.17, 200m-22.26 2day) 2x60m easy, 1x150m (16.6) 3day) rest 4day) 2x60m easy, 10x starts in the curve, 6x60m 3xeasy(7.1) 1xfast(6.72), 2xeasy(7.2) 5day) 1x60m easy, 3x(3x200m) 5min/10min (26.5, 25.9, 23.1, 26.2, 25.3, 25.1) 6day) weights (between 50kg-70kg), uphills-3x200m 3min (33.8, 33, 32.7) + 3x100m walk back (14.8, 14.5, 14.5) 7day) 2x60m easy (7.5), 6x150m 4min (19.1, 18.6, 18.2, 19, 18.2, 17.4) 8day) 8x100m tempo run, excercises for back and abs
1982 (PB 11,09, 21,97, 48,61)
MAY in Font Romeo. time trial2 x 300m rest 15min. (34,4 and 35,1)
NOVEMBER 1982: A) 5x(500m, 300m, 300m) 3min/6min. (500m-1:32, 300m-52) B) 4x(4x300m) 2min/6min. (300m-51) C) 5x(500m, 300m, 200m) 3min/6min. (500m-1:29, 300m-50, 200m-28) D) 4x(5x300m) 2min/6min. (300m-49)
1983 (PB 47,99, 1:53,29) April in Caslav 20 x 200m uphill with 13lb weight vest rest 2min.
APRIL 1983: A) 4x(3x300m) 2min/6min. (relaxed, fast, relaxed) B) 3x(500m, 200m, 200m) 2-6min/ 10min (500m-1:17, 200m-27) C) 5x300m 12min. (37.9, 37.4, 37.1, 37.6, 37.2) D) 9x(2x200m) 1min/5min (200m-27)
JULY 1983 - Some workouts she did in high altitude A) 2 x (4x150m) in 18"4, rests 4’ & 12’ B) 3 x (150, 200, 100) in 17"0-22"8-11"2, rests 8’ & 15’ C) 4 x (300, 100m) in 39"-11"8, rests 1’ & 15’ D) 3 x (300, 200, 200) in 41"5-25"5, rests 5’ & 12’
From Sports Illustrated Jan '84 ‘Instead, she put in two hard training sessions a day, doing such things as 15 brisk 300-meter intervals of 47 seconds each, with 100 meter trots in between. Miler’s work. “The philosophy of her training,” said her gently smiling, roly-poly coach, Miroslav Kvac, “is that building endurance doesn’t have a negative effect on her speed.”’ A gentle tempo session falling within the bracket 75% of best time or slower.
1976 (PB 11,5ht and 23,6ht) April: SU-I-150 jumps, abs work II- 8 km run with 13lb weight vest MO-I-6x500m (1:45) 6min. rest II- circle training(4 x 2 min.) TU-I-4x350m (200m29s) rest6min. WE-I-6x500m (1:35) with 13lb weight...
“The philosophy of her training,” said her gently smiling, roly-poly coach, Miroslav Kvac, “is that building endurance doesn’t have a negative effect on her speed.”’ A gentle tempo session falling within the bracket 75% of best time or slower.
Whether Kratochvilova doped is the only question on this thread. Only those who know nothing of the sport don't know that.
Yes, it's the question if she doped.
That was the Turinbol era. It was one of the most powerful anabolic steroids of the day. In fact, it was studied by the East Germans & shown to produce significant performance benefits with women's middle-distance runners.
I told you it is the wrong question. I don't care if it is your question.
She has run three times clearly faster than Kratoch's record which stood for 41 years.
I know, you can't answer, no problem.
She hasn't run 47.9 and 1:53. She isn't in the same league. Kratochvilova was undoubtedly doping, Bol might be - just like a lot of other top athletes today.
She has run three times clearly faster than Kratoch's record which stood for 41 years.
I know, you can't answer, no problem.
She hasn't run 47.9 and 1:53. She isn't in the same league. Kratochvilova was undoubtedly doping, Bol might be - just like a lot of other top athletes today.
OK.
So 22.64(i), 49.17(i), 1:05.63(i), 51.45 before age 24 is possible without doping.
So the impossibility without doping starts somewhere between Bol and Kratochvilova.
Many times you have argued that all WRs are of equal quality. You contradict yourself so often.
July 26, 2023 • 04:40 Kratochvil's record for startling is 40 years old. The legend knows who can beat her
It was a mistake in the Matrix. In the hot summer of 1983, runner Jarmila Kratochvílová had completely different things to worry about than standing at the start of the 800-meter race at the Olympic Stadium in Munich. She decided for him only at the last moment, took advantage of the coincidence of circumstances, and watched the timer in amazement at the finish line: "I said to myself: This is not possible, the clock is not running!" It was a world record of 1:53.28 minutes, which stands to this day. But Kratochvílová herself has already looked for a successor.
Michael Phelps lost the oldest swimming record, but athletic history still can't wait for the slayer of Jarmila Kratochvílova.
"It's interesting now with the anniversary. For the last few days, I've been telling myself to make it last until the twenty-sixth," Kratochvílová described.
For four decades, he has been nervous on television. But on Wednesday, she will go to Lány for a private celebration that she still holds the oldest athletics record 40 years after her legendary run in Munich.
If everything had gone according to plan, Kratochvílová would have run the 200-meter sprint on July 26, 1983 at the Olympic Stadium. Three days before, however, she ran on a Thursday in Prague, and the next day she felt a cramp in her leg.
"I wanted to test the 200 in Munich. In the evening, Kratochvílová calls me that she has cramps in her thigh muscle. We went to Munich, she tells me: I'm drawn to it. And I say: You know what? So you just trot eight hundred meters. That was the essence of the matter," said her coach Miroslav Kváč in an interview for the Sport newspaper in 2016.
Kratochvílová was originally a sprinter, she ran courses from the hundred to the fourth. Starting in the middle was exotic for her at the time. With a minor injury, she didn't want to risk the sprint track at that time, because it was less than two weeks before the start of the premier world championship in Helsinki.
"I was afraid of tearing a muscle. On the spot, my coach and I agreed that I would run eight hundred meters. With the fact that I will fulfill the obligation to start. It was difficult here at the time. We were afraid that if I didn't start, they wouldn't let me out for the next races," Kratochvílová recalled.
The race started in a frenzied atmosphere, as fans in the stadium were celebrating Erwin Skamrahl's European record on Thursday. Driver Petra Kleinbrahmová started the women's eight, but in the second lap Kratochvílová was burning alone.
"She ran without inhibitions, without load, without stress," explained Kváč.
"I wanted to run so that I wouldn't struggle too much, so that I could enjoy the feeling that I was running well," explained Kratochvílová. "Only on the straight I saw a light clock that measured time. Twenty meters before the finish I saw the numbers 1:49. I thought to myself: That's impossible, the clock doesn't work!'
Kvač praised himself: "She really finished it like the lady of the stadium."
The time of 1:53.28 marked a surprising world record. By 15 hundredths of a second, Kratochvílová surpassed the previous performance of Soviet woman Naděžda Olizarenková from the Olympics in Moscow. And it was only here that she started thinking about running the 800-meter race at the World Championships in Helsinki on Thursday.
"If it wasn't for that performance from Munich, I certainly wouldn't have run the 800 meters, because I was preparing for the 400 meters and for the fight with Marita Kochová," says Kratochvílová.
Exactly 40 years later, her surprising run from Munich remains the oldest outdoor athletics world record. Kratochvílová watches her followers all this time.
“Caster was probably the closest to that. At one time I thought that he would break the record for sure. I watched her run, how cool she was," Kratochvílová reminds South African runner Semenya, whose career was hampered by the World Athletics' measures against female athletes with a different sexual development.
Even without her, the women's half is at its height in the current era, dominated by the duel between the American Athing Mu and the British Keely Hodgkinson.
"I always watch half. I think they have a chance. They have the advantage of light markings that show records. If you don't experience it, you can't imagine how much it can help," explains Kratochvílová.
However, she herself sees a possible challenger to her record time elsewhere. It is reminiscent of this season's star, Kenyan Faith Kipyegon, who has broken world records in the 1500m, mile and 5000m in recent weeks.
"As I watched her, I thought to myself: Damn, she could give half of that! Those are amazing feats. Maybe I'll wait until he starts the eighth grade. I would very much like it, I would be curious how such a girl can handle it," says Kratochvílová.
Byla to chyba v Matrixu. Běžkyně Jarmila Kratochvílová měla mít v horkém létě 1983 úplně jiné starosti, než se na Olympijském stadionu v Mnichově postavit na start závodu na 800 metrů. Rozhodla se pro něj až na poslední chvíl...
She hasn't run 47.9 and 1:53. She isn't in the same league. Kratochvilova was undoubtedly doping, Bol might be - just like a lot of other top athletes today.
OK.
So 22.64(i), 49.17(i), 1:05.63(i), 51.45 before age 24 is possible without doping.
So the impossibility without doping starts somewhere between Bol and Kratochvilova.
Many times you have argued that all WRs are of equal quality. You contradict yourself so often.
I haven't argued that. Why don't you construct your own argument instead of telling me what I think? I don't believe that there are any "soft" wr's but some are better than others - especially if they are doped.
I also said, that, like many top athletes, Bol could be doping, but there is no doubt an E Bloc world record holder, whose record still stands, was doping.
This post was edited 2 minutes after it was posted.
Kratochvilova was, as were pretty much all of the Eastern Bloc athletes, on Turinabol. I think that's pretty much a given. Her compatriot, Tatana Kocembova, who finished second in Helsinki 83, was also doped. And as often happened back then, both had relatively short careers at the top; my view is that the huge doses of drugs end up being detrimental to their health.
I think with Jarmila, what we saw was probably a woman who was naturally well-built, with naturally higher levels of testosterone, gaining huge benefits from a doping programme.
On Jelimo, I think it is also reasonable to assume she had some form of DSD. There are various conflicting reports online as to whether she has children or not, but the general consensus is that she has not given birth, whether she has children or not.
And whilst on the subject of 400/800 women, and the DSD subtext, others rumoured to have the condition are former 800m runner Maria Mutola and 400m runner Amy Mbacke Thiam. Most current women with DSD have already been 'outed' and moved events/out of the sport/taken medication (Cofil, Seyni, Getachew...) however 400m runner Malekani Quincy from Zambia will be next. Watch this space.
On Athing Mu's potential to break the WR....with her physique, her ability, she was certainly the obvious candidate from todays stars, but she is still a long way off it. I think people look at the 1.7 sec gap between their 1:53.2 and 1:54.9 times as being not much, and completely underestimate the actual meters difference between them. It's a huge gap, something like 11 meters., (like the gap between Hodgkinson & Reekie at Pre).
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