IF OVETT HADN'T WHACKED HIS KNEE ON THOSE RAILINGS ?

Let me be the first to ask:

WTF are you talking about?

Ovett was on a training run one winter and ran into a fence. I believe it was something like a dog ran out in front of him. He missed a huge chunk of training one winter. So to answer the original quesion I do not think it would have made that much difference

It was incredible that he came back to a WR in 83. I know people who think that was short, ie they started on the wrong line.

Hahahahaha.

Ovett was a beast. What a shame about the 84 Games.

Just going to say, Coe > Ovett.

Skuj wrote:

It was incredible that he came back to a WR in 83. I know people who think that was short, ie they started on the wrong line.

Hahahahaha.

Ovett was a beast. What a shame about the 84 Games.

I've heard the track at Rieti being critcized several times for being less than 400m, given that is a small meet they run compared to Zurich, Oslo, Brussels, etc and yet lot of fast times and wrs:

Ovett's wr as you mentioned

Coe went 3:29 in '86 (a few tenths off the wr)

Morceli's 1500m & mile records in '92 & '93

Komen's 7:20 in '96

fastest 800m & 1500m times of the season last year

I would guess it has to be legit to ratify wrs & Ovett running 3:30.77 doesn't seem that outrageous. Those people who thought it was the wrong line are probably just not Ovett fans and bitter that he came back and got the record.

jonathanpap wrote:

Ovett was on a training run one winter and ran into a fence. I believe it was something like a dog ran out in front of him. He missed a huge chunk of training one winter. So to answer the original quesion I do not think it would have made that much difference

Don't think it was a dog but he was going 5min mile pace at the end of a long hard run (him a Patterson had dropped several good athletes) and he just ran into a fence.

Mind you it wasn't just any fence it was large iron one. Right on the driving thigh/knee (ouch!).

Before then Ovett was looking to be just about unbeatable.

Californian wrote:

Skuj wrote:

It was incredible that he came back to a WR in 83. I know people who think that was short, ie they started on the wrong line.

Hahahahaha.

Ovett was a beast. What a shame about the 84 Games.

I've heard the track at Rieti being critcized several times for being less than 400m, given that is a small meet they run compared to Zurich, Oslo, Brussels, etc and yet lot of fast times and wrs:

"RIETI, Italy (Sep 2, 1997 - 1997 EDT) -- In a season overflowing with world records in middle and long-distance running, Wednesday night's Rieti meet is not likely to stem the tide.

With its athlete-friendly altitude, hard Mondo track and penchant for providing pacesetters, the Rieti Grand Prix II meet has produced five records in recent years."

There's a few possibilities.

My coach, a former world champion and several time Olympian said that people went to Rieti because they knew they'd run a fast time, "no matter how beat or out of shape they were".

Isn't that meet really late in the year. I seem to recall hearing about that 3:30.77 after a couple of weeks into the high school cross season.

1984 had the potential of being the greatest mile showdown of all time in the Olympics. Coe, Cram, Ovett, and Maree all had injury problems however. Scott went for it with a risky tactic in the final and Aouita ran the 5000.

But leading up to the Olympics all af those guys were contenders.

Ovett however was about in his 8th year of World Classs running. But you never know.

Fun runners go hard or go home wrote:

jonathanpap wrote:

Ovett was on a training run one winter and ran into a fence. I believe it was something like a dog ran out in front of him. He missed a huge chunk of training one winter. So to answer the original quesion I do not think it would have made that much difference

Don't think it was a dog but he was going 5min mile pace at the end of a long hard run (him a Patterson had dropped several good athletes) and he just ran into a fence.

Mind you it wasn't just any fence it was large iron one. Right on the driving thigh/knee (ouch!).

Before then Ovett was looking to be just about unbeatable.

I remember this being during his racing season and forced him to take a rest which produced fast times and maybe even a WR coming off the rest. If true, it may have helped him a bit as he may have been overtraining a bit and the 2 weeks off helped. Can anyone help my memory?

I thought it was months off. The muscle had to be "put back in" or something. Was it early 82? Or late 81? And then he actually rushed back into it and did some decent runs late in the 82 season? I forget....I do remember that Coe and Ovett had a 3 race thing going for 82 that fell through. Coe got ill anyway.

I believe Ovett when he mentioned the pre Olympics 1984 training as the best ever. He was at his absolute peak - and then - the effing smog and all. Good old LA.

Ovett "had fun" in 85, then ran well in 86....he was in great shape in 87 and 88, but too many issues set him back. Harry Wilson mentions that Steve was ready to set a 5000m WR in 87, but was unable to prove this. One thing about Steve...he was no bullshyter. I believe all of this.

Goes to show how unforgiving athletics can be sometimes. We may have seen Ovett at his absolute peak from 84-87, but there were setbacks that got in the way. Sheesh, he was only 31 during the 87 season. Seems like he'd been around forever by then.

Get "Running Dialogue" by Harry Wilson!!!

He said himself that he didn't think he'd ever be as good as he was before the railings incident.

I reckon he might have gone on to match Coes times, had he not ran into that railing.

Phil. wrote:

"RIETI, Italy (Sep 2, 1997 - 1997 EDT) -- In a season overflowing with world records in middle and long-distance running, Wednesday night's Rieti meet is not likely to stem the tide.

With its athlete-friendly altitude, hard Mondo track and penchant for providing pacesetters, the Rieti Grand Prix II meet has produced five records in recent years."

There's a few possibilities.

Interesting that the altitude in Reiti (1300f) is high enough to decrease wind resistance, yet low enough that oxygen diffusion isn't decreased. Zurich is at 1400ft and we know that's a great place for fast times.

It was Christmas time 1981. Ovett was out with a marathon runner called Sam Lambourne. Steve lived two minutes round the corner from the church; whilst running past he looked up at the notice board for the church and caught the edge of some pretty solid railings - they're still standing!

He had to take 3 months off then got himself in pretty good nick after training hard down in Cardiff on the sand dunes.

He then tore a hamstring whilst doing a time trial in June.

He got over this and then did a 3km against Moorcroft at Crystal Palace. I think Steve ran in the 7.40's whilst Moorcroft out kicked Sydney Maree to run 7.37???

Steve was suffering from a virus so went back into some more training and then suffered a relapse with his hamstring I think. Season was over.

There was a TV program on late 1982 that documented the Ovett year, i've still got it but its really poor VHS quality - it was quite funny seeing struggle along at 8 minute mile pace was trying to conduct an interview.

This was Ovett's first real injury and he was never the same after. He was a lazy shite in the WC's in 1983 - by his own admission but all those that trained with him through that year knew he only cared about the Olympics in 1984. He was in frightening shape that year and all that ran with him knew he could have done something very special in Los Angeles. Unfortunately being a Brighton boy and living by the coast, the first sign of any pollution caused him immense problems.

After 1984 he didn't train with the full intensity he had late 70's / early 80's when training for the 5km. A little come back against Coe in 1989 was a disaster and forced him into retirement.

In 84 he said he was doing better sessins than he ever had before, to do what he did with the illness he had was incredible.

UK Boy wrote:

It was Christmas time 1981.

UK Boy, Thanks for the recall.

Did Ovett ever miss a few weeks due to injury or illness and return at record setting fitness? This sticks in my mind and I hoping to deny proof I am going mad.

Everyone gets injured at some point or another for whatever reason, Coe got ill, had stress fractures, and stood on a rock or something. Both these guys still had v little time out compared to most, which is one reason why they were so good. I think this particular injury was sufficiently far enough into Ovett's career that once recovered he could get back to fitness fairly quick enough and it will have had little affect. Obviously getting injured is gonna hamper training, but it happens to everyone and is part and parcel of being a world class athlete. If he never got injured perhaps he would have been marginally better, perhaps not, but this would never happen and is true for everyone.

HUH??? wrote:

Let me be the first to ask:

WTF are you talking about?

You leave a message on the message boards so I presume you're a distance running fan, but wait...you don't know about Ovett and the railings?? You should be embarrased.

I can safely assume you were the 'only' one to ask the question rather than the 'first'.

..,.. wrote:

UK Boy wrote:

It was Christmas time 1981.

UK Boy, Thanks for the recall.

Did Ovett ever miss a few weeks due to injury or illness and return at record setting fitness? This sticks in my mind and I hoping to deny proof I am going mad.

Maybe you're thinking of Coe backing off training during exams then going on a record-setting tear.