Anybody have the video of Dave Wottle winning the 72 Olympic 800m final? Best comeback I've ever seen.
Haven't been able to find it posted anywhere on the net.
Any chance of someone downloading it on Youtube or Google video?
Anybody have the video of Dave Wottle winning the 72 Olympic 800m final? Best comeback I've ever seen.
Haven't been able to find it posted anywhere on the net.
Any chance of someone downloading it on Youtube or Google video?
A fabulous race from the drug free era....when the Kenyans were clean they were great but beatable....now with epo they have too much of an advantage.
Thanks, J.
I remember having my brother getting me interested in track during 1972. He was a High Schooler and I was in elementary school. He sat me down to watch the trials and explained about all these great runners (Ryun, Pre, & Wottle). I just enjoyed the fact that my 5 and 1/2 year older brother was being so cool to his younger brother.
When the Munich Games rolled around, I was hooked. I remember watching the Wottle race and still get goosebumps to this day. I remember the controversy the media raised after he forgot to remove his hat during the medal ceremony. I remeber my brother being upset with the announcers trying to make the Wottle hat thing out to be another Tommie Smith & John Carlos incident.
That was a great race!
Classic example of running even splits and smoking everybody! I wonder of Boryskovsky(sp) saw that video when he was a kid and modeled his strategy after Wottle. Few 800 guys do it even.
Yevgeniy Arzhanov was still picking tartan track out of his teeth during the medal ceremony.
pre841 wrote:
Yevgeniy Arzhanov was still picking tartan track out of his teeth during the medal ceremony.
LOL!!!
whats up with running with a hat in the olympics?
JooJooBee wrote:
whats up with running with a hat in the olympics?
What's up? Wottle on above you on the podium, that's what's up.
One of the great athletes from Canton, Ohio...Representing the OH well...
he ran in a hat!! an ugly one at that! thats awesome
Never saw that race before. That was fricken awsome!
One of the greatest races of any distance of all time. The leaders were 52.3 and he was dead last with a gap. What were his splits? What was the WR at that time? Finally, who was the other Kenyan (besides Mike Boit = bronze medal) in the race?
not exactly even splits ... Wottle went through in about 53.5 and came back in 52.3
If I recall, Wottle had been experiencing shin splint pains coming up to that race. Having had shin splints before, I understand why Wottle took it out slow ... the last thing you want to do is accelerate quickly with shin splints (Note that the field gapped him in the first 200m)
bronx bhoy wrote:
A fabulous race from the drug free era....when the Kenyans were clean they were great but beatable....now with epo they have too much of an advantage.
go back to the farm
Every middle distance runner should be required to watch this race and learn. He runs almost identical splits, and he runs the least distance of any runner in the race. He makes all but one move on the straights, running on the shoulder of a competitor coming into the final turn. He didn't waste any energy leading, only doing so in the last few feet. In short, a perfect race.
If you just look at him throughout the race, it seems like everyone else is running like an idiot.
Excellent point. Not only did he not waste energy in the first 200m by covering others' moves, but he ran the least distance. That's the big thing I noticed. It's the smartest race I've ever seen. Even on the final turn I think he was still in lane 1. You can see other guys getting out into the outer part of lane 2. I agree young runners ought to be required to watch this.
Great interview with Steve Cram - says Jakob has no chance of WRs this year
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