I know that Gerry Lindgren competed in the 5k final at the Tokyo Olympics in 1964. I have even heard rumors that he lead at 3k!?!
Did heats occur before the final? How did he place in the heats/finals? I cannot find any statistics.
I know that Gerry Lindgren competed in the 5k final at the Tokyo Olympics in 1964. I have even heard rumors that he lead at 3k!?!
Did heats occur before the final? How did he place in the heats/finals? I cannot find any statistics.
Not sure about Lindgren, but if you go to this site you can download the last two laps. It's pretty cool footage.
http://www.runningpast.com/vintage_media.htm
Noah
Lindgren ran the 10km and finished ~10th in !28:56.
He was not in the 5000m.
your sure? it was the 10000m and not the 5000m?
absolutely!
in the 1970s, i was quite curious about lindgren and finally met him in 1987. anyway, i have the 1964 T&FN olympic issue with
a pic of him in the lead pack in the tokyo 10km. he won the OT 10km over mills and ron larrieu.
for more info, call him. his # was (808) 396-0089, don't know if it has changed.
Lindgren first "qualified" in the 5k by finishing third (13:44.00, still standing American prep record, sorry dat) in the preliminary oly trials behind dellinger and schul. In the second trials (i've no idea why they used this system) Lindgren apparently jumped to the 10k which he won, beating some guy I can't remember, and Mills. The second trial, if i have this right, was a qualifier for the first six finishers from the preliminary trials. The winner of the preliminaries was an automatic olympian as long as he could still demonstrate "health and fitness" at the second trials, while the other five had to battle for the two remaining spots. They did a similarly screwy thing in '68 with the second trials in Tahoe (at elevation) to simulate Mexico City. The athletes that preformed well there tended to preform well in Mexico, however some athletes tanked in the thin air and failed to qualify (i.e. Mills and Lindgren).
While it's crazy enough to have two qualifiers during the summer of an olympic year, there was also a Russia/US dual meet held between the qualifiers as well! Lindgren pulverised the field in the 10K in front of a home crowd, pr'd like mad and beat the russian champ Ivanov (5th in Tokyo) by half a lap. It was the first time an american had beat a russian in this event, and it happened less than a year after Kennedy's asassination for dramatic effect. I'm guessing this is why he moved up for Tokyo.
Leading up to Tokyo, Lindgren claims to have run over 1400 miles in 8 or 9 weeks including his now well-known 240mile week (I got this out of an SI ('64) article I recently read. I'm thinking it was over 1600miles, but that just sounds absolutely insane). He broke or sprained his foot in the process, but led the olympic finals for several laps anyway, fading to 10th. I can't find his time anywhere, but He finished well back of 29min. (8th place was 29:15.xx). Interestingly, this race inlcuded the 5k champ from Rome (Halberg, NZ), the 5k champ from Mexico (Gammoudi, Tunisia), and almost the 5k champ from Munich if the flying finn hadn't shown up (Gammoudi, 2nd place, .6seconds back of Viren).
I got just about all of this info from back issues of Sports Illustrated in the CU library. All 1964 issues. The articles were written pretty badly (though the photos were bad-as-hell!), but unlike today, the sport was big enough that all articles were at least listed in the table of contents and therefore easy to find. Back issues are amazing...but then so are 18 yr. old phenoms with broken feet who decide to take it to Ron Clarke in an olympic final.
oh yeah, larrieu. Also, I don't know about just posting a guys digits on a public board unless it's public info already (phone book).
mountaingoat wrote: Also, I don't know about just posting a guys digits on a public board unless it's public info already (phone book).
I agree. I ran the number as a reverse lookup on three different systems and it turned up no matches. So, if that is Gerry's number, it's unlisted. Not cool to post an unlisted number unless you have his permission. Just my opinion.
Lindgren's phone number was posted in National Master's News a few years ago. He's coaching now, so he probably doesn't mind if prospective athletes find it.
outlier wrote:
for more info, call him. his # was , don't know if it has changed.
Hey dipshit why don't you list your number so we can all give you a call and tell you how f'in stupid you are to post someone's phone number on the internet.
relax, oh deluded self-righteous one, no need to get your panties in a bunch.
lindgren has his # listed on the internet, anyone but a bottom feeder like you can access it.