Was Jesse Owens really the fastest human ever?

Now a sprint coach in the midwest, I competed in a time when new rubberized tracks came into existence. My times were usually about .7 faster on rubber than on cylinders. That was pretty much the norm for most guys in our area. Once you get going, it is not to bad....but coming out of the blocks you feel like you are running in place.

Uh..........it's cinders, not cylinders.

carl louis wrote:

10.3 way back when, obviously with the right training improvements and advances of the day, he probably is a current WR holder.

How much time do you think running on cylinder tracks accounts for. I mean, that stuff is like trying to run in sand and gravel. I guess the only way to compare is to see if we can get Tim and Mo to race on an old sand and cylinder track.

Tim Montgomery is the fastest human being, within the rules of the sport, ever.

All other is conjecture.

ooooops! How stupid can I be. I guess the mispellin in the origianal post caused me to subconsciously spell it wrong. C-I-N-D-E-R-S I will write that 100 times.

I vote for Bob Hayes.

Look here for complete text

http://run-down.com/guests/jc_bobhayes.php

If it is hard to fathom the quality of this run, what he achieved in the final is even more staggering. Hayes drew the inside lane for the final, and the last event before the race was the finish of the 20km walk. Remember, this was a cinder track, and the inside lane was so chewed up it had to be raked! Nevertheless, Hayes won in 10.06. He had a 0.19 gap over Cuba's Enrique Figuerola, who equalled the previous best ever auto time of 10.25 (Hary in 1960). Third was Harry Jerome, joint world record holder! This victory margin was not exceeded until Lewis won by 0.20 in 1984. The winning time was ratified as a WR equalling 10.0, which somewhat understated it.

And yet, Hayes greatest performance was yet to come. Running the last leg of the 4x100m, by the time Hayes got the baton, after Paul Drayton, Gerald Ashworth and Richard Stebbins, the USA were some 3-4m down on the field. Hayes, in the words of one observer, "exploded down the track in an eruption of speed never witnessed before or since." He blew past the field in 30-40m and went on to cross the line some 3m clear in a new WR of 39.0. He had taken 6-8m out of some of the finest sprinters in the world. Various times have been given for his last leg, the slowest estimate being 8.9 but most being around 8.6-8.7.

It's as true in track as in every other sport. -You can't compare era's-. With the advances in nutrition, athletic gear, and in T&F's case, the playing surface, it becomes a moot point to compare an athlete from the 1930's to a present day athlete. In my opinion the best indicator of an athletes greatness is comparing them to their respective competition. Using that criteria you can make a case that Jesse Owens was the best track athlete of all time cause no one came close to him in his time.

Not arguing with your choice; Hayes certainly has a legitimate claim. But a little too much stock is put in his relay performance. Subtract the 50m WR from the 100m WR, and you get a flying 50 of 4.22. Considering the great handoff Hayes got at very high speed, a split in the range you listed isn?t really all that surprising. It also looks great on film because he?s running down people who aren?t really in his league.

Yeh,

there were no other fast guys back then. They all seemed to bea around when I was racing.

ArcticBrew wrote:

I vote for Bob Hayes.

You can't vote for who is the fastest ever. You can vote for who is the BEST ever but the fastest is, within the rules, Tim Montgomery.

Out side the rules....BEN JOHNSON! The fastest ever. Just think how fast he could have been with about 2 more years of juice.

I saw Hayes' 100 meters and anchor leg. To this day, I have not witnessed anything like it. I did not see Owens run, but since Tokyo, Hayes has not been surpassed.

How does Ben Johnson looks these days?

Interesting Ben Johnson story.

http://www.tv.cbc.ca/witness/doping/dopben.htm

Bob Hayes and Armin Hary. Nobody has the explosion that they had out of the blocks.

I think it is absolutely sick that anyone would try to improve their performance with steroids like Ben did.

I agree Jose!

Stop it! You guys are cracking me up!

yes yes -- steroids very bad. there are other options

Remember, Thompson still has the all-time fastest illegal mark, the 9.69 in the hurricane / altitude of UTEP.