I recall Segal practically yelling and demanding that the Germans yank the imposter off the track. He was downright
p*ssed off.
With those images sounds are not needed.
I liked seeing Hill in the shiny aluminum foil shorts. Shorter supposedly discounted him right from the start.
Adidas could have made a killing selling the shoes that Shorter wore in that race if they'd marketed them.
The Zenith of American marathoning. I remember that day so well.
Thank you for the link, some incredible footage to enjoy! Shorter looks like he's out for an easy jog, wow...
Interesting note about Frank's shoes that I learned from his out of print autobiography - they are the spikes he wore for his 10,000m races, but with the soles modified by an Adidas factory technician. He didn't have his usual racing flats with him in Munich.
actually, Shorter had one of the lowest Oxygen Uptakes tested at Kenneth Coopers lab in '74 when he tested about 20 top runners. It was Franks efficiency that made the difference.
Scotth
Didn't another American win exactly because another competitor
made an early move.
Thinking Dorando Pietro, sorry bit wobbly on the spelling.
Hayes of USA.
The Irish guy in question was Donal Walsh (Leevale Athletic club, near Corke, Ireland). Best time of about 2:13 for the marathon. In Munich he had a bad race, ran about 2:23 or so, if my memory is correct.
His best mile time was only 4:14, so he did not have a lot of speed, but during the 60's and 70's he was at the top in Irish distance running with Des McGann and Danny McDaid.
ghost
The reason Clayton's VO2Max was lower is that it is VO2Max/kg, so the weight is already taken into consideration.
26mi235 wrote:
The reason Clayton's VO2Max was lower is that it is VO2Max/kg, so the weight is already taken into consideration.
What of it? Just makes the statement a little bit redundant and leaves Clayton much more efficient as he moved his body over the same distance much faster with far less oxygen per kilogram
up all night wrote:
Scotth
Didn't another American win exactly because another competitor
made an early move.
Thinking Dorando Pietro, sorry bit wobbly on the spelling.
Hayes of USA.
Yes, I stand corrected. JHayes won on a DQ after DPietro received illegal assistance over the final yards, nearly the opposite of how Benoit & Shorter won (w/their relatively early breaks).
Fewer Olympiads passed between the win for Hayes in London & Shorter's win in Munich, 12, than years have passed since the last US male has won at either NYC ('82) or Boston ('83).
norbert sudhaus -- munich impostor
ghost wrote:
The Irish guy in question was Donal Walsh (Leevale Athletic club, near Corke, Ireland). Best time of about 2:13 for the marathon. In Munich he had a bad race, ran about 2:23 or so, if my memory is correct.
His best mile time was only 4:14, so he did not have a lot of speed, but during the 60's and 70's he was at the top in Irish distance running with Des McGann and Danny McDaid.
ghost
christophe_moulton@yahoo.ca
Didn't Walsh go to college and run at Villanova? ('72?)
I didn't recognize him in the video.
When the stadium spectators realized the German guy was an imposter, they started to whistle loudly (which is booing in Germany). Frank entered the stadium to the boos. He thought to himself, "Geez, I know I'm an American, but give me a break here."
I also remember him saying in an interview that he saw Hill's shiny aluminum foil running shorts and shoes with paper thin soles, he said, "I've got a very light stride, but I wouldn't want to run a marathon in HIS shoes. And look at those shorts! He probably had his hair trimmed to the precise millimeter for reduced wind resistance."
Yes, Visions of Eight is the film. Snatch it up if you ever see it somewhere. It's a great film. There's got to be a copy of it somewhere. In 1977 I saw a film of the whole 1976 Montreal marathon (it was probably in Beta format), so that's out there somewhere as well--not a documentary, just the whole race with commentary as it went down.
Roone Arledge, who produced ABC's Wide World of Sports, decided to cover the whole marathon for the first time. Up until then, they just showed the runners leave the stadium, then re-enter two hours later. Americans watched Frank Shorter "invent" running, and the next day 10 million men in Bermuda shorts and tennis shoes took up running for the first time.
I was just beginning 6th grade (Olympics were in September that year), and Frank Shorter became the hero of my youth (and he's still my hero). He's a great, great man, and even after all these years, he's never disappointed us and has been a true friend to our sport. In my eyes, the most important American distance runner ever.