The greatest T&F performance you've seen in person?

A few come to mind:

Segei Bubka barely missing 20ft 1/2 inch at the Bally's Invitaional indoor meet in 1983 when 18ft 6 inches would win a medal in the Olympics. Eammon Coghlan winning an indoor mile on boards pulling away from Steve Scott and Ray Flynn. Coghlan was amazing in the last 440. Hanshorg Kunze running by himself on a board track for 3000m in 7:37-38. Brian Deimer pacing another Michigan runner at a last chance meet in Naperville, IL to a qualifier for the national championship open meet. Brian looked as if he were jogging at 8:40 pace, apparently not breathing. Incredible. Hicham running 3:49 for the mile at Pre Classic, looking as if he could have kept going for 3 more laps. Chebii winning the 5,000m last year at the Pre Classic with a 52.3 last lap, running about 13:06 total. That last 300m was amazing!

Tinman

the '83 WR mile at the meadowlands?

i was there - it was incredible:

1. coghlan: 3:49.78

2. flynn: 3:51.20

3. scott: 3:52.28

4. abascal: 3:52.56

and the SOUND of the seville stadium when abel anton came through the tunnel.

mj running 45.32 indoors at george mason on a flat track, and his WR in seville.

these still don't top the reynolds performance in terms of giving me chills. he was other worldly that day.

even though he was and is banned for being a drug-cheat, I watched Boulahmi run 7min53 in Zurich 02. Now that was bloody amazing. He wasnt even on pace in the first km, then just went ballistic. His last km was 2min33... OVER BARRIERS!!!! Never seen such a display of power running, WAYYYY under a WR. Probably never will again as he was also juiced to the eyeballs!!!

I haven't had the chance to go to too many international meetings, but I liked watching Ritzenhein in the USATF 5000m in 2001. Kennedy was running a fantastic race, surging to break Goucher, but then everyone was watching Ritzenhein, hoping to see him break Lindgren's 1964 HS record.

I remember watching him with 2 laps to go, and seeing that he needed a last 800m of 2:02 to run 13:44, and thinking that this was a 54s quarter miler and that the record was beyond him. But he came up with 2:02 the last 800m and it was absolutely brilliant to watch a young athlete work so hard.

It was great.

Daniel Komen running the 3k WR - no one has done or seen better.

Thread closed.

doped up wrote:

and the SOUND of the seville stadium when abel anton came through the tunnel.

Yeah - They were shouting:

"Fuck off doper! Fuck off Doper!"

so you were in Rieti to see that one huh?

Nice story.

Shame about the lie at the end though.

(Quincy Watts won gold in Barcelona, and won it by quite some way)

- Haile running 12.39 WR in Helsinki in freezing conditions (10 degrees C)

- Haile vs. Tergat in 2000 OLY

- El G vs. Ngeny 2000 OLY

- Jobes Ondieki first sub 27 10000 m

- Sigei beating the time the next year with 26.52

- Boulami.....first WR

Haile winning the 10K at '96 Olys.

I was in the stands in Indianapolis in 1983 when Carl Lewis jumped at least 30 ft. and the red flag went up and they raked the pit before measuring, even though there was reportedly no mark on the plasticine. Then in the 200 he went about 19.9 jogging in the last 15m.

2001 Worlds -- Everyone in Commonwealth Stadium booing as Olga Yegorova crossed the finish line.

The other one was admittedly a HS race, so it's only amazing by HS standards. The 1988 Ohio 4x400 relay finals. Shaker Heights had a team capable of running 3:16; there were no stars on that relay as all were equally good. Dayton Dunbar had three average guys and Chris Nelloms. Nelloms, just a sophomore, had already won the 100, 200 and 400 on an unusually hot day, so there wasn't a lot left in the tank. Nelloms got the baton 50 meters behind Shaker's anchor man and proceeded to make up 49 meters before he ran out of track. The Columbus Dispatch reported his split at 44.8.

'96 Olympics in Atlanta. You can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that the following all happened in the same night:

1) Carl Lewis wins the gold on his last long-jump try.

2) Michael Johnson kicks ass.

3) Kennedy runs the race of a lifetime.

Not a bad night for the USA.

I was there in Atlanta '96 when Haile won the 10,000m. We were sitting near the Ethiopian contingent in the stands, so during the race (when alot of people were sitting on their hands) we went over to stand, dance, sing, and chant with them as we reacted to every move made in the race. What a blast, although I don't know what we were saying in their language. Now THAT's the way to watch a distance race!

That night we also saw Michael Johnson win the 400m and Carl Lewis win the LJ. What an unbelieveable night of Track and Field.

Karl Paranya running 3:57.6 at a small invitational at Haverford, with his classmates and teammates in the stands. Running with Marcus O'Sullivan and becoming the first DIII runner to break 4.

It doesn't get much better.

I was on the home straight of the 2000 Olympic 10,000 meter final, I have never seen anything better in my life, seeing geb and tergats faces filled with pain and determination, I think that's better than Komen's 3000 WR, anyone else agree?

aerobic blaster no.5 wrote:

doped up wrote:

and the SOUND of the seville stadium when abel anton came through the tunnel.

Yeah - They were shouting:

"Fuck off doper! Fuck off Doper!"

well, my spanish was a bit rusty, so sure, they could've been saying that. but it was the loudest i've ever heard a group of people. louder than the world cup, louder than the final four, louder than the kentucky derby.

not a lie - he won relay gold in '92. i should have clarified that.

Good day! I'll never forget the look on Dorando's face when he collapsed in that great pedestrian race of 1908. I was riding my velocipede next to him when I heard him say "Many chaps run a race to determine who is the fastest. I run to see who has the most intestinal fortitude." Following this he promptly buckled at the knees, and if it wasn't for the help of some kind spectators, he would never have made it to the finish.