I know it may be hard to figure out with PEDs and other suspicious behavior, but what sticks out as the biggest shocking win in our sport by a no name or under dog?
I know it may be hard to figure out with PEDs and other suspicious behavior, but what sticks out as the biggest shocking win in our sport by a no name or under dog?
LOOK AT MILLS!
Stephen Kiprotich last year in London Marathon.
Billy Mills. Which is also, for me, the greatest victory in the history of track and field. Go watch Mills at the Tokyo Olympics on Youtube and see if I'm not right.
Aussie Andrew Lloyd winning the 1990 Commonweatlh Games 5000m over John Ngugi, Moses Tanui, Ondieki, et al.
Or, maybe, Tsegaye Kebede winning the 2013 London Marathon.
Raptured wrote:
LOOK AT MILLS!
+1
That or Wottle.
I agree on Mills in the 10000 in 1964, and ironically the one that comes close is not Wottle (thrilling race but not much of an upset), but the entirely forgotten gold medal by Bob Schul of the US in the 5000 at the same 64 Olympics. In the final, Schul beat defending 5000 gold medalist Murray Halberg and future 5000 world record holders Ron Clarke (3 times WR) and Kipchoge Keino, as well as mile world record holder Michel Jazy. A stronger, deeper field than Mills had to face in the 10000, but the come-from-behind victory (as with Wottle) is always the one remembered.
Whenever a white guy wins a running gold medal
Jenny B!....maybe not the greatest...but a big surprise!
Mexan Texan wrote:
+1
That or Wottle.
Wottle wasn't really an underdog. He tied the wr in winning the U.S. trials.
Abebe Bikila 1960 Rome
Ben L. Wrong wrote:
Stephen Kiprotich last year in London Marathon.
Nah. He was my pre-race "long shot" pick to win. He'd run 2:07 twice going into it, one of them a course record at Enschede when he was supposed to just be a pacemaker to 30k.
Biggest underdog victory? The drug testers winning against Ben Johnson and the system in 1988. Those results always got buried before that.
Dave Wottle winning in Munich was hardly an upset. He tied the 800m world record at the 1972 US Olympic trials, two months before 800m Olympic final. Wottle is the last American man to hold the 800 meter world record.
What about Ruth Wysocki upsetting Mary Decker in the 1984 Olympic Trials 1500 ?
Mills is easily the #1 upset of Olympic history.
I would also include Pekka Vasala's win in the '72 1500 as an honorable mention.
matt winthrow
This thread is feeling very America-centric...
Ngeny over El Guerrouj?
Niyongabo over everybody in the 1996 5,000m? Rodal in the 800 that same year, with a big PR and win?
Abede Bikila 1960 marathon?
Well, you people are not including field. If you include field, it has to be David's slingshot effort which eliminated the heavy favorite, Goliath.
Ron Delaney, 1956 OLY 1500
Baxter over Cain 2012.
The Baxter family will sing songs about that one for generations.