Mal Whitfield - USA 800m Legend - RIP

Agree with everything you said. Also, he was a 400/800 guy. I have always thought that this was an easier combination than 800/1500 but the reason why it is much less common is that most 400 runners are too scared of proper middle distance training!

Mal Whitfield was a great 800 man, but he never held the 800m world record -- that belonged to Rudolf Harbig at 1:46.6. He did set the 880 yard record at 1:48.6 (during which he was timed at 800m at 1:47.9, his fastest ever).

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loosetree wrote:

Mal Whitfield was a great 800 man, but he never held the 800m world record -- that belonged to Rudolf Harbig at 1:46.6. He did set the 880 yard record at 1:48.6 (during which he was timed at 800m at 1:47.9, his fastest ever).

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NYTimes obituary says he had WR of 1:48.6 outdoors.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/20/sports/mal-whitfield-olympic-gold-medalist-and-tuskegee-airman-dies-at-91.html

Pretty amazing life he had. We knew very little about him.

R.I.P. Mal Whitfield

That's true about people not respecting the older champions.

Tracks were different
shoes weighed about 40 pounds a piece
coaches had no idea what to do in training
psychology was insane
life was tougher
etc.
someone had to be the pioneer
the champions of yesteryear were just as great as today!!!

That's a good point except that in those days he probably never ran an 800 except at the Olympics! I bet he also won many of his races by 20 yards or more.

one the articles on Marvelous Mal said he trained for the '52 Olympics while serving in the Korean war , by running on a runway (he was in the air force) at night while wearing a side arm ( ie .45 cal handgun?); and he said it was the most miserable time of his life.
he was a tremendous runner, champion and person.

As a kid in the 70s, I dug into the history of middle distance running, and Whitfield's story was truly inspiring; the most successful 800 man in US history from an Olympic point of view.

A remembrance by his daughter.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/22/opinions/whitfield-marvelous-mal/index.html

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Deanouk wrote:

Sad to hear of the death of one of the greatest 2 lap runners of all time.
Doesn't get much better than double Olympic champion and world record holder in the same event.

I think sometimes we under value the exploits of some of the old guys, especially if there are not many people still alive who saw them.

I have read a bit about him this morning and it seemed like he had a great life, achieving and doing many worthy things.

My condolences to his family and friends.

R.I.P Mal Whitfield

Editor's note: We changed the title of this thread to denote Whitfieild's passing

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CNN special Mal

http://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2015/11/22/exp-remembering-olympian-tuskegee-airman-mal-whitfield.cnn

I was lucky enough to have dinner with Frank Litsky, author of the NYT obituary of Mal Whitfield as well as many other athletes.

He connects all of us to the earlier days of track and field, and I am grateful for his work.

And the dinner was wonderful because of his company.

He seemed like a great runner, sorry for his family

Since 1896 I believe Alberto Juantorena is the only man to double, 400 & 800 successfully. There are trade-offs. I believe to reach max potential, 800 metres, one needs to do 60 miles per week pure mileage plus power lifting, 5 interval sessions/wk., plyometrics, etc. Running 60 miles per week is going to sacrifice some pure 100 & 200 metre speed based on my experience. I believe the 400/800 double is a tough challenge.

Vento, so Rudy Harbig'so 1:46.6 is worth 1:37.7 on today's @synthetic tracks & with Salazar's "coaching"....yes?

Just had a(nother?) memorial service for him:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/olympian-and-tuskegee-airman-who-survived-segregation-and-combat-is-buried-at-arlington/2016/06/08/33070662-2d93-11e6-9b37-42985f6a265c_story.html?hpid=hp_local-news_marvelousmal-650pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory

A perfect bump for a class act !
Thanks !