1964 OLYMPICS third day October 16
TRIPLE JUMP QUALIFYING
Thirty-six jumpers report for the start of this morning's competition. The task is uncomplicated. Jump 51-10 (15.80 meters) and you will be invited back this afternoon. Anything less than that and you are free to go sightseeing or shopping. The US contingent meets with limited success. Ira Davis, a legitimate medal candidate, pops a 53-5, the second best mark of the morning. Bill Sharpe matches the qualifying distance exactly on his first jump. No need to jump again until this afternoon. Kent Floerke jumps 50-4¾ and is eliminated.
At the end of the 1963 season the consensus favorite for Olympic gold was Poland's Jozef Schmidt. Not only was he the reigning Olympic champion, Olympic record holder and world record holder, he had been very consistent. If anyone was a lock for gold, it was Schmidt. This year his armor of invincibility has been punctured. He injured his knee and underwent an operation in August and has been training only two months. His only competition, in Rome three weeks ago, produced a sub-par (for him) 51-10½. He is no longer the favorite. Perhaps not, but he surprises with a leap of 53-1 this morning and will be back this afternoon.
200 METER ROUND ONE
There are eight heats with the first four qualifying for the second round this afternoon. Paul Drayton wins the first heat in a faster than necessary 20.7. Yesterday Canada's Harry Jerome won bronze in the 100. Today the former Oregon Duck takes the fifth heat of the 200 in 20.9. The sixth heat goes to another foreign athlete who has US ties. Edwin Roberts of Trinidad-Tobago, by way of North Carolina College, wins by five yards in 20.8.
The next heat causes some palpitating heartbeats among US fans. World record holder Henry Carr is beaten by Germany's Heinz Schumann 21.0 to 21.1. Is Carr saving himself for the next round or is his recently troublesome back bothering him?
Our third entrant, Richard Stebbins, has medal potential. He has beaten Drayton and Carr, but in the last race of the morning is up against the defending Olympic champion, Livio Berruti of Italy. They cross the line together in 21.1 with Berruti getting the nod.
All three of our guys advance, but the fact that two of them have been beaten is disconcerting. There, there, it will be alright.....but what if Carr is really hurting?
5000 METER ROUND ONE
There are four races with the first three finishers qualifying for the final the day after tomorrow. France's Michel Jazy is one of the favorites. He and New Zealand's Bill Baillie cross the line together in 13:55.4. Jazy wins but it doesn't matter. The next two finishers also run the same time, but now it matters a whole lot. Stepan Baidiuk of the USSR and Andrei Barabas of Rumania finish in 14:00.2. Stepan will run again Sunday. Andrei will watch.
Britain's Mike Wiggs wins the second heat in 13:51.0 but it is Bill Dillenger's 13:52.2 second place that brings joy to the American fans.
Bob Schul catches a break in the third heat. The pace is much slower than the previous races. He is able to run off Mohamed Gamoudi, finishing second in 14:11.4. The surprise comes less than a second later as defending champion Murray Halberg is eliminated by Germany's Harald Norpoth by four tenths of a second.
The fourth heat is the fastest. Ron Clarke is not going to lollygag around and get outkicked. He sets a fast pace and strings out the field, winning in 13:48.4 ahead of surprising Kipchoge Keino of Kenya and Nikolay Dutov of the Soviet Union who clock 13:49.6 and 13:50.6. As it turns out all this extra sweating is unnecessary as the fourth finisher is over 15 seconds behind. Clarke could have stopped for a Fosters and a meat pie and still qualified. Oscar Moore of the US finishes 8th in 14:24.0.
This photo and note below came to us from Jerry McFadden who knew Jazy when Jerry was living and working in France.
George, I thought you might be interested in this photo for your running blog: It shows Michel Jazy doing a 3/4 mile (1200 meter) time trial on Oct. 9, 1964, at the training stadium in the Yoyogi Olympic Village at the Tokyo Olympics. He is followed by French teammates Michel Bernard and Jean Wadoux. He ran it in 2:53. But the story goes that he learned that very afternoon that a 3rd preliminary trial had been added for the 1500 meters. He would have been forced to run 5 consecutive days to do a planned 1500/5,000 double, so he dropped the 1500 in favor of the 5,000, where he took 4th behind Schul, Norpoth, and Dellinger. He set the world record for the mile in 1965 at 3:53.6 (succeeding Elliot & Snell). Note the lousy chopped up track! Jerry McFadden
Editor's Note , Jerry found this picture in a recent sports journal in France where readers were asked to try to identify the picture and the story. Jazy is seen leading Michel Bernard and Jean Waddoux in that timetrial in Tokyo, 1964. Jazy is about to make the decision that would take him out of the fire of Snell's devastating kick and into the jaws of Bob Schul.
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| Josef Schmidt Repeats his Rome victory |
Twelve jumpers get three jumps each. The top six will get three more. There appears to be no reason for the random order in which they jump. The big question is how much does WR holder Jozef Schmidt have in the tank. He jumped 53-1 on his only attempt this morning, but coming off a knee operation, it is unclear what he can do. The best jump this morning was the 53-10 British record by Fred Alsop.
Jumping second, Schmidt takes the early lead at 53-8½. Alsop follows and erases his UK record of this morning with a 54-0 effort to move into first place. He doesn't stay on top long, as in the second round Schmidt demonstrates his newly found fitness by moving into first place with a 54-7½ effort. The third round is pressure packed for our guys, Ira Davis and Fred Sharpe. They need 53 feet to stay in the competition. Davis jumps 52-6 and Sharpe, with a best of 51-11¾, can manage only 51-5. There will be no Americans in the final three rounds. The six remaining are Europeans: Schmidt, Alsop, Cerban Ciochina of Rumania, Manfred Hinze of Germany and the Soviet duo of Olyeg Fyedoseyev and Viktor Kravchenko.
In the fourth round Kravchenko moves into second with a jump of 54-4½. No one else improves. Kravchenko doesn't stay in second long as in the fifth round countryman Fyedoseyev passes him by a quarter of an inch and takes Alsop off the medal podium. With the sixth and final round coming up, Schmidt, Fyedoseyev and Kravchenko are bunched within three inches with Alsop another 4½ back.
On his final jump Schmidt dashes the hopes of his competitors with an Olympic record of 55-3½. No one else improves. Schmidt has a gold medal to go with the one he won four years ago. Fyedoseyev wins silver and Kravchenko takes bronze. Alsop doesn't go home empty handed. He doesn't have a medal, but a British record is a pretty good consolation prize.
200 METERS ROUND TWO
The afternoon rounds continue to go according to form. Paul Drayton and Henry Carr take the first two races in 20.9 and 21.0. Harry Jerome edges Richard Stebbins in the third race, both running 21.2. Edwin Roberts matches Drayton's 20.9 in the fourth heat. No surprises. All the big guys will be back for the semifinals and final tomorrow.
400 METER HURDLES FINAL
(you better speak Italian)
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| Rex Cawley, Farmington, Michigan, USC |
Two Americans, two Italians, a Brit, an Aussie, a Russian and a Belgian make up the field. Yesterday's semifinals were won by John Cooper of Great Britain and world record holder Rex Cawley of the US.
Former world record holder Salvatore Morale of Italy, Jay Luck of the US and Australian Gary Knoke all have medal potential.
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| Roberto Frinolli |
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| John Cooper B. 18 Dec. 1940 D. 3 Mar. 1974 |
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| Luck, Morale, and Hardin in prelim |
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| Gary Knoke, Australia b. 5 Feb. 1942 d. 10 July 1984 |
From lane one out the field is Vasiliy Anisimov of Russia, Knoke, Luck, Cooper, Willfried Geeroms of Belgium, Cawley, Roberto Frinolli of Italy and Morale.
The Italians are out early and lead over the first five hurdles. Luck and Cooper are in good position. Cawley is in fifth. Into the turn Cawley's strength begins to tell and he begins moving up. Between the seventh and ninth hurdle he passes everyone except Frinolli who is running the race of his life. Down the stretch Cawley moves into the lead as Frinolli fades. Luck, who hit the 8th hurdle, is charging hard, but clips the tenth hurdle and loses momentum. Cooper and Morale pass the struggling Frinolli. Knoke passes Frinolli as well and catches Luck just before the tape.
No one is catching Cawley. He wins easily in 49.6. Cooper and Morale finish second and third in 50.1. Knoke is fourth in 50.5 with Luck a tenth back in fifth. Frinolli hangs on for sixth in 50.7. Anisimov and Geeroms finish in 51.1 and 51.4.
When Cawley is presented the gold medal on the victory stand the Japanese band plays a shortened version of the Star Spangled Banner. This is an American winning the gold medal and the noted American trumpeters Uan Rasey and Manny Klein aren't accepting an abbreviation of our national anthem. They finish it and in so doing provide Cawley a tear provoking thrill.
800 Meters Final
for a review of Snell's career (re-enactment?) see this link below
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUvMrHZwOZQ
This is the race everyone has come to watch. Peter Snell has looked strong in the prelims, but will he have enough this afternoon to hold off perhaps the best field in any event in this Olympiad? In two minutes we'll know because they are in their staggers right now, waiting the starter's command. Snell has the inside lane. Next to him is the surprising Wilson Kiprugut of Kenya. Belgium's Jacques Pennewaert is in lane three. Bill Crothers of Canada who was dominant at this distance indoors is in four. The bronze medalist from Rome, Jamaica's George Kerr, is in five. Americans Jerry Siebert and Tom Farrell are in six and seven, flanked by Dieter Bogatzki of Germany.
If Kiprugut doesn't win it won't be because of timidity. After the field breaks for the pole, he leads at 200 in 24.9 with Pennewaert on his heels followed by Snell, Farrell, Bogatzki, Kerr, Crothers and Siebert all closely bunched.
He blows by the field in electrifying fashion to lead at the 600 in 1:19.4. Kerr, Kiprugut and Crothers in 2-3-4 pursue but now the race is for silver. Snell is unchallenged in the last 200 and hits the tape in 1:45.1, an Olympic record and a time surpassed only by his own WR of 1:44.3.
Crothers powers by Kerr into second in the straight and pulls away for the silver medal in 1:45.6. Try as he may, Kerr can't hold off Kiprugut and the Kenyan nips him for the bronze as they are both timed in 1:45.9. Farrell takes fifth in a PR of 1:46.6. Siebert is seventh in 1:47.0, a testament to his courage as he picked up a virus while training in Europe which has hampered his training for the last month. Coach Payton Jordan says, “He reached down and gave it everything he had under the worst conditions”.
Snell has achieved half of his goal of winning the 800 and 1500 but celebrating tonight will be limited, for the first round of the 1500 is tomorrow. One would hope he might allow himself a beer from his native New Zealand this evening, maybe the appropriately named Speight's Gold Medal Ale.
Kiprugut's medal is the first ever won by a Kenyan.
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| "Please note, we have received no gratuities for placing this emblem in our hallowed blog." the Editor |
Bill Crothers (William Frederick Crothers; born December 24, 1940 in Markham, Ontario) is a retired Canadian athlete.
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| Crothers in preparation indoors, note the Converse canvas flats that were so common in North America at the time. |
At one point, Crothers held the Canadian record in all distances from 400 metres to 1500 metres and was holder of the world 800 metres indoor record. In 1963, he ran the two fastest 800 metres races of the year. He was named Lou Marsh Trophy winner as Canada's top athlete of 1963. Crothers competed for Canada in the 1964 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, winning a silver medal in the 800 metres. He also competed in the 400 metres, but was eliminated in the semi-finals.[1] He received theLionel Conacher Award as Canada's top male athlete of 1964. Crothers was ranked by Track & Field News as the top 800 metres runner of 1965 and the second best of the decade.[citation needed]
He has been inducted into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame (1965), and Canada's Sports Hall of Fame (1971).[citation needed]
Crothers was a pharmacist in the Markham area for many years, and is a trustee (and past Board Chair) for the York Region District School Board. Bill Crothers Secondary School, an athletic-focused secondary school in York Region opened in his honour in August 2008
Kiprugut's medal is the first ever won by a Kenyan.
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| Keino and Kiprugut This article on Wilson Kiprugut comes from African Torch blog |
Wilson Kiprugut is the man who won the bronze medal in 800 meters race at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo Japan in 1964 becoming the first ever Kenyan athlete to win an Olympic medal. He is however quick to point out that he would have won the race had it not been for a Jamaican who pushed him. “I was lucky to be strong and of good stamina, otherwise I would have fallen by the tracks.” He says with nostalgia that the Jamaican who pushed him hit a stone on the edge of the tracks, but he stood his ground to actually run to a podium finish. “That race was won by Peter Snell from New Zealand, a Canadian took the Silver while I came home with the Bronze medal.” Kiprugut says since that eventful day, he learnt to be a front starter always to avoid mischievous colleagues who might have wanted to lock him up behind or to trip him.
With a wealth of experience on the track, Kiprugut says retired athletes should be brought into the fold in the running of athletics in this country. “There is no one else who knows the highs and lows of athletics than a fellow athlete. Former athletes have a big role to play in coaching and management of athletics and indeed all other sporting activities.”
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| Off to National Duty |
Kiprugut recalls that he used to make a round trip of 40km each day to school. This, he says, helped him develop ability to run and to enhance his athletics stamina. The 800 meters champion went to school at Kaptebeswet primary school in Kericho district from 1950 to 1954 and proceeded to Sitotwet intermediate school some 20km away from his home from 1955 to1957. He narrates that he owes his way to stardom to a one Captain Kiptonui from North Rift who noticed his potential as an athlete and in 1959 he recruited him into the Kings African Rifles, the now Kenya Armed Forces. During his service in the military, Kiprugut trained and specialized in driving.
Since Kiprugut won the maiden medal, Kenya’s athletes have proudly bagged more than 85 olympic medals, the recent ones being the 11, including two gold medals at the 2012 London Olympic Games. All these medals result from brilliant performances by Kenyans in track events. Kenya’s first participation in Olympic Games was in 1956, and she has always sent athletes to compete in every Summer Olympic Games except in 1976 and 1980.
Kiprugut also participated in the 1966 British Empire and commonwealth Games, where he won a bronze medal in the 880 yards race. He also ran alongside other big names of the time including Kimaru Songok, Peter Francis and Seraphino Antao in Kenya’s 4 X 440 yards relay team that finished fifth in the same games. Two years later in 1968, he won the Silver medal at the Summer Olympics held in Mexico City by clocking 1:44:5. However, what may arguably be the peak of his many achievements in a sterling athletics career, which he narrates with ease, came in July of 1965 when he won two Gold medals in the 400 and 800 meters at the inaugural All Africa Games held in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo.
With a wealth of experience on the track, Kiprugut says retired athletes should be brought into the fold in the running of athletics in this country. “There is no one else who knows the highs and lows of athletics than a fellow athlete. Former athletes have a big role to play in coaching and management of athletics and indeed all other sporting activities.”
He offers that Athletics management bodies in Kenya need to work in harmony for the common good of the athletes they represent and who he says do the footwork anyway.
Kiprugut lives with his wife with whom they have been blessed with 9 children and 51 years of marriage. He now enjoys his retirement in his farm in Kipchebor in Kericho County at the outskirts of Kericho Township where he keeps himself busy with fully organic farming on his five acre farm. He keeps cows and indigenous chicken which supply manure for his maize, fruits, sorghum, millet and an impressive range of vegetables-many of which are traditional. He is a tea farmer too.
It is no doubt that Wilson Kiprugut Chumo is one of the greatest athletes that Kenya has ever produced. But compared to his many achievements, this great man has received very little recognition and honour from the country he so diligently served during his time on the tracks. “When we were active athletes we were not running in expectation of anything material because all we could be given was a meager Kshs 20 pocket money and seven days off from work.” Unlike today where athletes are motivated by monetary awards, he says what gave them the drive to run was just pure love for their motherland.
Apart from Kiprugut, the South Rift has produced a good number of accomplished athletes including Mercy Cherono the 2010 World Youth Champion, World Cross Country gold medallist Emily Chebet, veteran marathoner Sammy Maritim and Olympic gold medalist Paul Kipsiele Koech. Also in the list of fame from the area is Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot the Boston marathon champion as well as Richard Matelong the Steeplechase gold medalist at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
SUMMARY
Cawley's gold medal is reason enough to celebrate but today's prelims were encouraging as well. Schul and Dellinger will be in the 5000 final. Stebbins, Drayton and Carr will run in the 200 semifinals. Tomorrow will be full with qualifying in the hammer throw, the first two rounds of qualifying in the 400, the first rounds of the 1500 and the 110 meter hurdles, qualifying and final in the shot put, semifinals and final in the 200 and finals in the pole vault and steeplechase. We'll save you a seat.
John Cooper , Silver Medalist in the 400 IH died tragically at the age of 34 in the Turkish Airlines 981 crash outside of Paris. The Pub at Loughborough University where he was student is named in his honor. below is the wikipedia report.
Cawley's gold medal is reason enough to celebrate but today's prelims were encouraging as well. Schul and Dellinger will be in the 5000 final. Stebbins, Drayton and Carr will run in the 200 semifinals. Tomorrow will be full with qualifying in the hammer throw, the first two rounds of qualifying in the 400, the first rounds of the 1500 and the 110 meter hurdles, qualifying and final in the shot put, semifinals and final in the 200 and finals in the pole vault and steeplechase. We'll save you a seat.
John Cooper , Silver Medalist in the 400 IH died tragically at the age of 34 in the Turkish Airlines 981 crash outside of Paris. The Pub at Loughborough University where he was student is named in his honor. below is the wikipedia report.
Turkish Airlines Flight 981 was a McDonnell Douglas DC-10 that crashed outside Paris, France, on 3 March 1974, killing all 346 people on board. The crash, also known as the Ermenonville air disaster, from the forest where the aircraft crashed, is the deadliest crash involving a DC-10, the deadliest plane crash on French soil, the fourth-deadliest plane crash in aviation history, the deadliest single-plane crash with no survivors, has the second-highest number of fatalities in a single-plane crash (behind Japan Airlines Flight 123), and had the highest death toll of any air disaster until the Tenerife airport disaster three years later.
The crash was caused when an improperly secured cargo door at the rear of the plane broke off, causing an explosive decompression which severed cables necessary to control the aircraft. Because of a known design flaw left uncorrected before and after the production of DC-10s, the cargo hatches did not latch reliably, and manual procedures were relied upon to ensure they were locked correctly. Problems with the hatches had occurred previously, most notably in an identical incident that happened on American Airlines Flight 96 in 1972. Investigation showed that the handles on the hatches could be improperly forced shut without the latching pins locking in place. It was noted that the pins on the hatch that failed on Flight 981 had been filed down to make it easier to close the door, resulting in the hatch being less resistant to pressure. Also, a support plate for the handle linkage had not been installed, although this work had been documented as completed. Finally, the latching had been performed by a Moroccan baggage handler who could not read relevant warning notices in Turkish and English. After the disaster, the latches were redesigned and the locking system significantly upgraded.
Gary Knoke
Knoke represented Australia at the 1960 Summer Olympics (Rome), 1964 Summer Olympics (Tokyo), 1968 Summer Olympics (Mexico City) and 1972 Summer Olympics (Munich). In Tokyo, on 16 October 1964, he was placed fourth in the 400 metre hurdles final behind Rex Cawley of the United States of America, John Cooper of Great Britain and Salvatore Morale of Italy. He attended the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, 1970 British Commonwealth Games, 1974 British Commonwealth Games and the Pacific Conference Games twice.[2]
Teaching and coaching career[edit]
From 1974 until 1980, Knoke was a physical education teacher and athletics coach at Newington College. During that time Newington won the Athletic Association of the Great Public Schools of New South Wales(GPS) junior athletics four times and the senior athletics once.[3] In 1981 he joined the staff of the Australian Institute of Sport as a hurdles coach. Knoke died in 1984 of cancer.[4]
Honours[edit]
Knoke Avenue in Gordon, Australian Capital Territory, is named in his honour. The Gary Knoke Memorial Scholarship is an award for track and field athletics presented annually by the Australian Institute of Sport; recipients of this scholarship have included Simon Hollingsworth, Rohan Robinson and Kyle Vander Kuyp.[5]
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