Continuing on this "odyssey" of the So Cal dumpster discovery.
How many of you could spell the fourth word of this intro without looking up how?
I couldn't. Sorry, I digress.
We turn now to some incredible stars of the Sixties. Gammoudi, Lusis, Kerr, Valentin, Roberts, and from the Fifties, Pirie and Mimoun. And even a few mystery people. Maybe some of you can ID these folks and win a free trip to a Caribbean beach of your choice.
Gammoudi (Tunisia), Anne Smith (GB), Gordon Pirie (GB),
Alain Mimoun (Fr) back to camera with the Gauloise in his hand.
Anne Smith? She is obviously the translator in this picture. Wikipedia notes.
Anne Rosemary Smith, was a sprinter and middle distance runner, who specialised in the 1500 metres and mile events. She represented Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games. In 1967, Smith broke two world records in one race, running 4:17.3 for the 1500 metres and 4:37.0 for the mile. These were the first 1500 m and mile world records to be ratified by the IAAF.
Alain Mimoun (1 January 1921 – 27 June 2013) was an Algerian-born French long-distance runner who competed in track events, cross-country running and the marathon. He was the 1956 Olympic champion in the marathon. He is the most bemedalled French athletics sportsperson in history.
Mohammed Gammoudi: Mohammed Tlili ben Abdallah (Arabic: محمد التليلي بن عب (born February 11, 1938) is a Tunisian athlete who competed as a long distance runner in international track and field competitions. He represented Tunisia in the Tokyo, Mexico City, and Munich Olympiads and recorded four medals, including a gold medal in the 5000 metres event in Mexico City.Gordon Pirie: Wikipedia: Douglas Alistair Gordon Pirie (10 February 1931 – 7 December 1991) was an English long-distance runner. He competed in the 5000 m and 10,000 m events at the 1952, 1956 and 1960 Olympics and won a silver medal in the 5000 m in 1956, placing fourth in 1952. Born in Leeds, Pirie grew up in Coulsdon, Surrey, and ran for the South London Harriers. He died of cholangiocarcinoma (bile duct cancer) in Lymington, Hampshire.
His role at Tokyo is unknown. Ed.
Here is a response from Tim Johnston regarding Anne Smith and Gordon Pirie:
Hi George - Some interesting finds in that dumpster. The pic showing Anne Smith, Gordon Pirie, Gammoudi and Mimoun is a real find. Gordon's 'role' at Tokyo was as Anne's coach and mentor.
Like most athletes of my generation, I knew and admired Gordon, although he wasn't the easiest of people to get on with, and I was his junior by 10 years. After the disappointment of Rome, he turned professional. As I recall, one of his first races was multiple laps of a Spanish bull-ring against a team of local runners running in relays. The 'race' involved heavy betting.
After he'd taken up with Anne Smith, they travelled the world together. Anne was still competitive on the track; Gordon picked up what he could from coaching and lecturing. At one point they were said to be living together in a tent in New Zealand.
In 1966, I spent a few days with Gordon at Bosön, the Swedish National Training Centre and incidentally the site of the famous Lidingö 30 km x-country race, which I won that year. Gordon had totally changed his views on training. Multiple fast intervals had been replaced by flat-out continuous runs, the faster the better.
The next time I met Gordon was in early 1969, when he'd been hired as technical adviser by Michael Winner, the film director. The Games, about a future Olympics. A real turkey, think it went straight to video. Many of us figured in it as extras and advisers. Winner was really mean to Gordon, cos he thought he'd been fooled into overpaying him.
Never saw Gordon again. News of his painful, premature death from cancer came as a shock, but the funeral was a tremendous gathering of several generations of runners.
Keep up the good work.
Best,
Tim
Great issue George......many thanks. I met Gammoudi when I took the Bahrain team to Tunis for a X-C meet. Gammoudi met our plane and provided a bus to take us to our hotel. (circa 1983) He must have been a pretty big shot as our bus just ran down the middle of the street with the opposing traffic pulling off to the side when we came by. SteveSteve Price
Janis Lusis (really a Latvian) (on bike) the great "Soviet" javelin thrower. Pedestrian unknown
Cliff says, On the training field outside the shopping centre, Jan Lusis (javelin Russia) He'd have done much better in Adidas
Wikipedia:
As of 2020, he remains the only Latvian to have won an all three classes of Olympic medals (gold, silver and bronze) over the span of his career. Lūsis set two world records in javelin throw, of 91.68 m in 1968 and of 93.80 m in 1972. He is also a 4-time European champion. In 1987 IAAF named him the greatest javelin thrower in history.After Lūsis finished competing, he became an athletics coach. He was married to Elvīra Ozoliņa, the 1960 Olympic female champion in the javelin throw. Their son, Voldemārs Lūsis, is also a javelin thrower who competed in 2000 Summer Olympics and 2004 Summer Olympics.
Edwin Roberts (Trinidad and Tobago sprinter) Adidas stand Tokyo '64
Wikipedia Edwin Anthony Roberts (born 12 August 1941) is a retired Trinidadian runner. He competed at the 1964, 1968 and 1972 Olympics in various sprint events and had his best results in the 200 m, in which he finished third in 1964 and fourth in 1968. He also won a bronze medal in the 4 × 400 m relay in 1964.[1] Roberts attended North Carolina College in the United States between 1962 and 1966 where he was a member of the college track team. He was also part of the Trinidadian team that set a world record at 3:02.8 in the 4×440 yd relay at the 1966 Commonwealth Games.[2] He was among world's top ten sprinters from 1964 to 1971, according to the votes of the experts of Track and Field News.[3][4]
George Kerr (British West Indies) University of Illinois
800m bronze in 1960
Wikipedia:
George Ezekiel Kerr (16 October 1937 – 15 June 2012) was a Jamaican athlete who competed in the 400 and 800 metres. He competed for the British West Indies at the 1960 Summer Olympics, where he won the bronze medal in the 800 metres. He then teamed up with Keith Gardner, Malcolm Spence and James Wedderburn to win the bronze medal in the 4×400 metres relay.[1]
In 1962, he became the first Jamaican athlete to have the national flag flown in recognition of winning a gold when he won double gold in the 400 m and 800 m at the Central American and Caribbean Games held at Kingston's National Stadium. At the 1964 Olympics, representing Jamaica, he finished fourth both in the 800 m and the 4 × 400 m relay. He broke the Olympic record for the 800 m in the semi-finals but lost the bronze by less than one-tenth of a second with 1:45.9, his fastest ever time.[1]
Kerr won five medals at three Commonwealth Games. In 1958 he won a bronze in the 4 × 440 yards relay. He won gold medals in the 440 yards and in the 4 × 440 yards relay and silver in the 880 yards in 1962. His final medal, a bronze for the 880 yards, came in 1966 in Kingston, Jamaica.[3]
On 4 June 2012, Kerr had a heart attack and underwent heart surgery at the University Hospital of the West Indies. He remained in the intensive care unit until he succumbed to complications.
German athletes, on right Sigfried Valentin, East German 1500m runner.
Other two unknown
From Sports Illustrated June 8, 1959
TRACK & FIELD—SIEGFRIED VALENTIN, 23, lieutenant in East German Volksarmee, ran mile in 3:56.5 at Potsdam for new European record. DALE STORY, Orange, Calif. schoolboy, became latest U.S. mile phenom, running 4:11 at Bakers-field to break listed natl. high school record.
Mystery Man, probably inside Cliff's store in West Hollywood.
Can anyone identify him? Perhaps a football player.
L.A. Rams?, San Diego, USC, UCLA?
Update on this picture: Roy Benson suggested that the young shoe salesman might be Jeff Johnson who became a major player in Nike. Here he is selling Adidas products. Jeff was the individual who suggested that Blue Ribbon Sports change its name to 'Nike'. He was a very instrumental person in that company's early years. My friend Rick Lower confirmed all this. George
Cliff Severn outside the Tokyo Olympic Stadium
Cliff writes, Used the white overnight bag quite a lot. Neutral so the opposition wouldn't know what was happening.
Ah ha, spy vs. spy at the Games.
Two U.S. 'officials' Marion Miller, Equipment and
Jim Emmerich, 'tour'? Olympic Village. Anybody know these guys?
Would 'tour' refer to T&FN tour? Not sure why I put this here, but it was in the
collection.
Any help with unidentified individuals would be appreciated.
I believe Jim Emmerich was the trainer with Dr. Kay Dooley at the High Altitude Training Camp at South Lake Tahoe in 1968 From Paul O'Shea
Marion Miller was Director of Public Relations for Wilson.
Holy cow, I worked for Marion Miller in 60-61 in River Grove, Illinois.
from Dick Daymont
Good afternoon George and as always...thank you very much for keeping the track & field/cross country world informed. I was a college track & cross country runner in the late 60's with moderate success, but the relationships with wonderful coaches and wonderful teammates brings joy to me everyday.
Again, 'Thank you and please continue!'
Dick
1 comment:
The shoe salesman might be a young Jeff Johnson, but don’t tell
Phil Knight.
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