Echo Summit Olympic Trials 1968 Clik Here
We have posted above a series of videos of the 1968 Olympic Trials in Echo Summit, California. It takes some understanding, patience, and acceptance to watch as it is unedited. There is little or no commentary by announcers of the events as you see them other than what you can hear in the background from the P.A. system. There are some person to person interviews. Some of the runners and jumpers are identified, others are not, so you will have to watch this through your personal lens of expertise and interest. Sometimes it is frustrating as in the second semi final of the 1500 meters as you see the runners starting the last lap, but you do not get to see the finish. Names, places and all times are not mentioned in most cases. I was able to pick out Bob Day winning the 5000 (14:37.4) Jack Bacheler, in second same time, and Lou Scott (14:53.2) finishing third for example but others I will have to go back and check for more of the official results.
The layout of the facilities at Echo Summit are incredibly beautiful, and it is clear that it was not meant to be kept there indefinitely as a monument or training site, despite Payton Jordan's plea that it remain. He mentions that Bill Bowerman was doing medical research, but there was also a lot othe same being done by Jack Daniels as well. The place has long been torn up and given back to nature. The meet has the ambiance of a county track meet, but the performances are world class. The pole vault runway set diagonally to the straightaways and virtually in the infield forest is beautiful but certainly not spectator friendly. Same can be said of the long jump runway. There is footage of a 17' 8" WR by Bob Seagren and a 27' 6" leap by Bob Beamon who seems very pleased with his effort. Just wait a few weeks, Bob. No Fosbury here. I'm sure many of you will be able to add more info to things you see in this film. If you care, let me know and I'll add your views to this blog.
There are interviews with John Carlos, Payton Jordan, Harry Edwards, Eldridge Cleaver and George Forman. Does anybody recognize the interviewers or know if they ever made it in their field? Carlos's interview is about his not getting a WR recognition for his 200m due to the brush spikes he was wearing. Least that's what I recall. There are opposing views of the proposed boycott of the 68 Games presented which eventually were not boycotted. All in all this is a very interesting piece of historical footage which people who lived in those times will find very informative and certainly show us how far we had to go then in race relations and remind us that we still have a long way to go today. This is also during the middle of the Viet Nam War and nothing is mentioned of it. Indeed the world was in revolt in 1968, the Prague Spring was just terminated by Russia's invasion of Czechoslovakia, there were riots in Germany and France by students and leftists, Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy had been killed. And in the middle of all this we held an incredible track meet.
Thanks to Ricky Quintana for sending this to us via Bruce Kritzler.
Below is the source recognition of this video which was found on Internet Archives.
We are merely passing this on to our readers and not seeking any profit from it.
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