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by Walt Murphy’s News and Results Service (wmurphy25@aol.com), used with permission
This Day in Track & Field/X-Country-November 26
1956–The Men’s 800-meters in Melbourne provided one of the great dramatic stretch runs in Olympic history. Americans Tom Courtney (1955) and Arnie Sowell (1954,1956), the last two NCAA Champions from Fordham and Pittsburgh, respectively, battled for the lead down the backstretch and through the final turn. As they straightened out for the race to the finish line, Great Britain’s Derek Johnson took advantage of an opening between the two and took the lead. Sowell began fading, but Courtney somehow found the will and strength to fight back and edged ahead of Johnson to win the gold medal. Norway’s Audun Boysen caught Sowell to win the bronze medal.
The Reverend Bob Richards (“The Vaulting Vicar”) was the defending champion in the Pole Vault, but he almost didn’t make it out of the qualifying round after having trouble adjusting to a new pole. In the wind-plagued final, which lasted almost 11-hours, the three medalists were decided when Richards, fellow American Bob Gutowski, and Greece’s Georgios Roubanis were the only ones to clear 14-5 ¼ (4.40).
Gutowski, the 1956 NCAA Champion from Occidental (he also won in 1957), needed three tries at 14-7 ¼ (4.45), while the other two each cleared on their first attempt. Roubanis, who had trained under Payton Jordan at Occidental before transferring to UCLA, was the first Olympian to arrive in Melbourne and had become a favorite of Australian fans (see link). He had their backing as he matched the first attempt clearances of Gutowski and Richards at 14-9 (4.50). Roubanis, who gave the first hint of the future of the event by using a fiberglass pole, finally went out at 14-10 ¼ (4.53), while Richards, who had yet to miss, and Gutowski each cleared on their initial effort.
After one miss, Richards topped his Olympic Record by a centimeter with his clearance of 14-11 ½ (4.56) and had his 2nd gold medal after Gutowski missed all three of his tries. Picked from 500 candidates, Richards was the first spokesperson for Wheaties and the first athlete to appear on the front of the cereal’s box. He remains the only man to win two Olympic Pole Vault titles.
Norway’s Egil Danielsen won the gold medal in the Men’s Javelin with a World Record toss of 281-2 (85.71). Taking the silver was Poland’s Janusz Sidło (262-5/79.98), the previous record holder, and the bronze went to the Soviet Union’s (and Ukraine’s) Viktor Tsybulenko (260-10/79.50). American Cy Young, the defending Olympic champion, was hampered by a sprained ankle and could only manage an 11th-place finish (225-2/68.64), one spot behind teammate Phil Conley (228-10/69.74). Danielson returned to Melbourne in 1991, winning the javelin at the World Masters Championships!
