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Walt Murphy is one of the finest track geeks that I know. Walt does #ThisDayinTrack&FieldHistory, an excellent daily service that provides true geek stories about our sport. You can check out the service for FREE with a free one-month trial subscription! (email: WaltMurphy44@gmail.com) for the entire daily service. We will post a few historic moments each day, beginning February 1, 2024.
by Walt Murphy’s News and Results Service (wmurphy25@aol.com), used with permission
This Day in Track & Field–October 2
1988—Italy’s Gelindo Bordin won the Men’s Marathon at the Seoul Olympics in 2:10:32. 2nd was Kenya’s Douglas Wakiihuri (2:10:47), the 1987 World Champion, and 3rd was Djibouti’s Ahmed Salah (2:10:59), who won the silver medal at the 1987 Worlds.
Other significant finishers included Australia’s Steve Moneghetti (5th/2:11:49), Great Britain’s Charlie Spedding (6th/2:12:19), Tanzania’s Juma Ikangaa (7th/2:13:06), Australia’s Rob de Castella (8th/2:13:07), American Pete Pfitzinger (14th/2:14:44), Italy’s Orlando Pizzolato (16th/2:15:20), and American Ed Eyestone (29th/2:18:08).
37-year old Philadelphia native Gary Fanelli, a 2:14 marathoner in his prime, applied for a job as the track coach for American Samoa after learning that part of the deal would enable him to represent the country in Seoul. The fun-loving Fanelli, who was known for wearing costumes (Blues Brother, Chef Boyardee) while running marathons in the U.S., got the job and finished(2:25:35)!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_1988_Summer_Olympics_–_Men%27s_marathon
Fanelli:
www.upi.com/Archives/1988/09/15/Gary-Fanelli-a-37-year-old-marathon-runner-from-Philadelphia-will/2975590299200/
Sports Illustrated Vault (Fanelli)
1989—The Athletics Congress (TAC-the forerunner of USATF) announced that they were beginning a “year-round, out-of-competition drug testing program aimed at curbing substance abuse in the sport in the United States. Under the new plan the top 15 U.S. athletes in each event are subject to random selection for testing within 48 hours of notification.”
2019—American Grant Holloway (13.10) won the Men’s 110-Meter Hurdles at the World Championships in Doha, Qatar. Finishing 2ndand 3rd were Russia’s Sergey Shubenkov (13.15), the 2013 World Champion, and France’s Pascal Martinot-Lagarde (13.18). Jamaica’s Omar McLeod once again had problems late in a race and was disqualified for impeding Spain’s Orlando Ortega (13.30) coming off the last hurdle. Ortega, who was a clear 3rd at the time of the incident, was awarded a bronze medal by officials. American Devon Allen finished 7th (13.70).
An emotional Holloway stopped halfway through his victory lap to sprawl on the track and broke down in tears.
The former Florida Gator confounded the doubters who didn’t think a U.S. collegian who had been competing since January could maintain his form through early October. He had won NCAA indoor titles in the 60 and 60-hurdles in March, won the NCAA Outdoor title in June with a Collegiate Record of 12.98. and finished 2nd at the U.S. Championships in July. A 6th-place finish in Paris in August added fuel to the argument that he wouldn’t be much of a factor in Doha, but Florida coach Mike Holloway obviously knew how to get his star pupil ready for the big stage.
“I am speechless,” said Holloway. “It’s my first major championships and a lot of people were counting me out because I’ve been off my game in the last month or so. But when you have motivation you never lose. I kept believing in myself, I kept focused and I stayed healthy.” He would go on to win two more World titles in 2022 & 2023 and the gold medal at the 2024 Olympics.
Kentucky’s Daniel Roberts, who had beaten Holloway at the SEC Championships in May and the U.S. Nationals in July, never got to show what he might have done in the final after he was disqualified in the 1st round for knocking over the hurdle of a fellow competitor in an adjoining lane!
Great Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith (21.88/National Record), who was 2nd in the 100, won the Women’s 200-Meters over American Brittany Brown (22.22) and Switzerland’s Mujinga Kambundji (22.51). Absent from the event was the Netherlands’ Dafne Schuppers, the 2-time defending champion, whose Worlds ended early when an injury forced her to withdraw from the final of the 100-meters.
Poland’s Paweł Fajdek (264-1 [80.50]) won his 4th consecutive World title in the Men’s Hammer Throw. All 4 of his fair throws were good enough to win the gold medal. Winning silver and bronze were France’s Quentin Bigot (256-6 [78.19]) and Hungary’s Bence Halász (256-6[78.18]).
Medalists/Results: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_World_Athletics_Championships
World Athletics
Videos: MHT Highlights W200 Highlight M110h Highlight
Recap Day Six: https://worldathletics.org/news/report/world-championships-doha-2019-holloway-asher
T&F News’ Coverage(for subscribers) MHT W200 M110h
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