Walt Murphy is one of the finest track statisticians 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.
Track & Field History is copyrighted by Walt Murphy News and Results Services, and all rights are reserved. RunBlogRun uses this content with permission.
This Day in Track & Field–September 4
1942–Gunder Hägg regained sole possession of the World Record in the Mile by running 4:04.6 in Stockholm. He had shared the previous mark of 4:06.2 with fellow Swede Arne Andersson.
WR Progression: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mile_run_world_record_progression
Tribute to Hagg: https://www.worldathletics.org/news/news/a-tribute-to-the-career-of-gunder-hagg
http://www.racingpast.ca/john_contents.php?id=235
1949—Hungary’s Imre Németh, the 1948 Olympic gold medalist, improved his World Record in the Hammer to 195-5 (59.57) in Katowice, Poland. His previous mark of 193-8 (59.02) was set the year before and he would set his 3rd WR of 196-5 (59.88) in 1950.
His son Miklós was the 1976 Olympic gold medalist and former World Record holder in the Javelin
September 4th turned out to be a good date for setting records in this event (see below).
WR Progression: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men’s_hammer_throw_world_record_progression
1965—Hungary’s Gyula Zsivótzky threw 241-11 (73.74) in Debrecen, Hungary, to set a World Record in the Hammer. His throw ended Hal Connolly’s 9-year reign as the record holder in the event. Connolly set the first of his six records in 1956 (224-10 [68.54]), and his last (233-9 [71.26]) less than three months before Zsivótzky’s big throw.
Zsivótzky won Olympic silver in 1960 and 1964 before winning gold in Mexico City in 1968. He would set his 2nd World Record of 242-0 (73.76) in 1968.
https://www.worldathletics.org/news/news/olympic-champion-zsivotzky-passes-away
1971—West Germany’s Walter Schmidt threw the Hammer 250-8 (76.40) in Lahr, Germany, to break the World Record of 247-8(75.48), which was set by the Soviet Union’s Anatoliy Bondarchuk in 1969.
WR Progression: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Men%27s_hammer_throw_world_record_progression
1972–Valeriy Borzov, winner of the 100, completed the sprint double at the Munich Olympics by taking the gold medal in the 200-meters (20.00). Larry Black, who drew lane one in the blind selection process, finished 2nd in 20.19, and Italy’s Pietro Mennea was 3rdin 20.30. Mennea would win the gold medal 8 years later in Moscow. 4th in his first year in the sport was American Larry Burton (20.37), who went on to play in the NFL for five years as a wide receiver. Jamaica’s Don Quarrie, the co-World Record holder and one of the pre-Games favorites, suffered a hamstring injury in his semi-final race.
16-year old Ulrike Meyfarth was tied for the lead in the Women’s High Jump with Bulgaria’s Yordanka Blagoeva with no misses through 6-2 (1.88), with only Austria’s Ilona Gusenbauer still alive in the competition. The young West German cleared 6-2 ¾ (1.90) on her 2nd attempt and the gold medal was hers when the other two failed at that height(Blagoeva winning silver). The home crowd was already ecstatic with her win when she then cleared 6-3 ½ (1.92) on her first attempt to equal Gusenbauer’s World Record! She would win a 2nd gold medal 12 years later in Los Angeles. 23 women competed in the final!
Kenya got a 1-2 finish in the Steeplechase from Kip Keino (8:23.64-OR) and Ben Jipcho (8:24.62), who passed Finland’s Tapio Kantanen (8:24.66) to grab the silver medal. Keino, the 1968 Olympic champion at the distance, would win the silver medal in the 1500-meters later in the Games.
Keino would return to Munich 50 years later to reminisce about his steeple win.
https://olympics.com/en/original-series/episode/memory-lane-72-a-gathering-of-champions
The Soviet Union’s Viktor Saneyev (a native of Georgia) won the 2nd of his 3 consecutive Olympic titles in the Triple Jump. He got his winning jump of 56-11 ¼w (17.35) in the opening round, and was almost overtaken by East Germany’s Jörg Drehmel, who jumped 56-9 ½ (17.31) on his 5th effort. Brazil’s Nelson Prudêncio, the silver medalist in 1968, won bronze this time with a leap of 55-11 ¼ (17.05).
Results: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_1972_Summer_Olympics
Videos: M200 MSC WHJ Meyfarth Looks Back https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulrike_Meyfarth
1977—American Records were set by Marty Liquori (5000-13:15.06/2nd to Ethiopia’s Miruts Yifter-13:13.82) and Jan Merrill (3000-8:46.60/3rd, winner was Norway’s Grete Waitz-8:43.50) on the final day of competition at the first World Cup in Düsseldorf, Germany (See September 2 for more details).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1977_IAAF_World_Cup
AR Progressions
5000: http://trackfield.brinkster.net/RecProg_AllUSA.asp?RecCode=WR&EventCode=MA7&Gender=M&P=F
3000: http://trackfield.brinkster.net/RecProg_AllUSA.asp?RecCode=WR&EventCode=WA6&Gender=W&P=F
1983–Great Britain’s Steve Ovett reclaimed the World Record in the 1500-meters by running 3:30.77 in Rieti, Italy. Sydney Maree had set the previous mark of 3:31.4 just one week earlier. David Mack was the capable pacesetter in both record races.
WR Progression: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1500_metres_world_record_progression
