Athletes' arena.

[Dondilion]

Originally Posted by Pio1980

I had to web search since I haven't heard his name since my younger bro was a competitive runner during the Fix/Prefontaine era and ran in some of the same events with them.
Good times, less commercialized then.

As you might guess I am a fan of Track and Field.
The public in those times were more informed about the athletes and the athletes were required to exhibit certain degree of professionalism.
I am now shocked to hear athletes using the words "shit and f#@k" in interviews.

[Dondilion]

When I was a youngster the big noise in athletics was the 4 Minute Mile. To run the mile in under 4 minutes seems like an impossibility.

The Brits set out to break this barrier. They built a team around Roger Bannister a medical student-athlete and made a systematic effort to help him achieve that.

On the 6th of May, 1954 Roger Bannister broke the barrier: His time - 3.59.4

The news was huge around the world.

Here is a BBC recording of the iconic event.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nb5AtK08gPM

[Dondilion]

The 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Finnland was very special because of one man, Emil Zatopek. Zatopek is arguably the greatest long-distance runner ever.

He won the 5000 meters, the 10000 meters, and the marathon a race before which he had never run.
Zatopek, a Czech, was the only person who had ever achieved this. The name Zatopek became a worldwide one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3c4Z8cbcIiA

[finnbow]

Speaking of track and field, a new marathon world record was just set in Chicago at 2:00:35. It will not be long before the 2 hour barrier is broken. That is over 26 miles at a 5 minute pace.

https://olympics.com/en/news/chicago...d-sifan-hassan

[Dondilion]

Originally Posted by finnbow

Speaking of track and field, a new marathon world record was just set in Chicago at 2:00:35. It will not be long before the 2 hour barrier is broken. That is over 26 miles at a 5 minute pace.

https://olympics.com/en/news/chicago...d-sifan-hassan

Wow! Kiptum was sprinting towards the end of the race.

This link has a lot of information on existing world records under the heading RELATED CONTENT. Thanks!

[Dondilion]

Wilma Rudolph: A GREAT STORY

She overcame polio and the inability to walk and later in life won three gold medals in the 1960 Olympics. She was the first American woman to achieve such an Olympic feat.

https://www.timeforkids.com/g34/this-is-wilma-rudolph/