 |
| Ryun, Jim (United States) Jim Ryun was the first high school runner to run under four minutes for the mile, running a 3:59.0 in 1964. He eventually lowered the prep record to 3:55.3, a record which was to stand for nearly four decades. Most impressive was that Ryun ran the time as an 18 year-old, freshly graduated from high school, en route to beating the reigning Olympic 1500 champion, Peter Snell! Additionally, Ryun set American records in the 1500 and mile which would remain unmatched for 18 and 14 years respectively. As a junior (19 and under) runner, Ryun's ability and the times produced by said talent still stand as nothing short of amazing: his American prep mile record of 3:55 stood for 36 years, his American junior record still is untouched (3:51.3 3rd all-time in the world) and Ryun still owns the 2nd fastest junior 800 time in the world. All this was done on cinder tracks, to boot. The fact that Ryun was competitive with the best in the world of his day when those men were several years older remains one unparalleled to this day. |
 |
 |
| the Past |
| Zatopek, Emil (Czechoslovakia) Zatopek was the only man ever to win the 5000, 10'000 and marathon at the same Olympics. He pulled off this amazing triple at the 1952 Games in Helsinki, winning the marathon in 2:23:04, which broke the Olympic record. Perhaps what was most remarkable was that Zatopek broke this record in his first race at that distance. |
| Feidipedes (Greece) Feidipedes, an Olympic athelete, ran the (roughly) 26 miles from Marathon to Athens in 490 BC (in what is believed to be World Record time), to tell the Athenians that the Grecian army had defeated the Persians. Then he flopped over and died, hence allowing himself no time to bask in his world record and the scores of Athenian, Trojan, and, I think it's safe to say, Spartan women which would no doubt accompany it.. Boy, that was really dumb...why didn't he just use the phone? |
| Bannister, Sir Roger (Great Britain) On May 6, 1954, Roger Bannister ran 3:59.4 for one mile, setting the world record and becoming the first human to break the four-minute barrier for the distance, seen here doing just that... This link goes to a very cool site detailing the historic race, as remembered by Bannister: Tom Michalik's page |
 |
| Shorter, Frank (US) Shorter, widely hailed as the greatest American distance runner, was the 1972 Olympic marathon champ at the Munich Games, and silver medalist at the '76 Olympics in Montreal. [It should be noted that the gold medalist in 1976 is suspected of using illegal performance-enhancing drugs.] In addition to his prowess at the 26.2 mile race, Shorter demonstrated versatility, running competitively in the the 5k and 10k (and 3 mile/6 mile) as well. He held the American records for both the marathon and 10,000 at various points, too. Over the course of his career, he won numerous PanAmerican Games and US National and Olympic trials titles, in addition to his Olympic success. Shorter's fastest... marathon time- 2:10:30 10k time- :27:45 |
| L to R: Viren (FIN), Shorter, Gammoudi (TUN) |
| (Rendering may be slightly inaccurate due to elapsed time. However, this is what scientists have assured me he looks like.) *Heck, with looks like that, he probably didn't even need a world record to his name to attract the womans. |
| Photo courtesy AP |
| Feidipedes. |
 |
 |
| As you can see here, all old runners only photograph in black and white. |
 |
| Nurmi, Paavo (Finland) The Finnish Nurmi was the first truly great distance runner. Though his times may not compare to those of today, his dominance of his sport is still yet to be matched. Between the 1920, '24 and '28 Olympics, Paavo won 9 gold and 3 silver medals. During his career, he established 25 world records, ranging from the 1500 to the 20'000! |
| Prefontaine, Steve (United States) As a freshman in high school "Pre's" times were competitive for his age, but by no means impressive (I bested his mile PR by 15 seconds), but his sophomore year he emerged as someone to watch when he ran a sub 15 minute 3 mile. He went on to break the high school 2-mile record before going to the University of Oregon. Though Prefontaine has been built into a legend due to his boldness, and a racing style which at times bordered on heroic, many forget that he stands as a largely unaccomplished runner. He never medalled at the Olympics nor broke any world records. However it should be noted that in finishing fourth at the '72 Munich Games, he was in contention to win until the final 150 meters or so, and did this as a 21 year-old runner, thought to still have his peak years ahead of him, sometime around the '76 Games. However there is NO reason to believe, as many Pre acolytes do, that he was going to become the greatest runner in the world had he not died prematurely. Most noteworthy, though, was that when he died in a one-car accident on May 30, 1975, he held every American outdoor track record from 2,000 to 10,000 meters. PRE's TIMES: 10 kilometres.....27.43.6 5 kilometres.....13.21.9 3 miles............12.51.4 2 miles ...........08.18.4 3200 metres......7.42.6 |
 |
| home home - running home - running now - running, my |