James’s Comments (group member since Feb 11, 2021)

James’s comments from the Running, Track and Field group.

Greetings to all and I’m glad to be a part of the group. I only joined Goodreads last year and it took a while for me to get around to hunting down my fellow track & field fans. Thanks for your patience.

I am retired from the U.S. Army with 24+ years of service (all active duty). Currently working part time in Washington state while I gradually move towards full retirement. I ran track back in high school in northern California during the early 80’s in a small single A size school. Because the school and the associated high school athletic league were so small, I was able to compete in the 100, 200, 400, 4x100, and 4x400 on a regular basis and even dabbled in the 800, long jump, and triple jump. My senior year I even took part in an octathlon, which is basically a decathlon without the javelin or pole vault.

Needless to say, I didn’t set the world on fire. I went off to college at a Division I school in what was then the PAC-10 and there was no way that I could compete at that level. So I hung up my spikes but remained a fan of the sport.

My interest in track & field has had its ups and downs due to the various troubles that have plagued it (PEDs, etc.) and the demands of my military service. But I still enjoy watching the sport and reading about its history. The latter can be challenging as there aren’t many books published about track and field that make it to the retail stores. So I hope to touch base with my fellow group members to help me close the gap.

Looking forward to hearing from the rest of you.

I am new to the group but will toss in my two cents...

Fully agree that Mills and Wottle provided two of the greatest finishes, and any fan of track and field should re-watch them from time to time to see how much drama and excitement the sport can generate.

I would also look to the relay events for some of the best finishes in the sport's history. Here are three of my favorites:

Tokyo World Championship men's 4x400 final (1991) - - the U.S. has a team of Valmon, Watts, Everett, and Pettigrew. There is no way (on paper) that anyone should beat them. But the British anchor Kriss Akabusi, who was a 400m hurdler, stays close and then runs down Pettigrew in the home stretch.

Barcelona Olympics women's 4x100 final (1992) - - check out the scorching anchor leg that Gwen Torrance runs to catch the Soviet team from behind and grab the gold medal.

Tokyo Olympic men's 4x100 final (1964) - - Bob Hayes clocks the first sub 9 second anchor leg to bring the U.S. from three yards behind to the gold medal. Carl Lewis may have done it later on, but Bullet Bob was the first and he did it when it counted most.

I am new to the group but will chime in here...

I was a track & field fan during the 80's when Carl Lewis was the king of the sport. He competed at the world class level for 15+ years in the sprints and long jump.

A few years ago I saw a brief interview with Lewis when he was asked about PEDs and how other athletes recognized when someone was taking them. He said that it took him a full ten years of training, conditioning, and technique to cut his 100m sprint time by 0.1 seconds, from 9.96 back in 1981 down to his 9.86 world record in Tokyo in 1991.

When a sprinter suddenly starts dropping his 100m sprint times by 0.1 or more in a single year (like Johnson and Bolt did) it served as a red flag to Lewis and others that the athlete was juicing.

Bolt certainly has the raw talent to sprint at the world class level. But the meteoric improvement he has shown makes me suspicious. Which is a shame really, since I love the sport and wish that it could overcome its sometimes shady reputation.

I'm new to the group but I would like to chime in with my own recommendations.

First I will echo my fellow group members in giving a big thumbs up to both THE PERFECT MILE by Neal Bascomb and ROME 1960 by David Maraniss. Both are terrific reads.

Some others I would highlight include:

THE TRACK IN THE FOREST by Bob Burns

DUEL IN THE SUN by John Brandt

BOWERMAN AND THE MEN OF OREGON by Kenny Moore

THE FASTEST MEN ON EARTH by Neil Duncanson

THE DIRTIEST RACE IN HISTORY by Richard Moore

SOMETHING IN THE AIR by Richard Hoffer

Standing by for additional recommendations / discussion

I'm new to the group, but I will chime in with a few comments.

I have a hard time with Flo-Jo due to the PEDs questions that still hover around her. She went from being a notch or two below the top sprinters in the world in the early/mid 80's and then bulked up and started setting records that are still out of reach by most modern female sprinters. Ben Johnson had almost the same storyline until he got busted. I don't think Flo-Jo was truly clean and I wonder if her early death was somehow drug related.

I like Felix a lot but I don't think she was dominant enough in the 100m to rank as #1. As for Rudolph, hers is a great story and she was the toast of Rome in 1960. But I don't think her best times in the 100m/200m stand up against the ones who followed. Tyus was superb, the first person (man or woman) to repeat as Olympic 100m champion. But I haven't seen her 200m times to see how she compares to the rest of the crew.

Ashford has the longevity, the medals, the championships, the fast times, and the world records to be near the top of the pyramid. But I think that Szewinska has the edge as she was world class for a long period of time, put up some great times, and was competitive in the 100m, 200m, and 400m while the rest of the candidates (minus Felix) never took up the 400 during their careers. In fact I belive that Szewinska is the only sprinter to have held the 100, 200, and 400 world records during their career.

So maybe Irina > Evelyn, but only by a whisker.