cy
Olympic dream
within grasp
Jim Ryun continued his journey back to the top of
America ’s middle distance runners and 45 men fought for the
right to take a shot at the “World’s Fastest Human” title
during day two of Eugene’s Mini-Munich Friday.
These 46 men—and all of the other competitors in the
second day of the Olympic Trials—had but one goal: running
for the U S. in the German Olympics.
By tonight, that goal will have been realized by fifteen
men. The U.S. representatives in the 20-kilometer walk,
discus, triple jump, 100 and 800 meter runs will have been
determined by the time more than 10,000 fans file out of
Hayward Field this evening.
If Friday was any indicator, competition for those 15
spots should be something very special. For yesterday it
became apparent that the athletes knew they were within
reaching distance of that goal and many turned in more than
100 percent efforts in attempts at keeping their dream alive.
Try telling Tom Fulton, Ken Swenson, Robert Taylor or
Robert Ware that they just ran “another race” on Friday.
Fulton ran over 600 meters without one shoe just to keep
h s dream alive in the 800 meters. Swenson had to get up off
the track after falling down in heavy traffic to qualify in the
same event.
Taylor ran a 9.9 (equivalent to the world s record but
wind-aided) to qualify for today’s competition, while Ware
ran a 10.1 (only .2 seconds off the world’s fastest time ever)
but failed to qualify for the finals.
And try convincing this nation’s triple jumpers they re
competing in “just another meet” in Eugene. They’ll tell you
this meet is the only thing between them and Munich.
They said as much nonverbally Friday, putting together
jumps making them what the meet announcer called the
“best field of U S. triple jumpers ever assembled in one
place.”
One man, John Craft, soared to 55’ even, three others
made it past 54’ and five more went over 53’. UCLA’s Harry
Freeman improved his personal best in the event by one foot,
five and one-half incher, as he reached 54’6M>”.
Competition in today’s events should be just as ex
citing—perhaps even more so now that the dream is that
much closer.
Events today will include the javelin qualifying round
(see pages 4 and 5), pole vault qualifying round (see page 6),
second round of the 400 meter hurdles (see pages 7 and 8),
final in the 20-kilometer walk (see pages 8 and 9), final in the
discus (see pages 5 and 6), semi-finals and final in the 100
meter run (see pages 12 and 13), finals in the triple jump (see
page 14) and finals in the 800 meter run (see story page 10).
Even more men will have attained their dream by
tomorrow night By then fifteen more men will have joined
the Olympic team and the world will know who the U.S. is
sending to Munich in the pole vault, javelin, 400 meter hur
dles. 3,000 meter steeplechase and 10,000 meters.