OT: Greatest Race Ever (probably) - 400m H 2020 Olympic Final

[notlance]

I remember seeing Johnson run 19.32 for 200m when that time was unheard of in 1996 and when Mike Powell broke Beamon's 23 year old Long Jump record in Tokyo in 1991. Rudisha's 2012 800m world record in the 2012 Olympic 800M was also a superlative performance.

But Warholm's 45.94 for the 400mH is just in another stratosphere. Rai gave him a good race running 46.17 for 2nd.

Just 2 months ago Kevin Young's record of 46.78 had held since 1992 and was rarely seriously approached until the last year or 2.

Athletic performance of the century or I'm not recalling anything that comes close.

[FlashUNC]

Secretariat at the Belmont comes to mind.

But your criteria isn't clear if we're looking back 100 years or just over the last 21 of this century.

[osbk67]

Dave Wottle

[weisan]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qFJuTpqBLM

[ripvanrando]

Eric Heiden won 5 Gold medals in 500m to 10,000m, setting Olympic records in each of them, in 1980.

[retrofit]

Joan Benoit - 1984 Summer Olympics

In March 1984, Benoit injured her knee severely during a 20-mile training run, forcing her to undergo arthroscopic knee surgery just 17 days before the United States Olympic Women's Marathon Trials were scheduled...She beat runner-up Julie Brown by 30 seconds, winning in 2:31:04.

Three months later, she competed in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, winning the first Olympic Women's Marathon in 2:24:52, several hundred meters ahead of Grete Waitz, Rosa Mota, and Ingrid Kristiansen.

[mcfarton]

I do love how he went hulk/Janet Jackson after his win


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[duff_duffy]

Timing was perfect, just about to search for this to watch with my son! Thanks~

Originally Posted by weisan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qFJuTpqBLM

[Waldo62]

Originally Posted by notlance

I remember seeing Johnson run 19.32 for 200m when that time was unheard of in 1996 and when Mike Powell broke Beamon's 23 year old Long Jump record in Tokyo in 1991. Rudisha's 2012 800m world record in the 2012 Olympic 800M was also a superlative performance.

But Warholm's 45.94 for the 400mH is just in another stratosphere. Rai gave him a good race running 46.17 for 2nd.

Just 2 months ago Kevin Young's record of 46.78 had held since 1992 and was rarely seriously approached until the last year or 2.

Athletic performance of the century or I'm not recalling anything that comes close.

That's because you aren't giving Beamon's beating Boston's LJ record by 55cm its due. If Warholm ran the race of the century, Beamon's was the jump across two millenia.

[notlance]

Originally Posted by Waldo62

That's because you aren't giving Beamon's beating Boston's LJ record by 55cm its due. If Warholm ran the race of the century, Beamon's was the jump across two millenia.

I acknowledge Beamon's performance without a doubt. I came across a very interesting reminiscence quoted on one of the athletics forums by Lynn Davis (1964 LJ champ who was defending in 1968). Beamon's jump was very early in the competition and I think he had a favorable legal wind aid to his jump. His giant leap went beyond the rail-measuring device and it had to be measured by tape. The entire broohaha around the measuring and enormity of the record consumed 30-35 minutes of competition time. By the time things got going again the weather conditions had changed, becoming much more windy in opposite direction and it even started to rain and cool off -as well as competitors forced to wait around. Beamon was obviously aided by high altitude (as with all the power events at those games). You would think the same high altitude would have bumped up Ralph Boston and Lynn Davis performance but it did not. Everything came right for Beamon on that day - his take off trajectory, his rotation order in the competition, the local conditions at the time of his jump, the altitude..

Mike Powell on the other hand jumped 8.95m for the current record at sea-level. Beamon's record stood for 23 years, Powell has held the current record for 30 years!!!! and there is really no one of the current crop of jumpers who look likely to beat it soon. Sure Powell only bettered the record by 5cm but I think his jump is greater than Beamons in terms of relative performance.

[gasman]

That was a great race and there have been lots of amazing athletic performances over my lifetime.

[72gmc]

Can’t name a greatest race ever, but Michael Johnson’s 200/400 double in Atlanta is one of my favorite track and field memories.

[prototoast]

Not to be outdone, the women's 400h features a top 3 all faster than what the WR was at the start of 2021, and top 2 faster than the world record going into the race.

That's pretty crazy. Are the super spikes optimized for 400h performance?

[RFC]

Originally Posted by mcfarton

I do love how he went hulk/Janet Jackson after his win


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The nipple thing was a little weird . . . and he did it two or three times.

[Clean39T]

Originally Posted by prototoast

Not to be outdone, the women's 400h features a top 3 all faster than what the WR was at the start of 2021, and top 2 faster than the world record going into the race.

That's pretty crazy. Are the super spikes optimized for 400h performance?

That was a pretty awesome race indeed