Sprinters in the limelight

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31802, 5 October 1968, Page 11

Sprinters in the limelight

THE sprint events at the Mexico City Olympic Games should produce some of the most remarkable performances in the history of athletics.

Already this year the lOsec barrier for 100 metres, once regarded as the ultimate for the distance, has been beaten by three American Negroes, J. Hines, R. Green and R. Smith, and several others, including the London-born South African, P. Nash, and the Russian, V. Sapeya, have equalled A. Hary’s old world record of lOsec.

It is clear that sprinters are now stronger and faster than they have ever been. And there are more of them at top level than before. When Hary recorded lOsec to break the world record for 100 metres in 1960, many athletics experts were convinced that this was the ultimate. There were, nevertheless, those who dared to

predict that not a great time would pass before the physical conditioning of the new generations and different techniques would enable this time to be broken. These opinions were not products of hasty judgment or wishful thinking. They were based on a critical analysis of the abilities of a new crop of sprinters. One of these, Nash, equalled Hary’s record three times in five days. Before this, seven other sprinters had managed to tie this record, and it was obvious to everybody that the barrier would soon be broken down. In the semi-finals of the American championships at Sacramento, Hines, Smith, and Green all recorded 9.9 sec. One day later six sprinters ran the distance in lOsec at the same meeting. In one of the early heats Hines recorded 9.Bsec, but this was wind assisted. The Olympic record of lOsec, set in Tokyo by the American, R. Hayes, seems unlikely to survive the Mexico City Games on the evidence of times recorded this year. But there is another reason, too, why it is almost certain to fall. The rarified air at Mexico City, 7000 ft above sea level, should provide sprinters with less resistance than they are normally used to. If three Americans can trim a tenth of a second off the world record at sea level, it stands to reason that they should be able to at least equal this at Mexico City. It seems almost certain that an American will again win the 100 metres title. The margin between the top dozen or so is so close that any one of them could have developed into an Olympic champion. However, each nation is only allowed a maximum of three in each event, and sprinters who would be first choices in other countries have to stay behind or hope for a place in a relay team. One of these Is joint world record-

holder, Smith, who failed to finish in the first three in the final trials. The third place in the American 100 metres section for the Olympics was unexpectedly taken by the 31-year-old M. Pender, who has been racing at world level for more than a decade. Another leading sprinter who looks like missing the Olympics is Nash. Although born in London, he is a South African, and his country has been banned from the Olympics because of its racial policies. The Olympic record for 200 metres will probably fall at Mexico as well. The Negro, J. Carlos, recently broke the world record in the American Olympic trials with a time of 19.725ec, a

time considerably faster than the Olympic record. In this race, he beat T. Smith, -another Negro, who previously held the record. Smith was also inside his old record, stopping the clock at 19.9 sec. Both are obviously capable of breaking the Olympic record. The third member of the American 200 metres team, J, Questad, cannot be disregarded either. It would be quite possible for these three to take all the medals for the event between them. The picture above shows Green winning the final of the American 100 metres at Sacramento. Only inches behind are J. Hines (centre) and R. Smith.