I remember Willie Beaman.
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This has a bit of a feel of his long jump in the Mexico Olympics in 1968 - even if it was a Marathon, thirty seconds off a world record is amazing.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/20...cord-in-berlin
I remember Willie Beaman.
An extremely disturbing heading to this thread......it was only 1968, hardly ages ago......well to me/us anyway
Bob Beamon's record I remember was always referred to as 'long standing' before it was broken. It stood for 23 years.
Mike Powell's record has now stood for 31 years which is just far too freaky to contemplate 😲
I can remember those Olympics so well - David Hemery and John Sherwood in the hurdles, Lillian Board who was dead within two years at just twenty two, Martin Woodruff who is a fellow Old Cantonian (that’s where the similarities begin and end), Chris Finnegan and John Carlos and Lee Evans giving black power salutes on the medal rostrum.
We win far more medals now than we did then though.
If you ever played against Caerphilly YMCA, the changing rooms were upstairs at the club, a short walk down the street to their pitch at Virginia Park. Anyway, on the wall in the club was a huge picture of Lillian Board Another Lillian Board anecdote is that her boyfriend was David Emery, very similar to her fellow Olympian, and after her death he married her twin sister I believe.
I still have Lillian Board's autograph somewhere, which she signed for me at the Welsh Games when I was a kid. I managed to have a chat to her and she seemed a lovely person. Gutted that Colette Besson pipped her on the line in the Olympic final. That was at a time when I adored athletics, a time before steroid abuse reared its ugly head. We'll unless you were Irina and Tamara Press (allegedly).
I can remember the German high jumper, Fosbury Flopp.
I remember it well. Wasn't there talk about his performance being aided by the altitude?
Edit: Just looked it up....
https://www.topendsports.com/events/...mping%20events.
Lyn the leap Davies 1964.Gold medal.
Chris Finnegan won the gold medal at light heavyweight and a certain George Foreman, he of the counter top fryer fame, won the gold medal at heavyweight
Eliud Kipchoge is up there with the greatest athletes of all time.
He runs a marathon quicker than most would cycle it on a road bike.