A bizarre statistical quirk

[rhymans]

A question. What was the curious statistical quirk which relates to the West German 100m championship race of 1964? As a clue I should say that it's the kind of thing that would interest Jed Brickner, myself and no more than a handful of others in the history of the planet.

[dj]

I'm guessing he ran in lane 10, or he ran on a Wednesday, or some such thing.

It has to relate either to a lane record or a day-of-the-week record.

[gh]

I was going to say that they must have finished in lane order (either that or alphabetically!)

[DoubleRBar]

Or both.

[rhymans]

GH has it - the race finished in lane order from 1 to 8 - or if I'd got the question right it would have. My excuse is that from the photo it looks like lane 1 - Fritz Roderfeld has it, but the judges gave it to Manfred Knickenberg (lane 2). It otherwise went in order from 3rd on, with OG decathlon winner Willi Holdorf in 8th from lane 8. Sorry for the excess of bathos.

[dadme]

Also the race was on the 8th day of the 8th month in 64. 8x8=64

[dadme]

Also 8+8+64=80. Again 8 is mentioned. Watson the needle.