Billy Mills in Tokyo

[400guy1]

This has always intrigued me. I've seen the movie "Running Brave" ten times and as you might know, Mills has an incredible last lap in the final. In the movie he literally gets shoved twice, and then comes from about 20-30 meters behind in the last 150 to win. So, I'm just wondering how it really went down. Was there a lot of contact? A mad kick? I'm interested.

[Django]

Look for a DVD or tape of "Tokyo Olympiad", which has some excellent footage of the 10K, which was definitely an exciting race.
In that last lap, the leaders were passing lapped runners and, as Mills and Clarke approached one group, it appears to me that Clarke more or less leaned against Mills to force him outside, so that Clarke wouldn't have been hopelessly boxed in. A moment later, Gammoudi suddenly burst between Mills and Clarke, through a gap that must have been 6 inches wide, and suddenly was in the lead by 5 m, with Clarke and Mills in pursuit. Mills dropped back, but suddeny began an all-out sprint... and won!
Tokyo Olympiad was meant for general viewing and, for me, there is too much time spent showing fan reactions, etc., yet the few minutes devoted to showing the 10K shows what modern TV producers could do with judicious editing.
There is fabulous coverage of Bob Hayes, the marathon, and LJ, too!

[Adam]

I have a small, grainy, choppy, quicktime movie of the last lap from that race. It's a little hard to tell, but he briefly takes the lead at the start of the last lap, then seems to get pushed out to lane 2 with around 300 meters to go as Gammoudi and Clarke pass him. He then settles into 3rd for awhile until he appears to be boxed in with a little more than 100 meters to go, suddenly he breaks out sprints down the straight and wins. Meanwhile the anouncer (actually I've heard it was the stat guy who grabbed the mic.) goes absolutly nuts. Even thought the picture isn't too good it's worth hearing. If you'd like to see it drop me an email and I'll attached the .mov file for you.

Adam

[Guest]

...while the last lap is incredible, I think the last 60 or so meteres is beyond belief ... Mills seems to go into hyperspace.

[Guest]

View it here:

http://www.mines.edu/Outreach/k12/mathc ... .show.html

The video "Ultimate Athlete" (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ ... 08-4760647) contains a version of the same clip, with Mills himself giving some commentary. At under $10, that clip alone is easily worth the cost -- but it also has a bit with the Santa Monica Track Club.

Finally, you can get a poster at http://www.runningpast.com/mills_poster.htm (I swear they're not paying me!)

To me, it's the most inspiring moment in the history of running. It simply reminds you to never say that anything is impossible.

[400guy1]

Thanks guys...checked it out. It is inspiring. What a stud. The movie did a good job...a lot of times they don't.