A Tribute To Bob Hayes

(pictured here finishing one of the most legendary feats in sprinting history--a World Record 100, stomping an Olympic-final field by 0.2 while running out of the chewed-up dirt of lane 1: Tokyo '64)

Just four days after Tim Montgomery became the latest "World's Fastest Human," the man many consider to be the all-time fastest, Bob Hayes, died at age 59.

It's only fitting that we revisit perhaps Bullet Bob's greatest moment, winning two gold medals at the '64 Olympics in Tokyo. Here are the original stories--by two of our all-time greatest writers--as they appeared in the October/November '64 issue of Track & Field News. Other than some minor stylistic changes, the stories are as they were printed then. We have also included two editor's notes to clarify some changes in IAAF procedure that won't be clear to modern readers.

As we wrote it then:

100 METER DASH

Hayes The Greatest
by Jim Dunaway

Of the world's top 100-meter men, the only ones not in Tokyo were Americans Charles Greene and Nate Adams (both injured during the selection process) and Venezuelan Horacio Esteves, who suffered a leg injury shortly after his dazzling 10.0 in August. Present but not competing were Ed Roberts of Trinidad, Americans Henry Carr and Paul Drayton, Italians Livio Berruti and Sergio Ottolina, Polish aces Marian Foik and Andrzej Zielinski, and Jocelyn Delecour of France--all running the 200m only--and injured Soviet Champion Nikolay Politiko, a 10.2 man. Even with these good ones missing, 74 men were entered and 72 ran in the 10 first-round heats.

The weather was rainy, gray and gusty as the first heat went off at 10:03AM, October 14. Appropriately, it was won by Hideo Iijima, Japan's jet-starting 10.1 sprinter. His time of 10.3 was the fastest of the morning round. Other easy heat winners were Bob Hayes, who loped in a yard ahead of Tom Robinson's smooth 10.5; Trenton Jackson, with an improved start; and Germans Fritz Obersiebrasse and Heinz Schumann. Also looking good were Harry Jerome, who like Jackson showed a good start, then eased up as Claude Piquemal almost caught him; Enrique Figuerola, the stumpy, hard-running Cuban; Gaoussou Koné, a lanky fast finisher who edged Mel Pender in 10.5; and the alliterative Polish pair, Wieslaw Maniak and Marian Dudziak.

Biggest disappointments were listless, non-qualifying 10.7s by Seraphino Antao of Kenya, Manfred Knickenberg of Germany, and Britain's Lynn Davies (who, it later became obvious, had something else on his mind). Because of an IAAF ruling, all eight lanes of the track were to be used, thus allowing four qualifiers in each quarter and semifinal.

By the afternoon, the rain had stopped, although clouds still hung low. In the first quarterfinal, Jerome and Jackson quickly pulled away from the rest, Jerome winning in 10.3 as Jackson slowed near the end with a sharp pain in his right thigh. Obersiebrasse and Gaoussou Kone took 3rd and 4th easily, eliminating Dennis Johnson and Dudziak. The next race saw Figuerola blast out to an early lead, then almost be nailed by the closing lift of Maniak as both ran 10.3, with Bob Lay of Australia and Piquemal edging out Edvin Ozolin. In the third and easiest quarterfinal, Tom Robinson looked sharp winning in 10.3 from Pender, Iijima and young Pablo McNeil of Jamaica. At the finish, Pender was in considerable pain, having pulled a muscle on his right side just under the ribs.

In the fourth race, Hayes gunned to a casual 10.3 to win by a meter from veteran Arquimedes Herrera of Venezuela and Nebraska junior Lynn Headley of Jamaica. Schumann closed fast to grab the last semi-final spot from '60 medalist Peter Radford and the 18-year-old Guadeloupean competing for France, Roger Bambuck.

Next afternoon was a sunny 750 as they lined up for the semi-finals at 2:00PM. In the first, Hayes finally unleashed his real speed, blasting away with. the help of a 5.3mps/11.8mph tailwind to a startling 9.9 clocking and a ridiculously easy win over Maniak, Robinson and Schumann. Close behind Schumann, but out, were Lay, McNeil and Herrera. Last was Jackson, who ran with his thigh bandaged from hip to knee and eased up when he felt a recurrence of the previous day's pain.

In the second semi, the wind shifted to 1.3mps/2.9mph against the runners. Pender got a tremendous start and led most of the way, easing up after 80m when, "I felt something tearing loose inside me." Figuerola and Jerome were also off well, with Jerome finishing strongly to win in 10.3 while the Cuban seemed to fade over the last few meters. Koné again used his closing speed to edge Figuerola and Pender for 2nd. Another fast finisher, Piquemal, outleaned Headley for 5th just a foot or so back of Pender. lijima, who needs his good start and didn't get it this time, trailed with Obersiebrasse.

Just past the finish, Pender fell to the ground in agony, and was carried off on a stretcher. He bad torn loose the muscles attached to the lower ribs on the right side. A. doctor put an icepack on his side and told him to scratch from the final. But, said Pender, "I came to get a medal and I'm gonna run." He did, with eight injections of pain killer… and spent the next three days in a hospital.

The final was immediately preceded by the start of the 20K walk, with 35 walkers circling the track three times before hitting the road, chewing up the inside lane somewhat… a bit disturbing to Americans because it was Hayes' lane. The start was held up while the curb lane was raked and scraped (but not rolled) and the runners were called to their marks some ten minutes late. The wind was a legal 1.1mps/2.4mph.

A sudden hush fell over the packed stands as they went to their marks. From the inside, the order was: Hayes, Schumann, Figuerola, Kone, Jerome, and Pender. The starter barked, "Koh!" (set) and up they came. The start was almost perfectly even, with Figuerola, as expected, and Hayes, surprisingly, off slightly better than the rest, and with Kone a few inches behind the other five. But despite the even start, the race was over early. By 10m, the quick pickups of the three "big" men--Hayes, Figuerola and Jerome--had put two feet between them and the rest of the field. Hayes had simply exploded to gain a full meter ahead of Jerome and others running almost perfectly even another couple of feet back.

Hayes kept powering ahead and was never threatened. He ran through the tape without leaning, winning by a still-growing margin of seven feet-an edge almost insulting to an Olympic final field. Figuerola, often vulnerable at the finish, stood off Jerome's closing rush well and took the silver medal by less than a foot . Maniak also finished fast to grab 4th, a good five feet behind Jerome, in 10.4. Nearly another yard back, but also in 10.4, Schumann was 5th, an inch or so ahead of Kone and the gutty Pender, who dead-heated for 6th. Robinson, who pulled a muscle while running 4th and starting to move on the leaders at about 65m, was last.

Thus Hayes, even though running in the slowest lane on the track, hammered a fine field (with at least two "great" sprinters) into the ground. His 10.0 not only tied the World Record, but also became a new Olympic and American Record… and must be considered one of--if not the--finest 100m races ever run.

['02 Ed: The timing method used in Tokyo requires some explanation at this point. In an era where hand timing was still the norm, this race was auto-timed, then the results expressed in 10ths. Furthermore, an 0.05 delay was built into the clock to reflect the difference, so when Hayes ran what we would today call a 10.06, it was read as a 10.01, then rounded down, whereas today we would round up. At a time when the World Record was a hand-timed 10.0--the mark Hayes was credited with equaling--the backup hand watches caught him in 9.8, 9.9 and 9.9, so he was denied the first-ever 9.9 even though he almost certainly ran it. Behind Hayes, Figuerola ran an auto-timed 10.25, Jerome 10.27.]

After-the-race comments:

Hayes--"My lane felt a little soft. I would have run faster in one of the other lanes." Future plans? "Every year I have run faster than the year before, and I'll keep running until I stop getting faster. I'll definitely run next year. My goals will be 9.9 for 100m and 9.0 for 100y."

Figuerola--"I ran one 10.1 and five 10.2s this year but this was the best race I ran all year. Hayes beat me at my best… he's the greatest."

Jerome--"I ran the best race of the year, too. I thought I was going to catch Figuerola at the finish, but I'm really pleased about getting any kind of medal in such great competition. I'm proud to have made both the 100 and 200 finals.

Jackson--"I ran the heats expecting to win the gold medal. Mel Pender taught me a new, faster start after we got to Tokyo, and that was my weakest point. I don't know what my injury was… not a muscle pull, though it felt like one. But it was better two days later. I'll run this winter indoors-but I'll play baseball, instead of track this spring at Illinois."

Pender--"I just didn't have anything in the final. Next year will be my last year of running unless I go to college… UCLA, Grambling, or Southern."

One comment: the IAAF could do well to follow the lead of swimming when it comes to lane assignments after the first round… especially in the sprints and 110 hurdles. Instead of a random drawing for lanes, for example, the semifinal winners would automatically get lanes 4 and 5 for the final, with the two 2nd-placers getting lanes 3 and 6, and so on. It's not only the fairest thing for the runners themselves, but would also probably result in better preliminary races. And it would certainly make the races easier to watch and judge… especially with eight in the final. ['02 Ed: This was the first-ever Olympics with eight sprint finalists.]

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4 x 100 METER RELAY

Hayes Blasts Anchormen
by Cordner Nelson

The USA has the fastest sprinters in the world but its baton passing is usually so poor that the issue is in doubt in the Olympic 400 meter relay. The '64 race was no exception.

The danger of another debacle like 1960's was pointed up by the very first baton pass. Running in heat 2, Paul Drayton led off around the curve and apparently handed off reasonably well to Gerry Ashworth. The only thing wrong was that Germany in the next lane, gained 2y on the exchange. Ashworth could not gain on Rainer Berger and he was alongside Dick Stebbins while making the pass. Stebbins gained only slightly on Peter Wallach and made a good pass to Bob Hayes. Off more than a yard behind, Hayes showed great acceleration, gaining four yards in about twenty. USA's 39.8 victory was not encouraging, since Italy had won the first heat in 39.7, under wraps.

In the semifinals, the problem was the same. France, in the next lane, gained 2y on its first pass and led by that margin until Hayes exploded. This time USA clocked 39.5 to tie the Olympic record. But France and fast-closing Jamaica (Dennis Johnson) were timed in 39.6 and in the second heat Italy, Poland, and Venezuela all ran 39.6. It was too close for comfort.

For the final, the lane assignments were Great Britain in lane 1, then France, Italy, Jamaica, Venezuela, Poland, USA, and USSR.

Once again USA lost 2y on the first baton pass, as Poland went ahead. Ashworth, who admitted they didn't practice, said, "Paul seemed to pull a little coming up to me, and I got a slow start. It was a good thing I did because it worked out just right." Drayton had offered to remove himself from the team because of a slight injury, but Trenton Jackson and Mel Pender, the only others eligible, were in worse shape.

Ashworth gained about a foot down the back stretch. Stebbins gained slightly on Foik and made a good pass, but Hayes was off almost 5ft behind Poland and USSR. France came out of the last pass ahead of Poland by 4ft and Jamaica also led USA. Hayes had instructed his teammates before the race in simple language: "Just give it to me close."

Three yards is not very close, but France's anchorman, Jocelyn Delecour, was not at his best, and Marian Dudziak was not Poland's best man. Hayes was at his best. In one of the most explosive pickups ever seen, he simply astounded every track fan who saw him, as he shot past everybody within about 30y and went on to win by over 3y in 39.0, a new World Record.

Great Britain, 8th in 39.6 in the slow lane, was the only team failing to equal the old Olympic Record of 39.5. It was easily the greatest 400 meter relay of all time and it would have been the closest race, too, if any other man had anchored USA.

One of the Europeans told Drayton, "You haven't anything except Hayes."

Drayton, fingering his gold medal, replied, "That's all we need, pal."