Ron Clarke-RIP

[Lods]

One of my favourite sports people when I was younger.
Lots of records but never quite cracked the big one.
Still a champion.

Emil Zatopek had great admiration for Ron Clarke. In 1968 he invited the Australian to Czechoslovakia, and as a parting gift he gave him his 1952 Olympic 10,000 m gold medal with the following words: “Not out of friendship but because you deserve it.

http://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/news...7401660446

(He did have some dark family secrets...his father and brother played for Essendon.
Brother Jack was a premiership captain and coached against us in 1968. We won!)

[PaulP]

One of my favourite sports people when I was younger.
Lots of records but never quite cracked the big one.
Still a champion.

http://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/news...7401660446

(He did have some dark family secrets...his father and brother played for Essendon.
Brother Jack was a premiership captain and coached against us in 1968. We won!)

Was he the one who struggled to perform his best in front of large crowds ? I vaguely remember reading about an older Australian athlete with this disposition years ago.

[Amers]

RIP.
His brother was my grade 2 school teacher!

[Lods]

Was he the one who struggled to perform his best in front of large crowds ? I vaguely remember reading about an older Australian athlete with this disposition years ago.

He was a world record holder many times over but he found it difficult to win championship races.
He was an Olympic Bronze medallist in 1964 but had real trouble coping with the altitude four years later in Mexico
He lit the flame at the Melbourne Olympics as a rising junior star....he was the  junior mile world record holder at the time.

[PaulP]

He was a world record holder many times over but he found it difficult to win championship races.
He was an Olympic Bronze medallist in 1964 but had real trouble coping with the altitude four years later in Mexico
He lit the flame at the Melbourne Olympics as a rising junior star....he was the  junior mile world record holder at the time.

Thanks lods. Is this pattern of performance unusual in the athletics world ? i.e being a record holder but not winning at the Olympics etc.

Thanks 

[malo]

He was a world record holder many times over but he found it difficult to win championship races.
He was an Olympic Bronze medallist in 1964 but had real trouble coping with the altitude four years later in Mexico
He lit the flame at the Melbourne Olympics as a rising junior star....he was the  junior mile world record holder at the time.

Great runner, during one European season in 1964 he competed 18 times in 44 days & set 12 World Records !.  He ran every race with the attitude of running it as fast as possible, not just to win the race.  An attitude which had a fair bit to do with his struggling to break though in the Olympics.  Mind you, at his absolute best (as he was in 1968, a class above the rest of the world) the decision to give Mexico City the Olympic Games was an appalling one for him (& most non-altitude based distance runners).  He ran his absolute heart out in the 10 000m final at altitude, and ended up collapsing at the finish close to death......and was left with a permanent hole in his heart from then on.

It is a travesty that he never got the Olympic result that the rest of his career deserved.

RIP.

cheers

Mal.

[Lods]

Thanks lods. Is this pattern of performance unusual in the athletics world ? i.e being a record holder but not winning at the Olympics etc.

Thanks

I don't know about a pattern...but it happens fairly often that the world record holder won't win Gold
Some athletes are great against the tape and clock, some are just great competitors and love to race.
Given that the Olympics occur only once every four years it takes a fair amount of preparation and a certain degree of luck to be ready on that one particular day.
Clarke stood out because of his dominance of the world ranking lists over a number of distances but his inability to win Olympic (Bronze) or even Commonwealth gold (Silver x4)

[PaulP]

I don't know about a pattern...but it happens fairly often that the world record holder won't win Gold
Some athletes are great against the tape and clock, some are just great competitors and love to race.
Given that the Olympics occur only once every four years it takes a fair amount of preparation and a certain degree of luck to be ready on that one particular day.
Clarke stood out because of his dominance of the world ranking lists over a number of distances but his inability to win Olympic (Bronze) or even Commonwealth gold (Silver x4)

I see. Thanks Lods.

[malo]

BTW, appalling behaviour from a bunch of bogan league supporters before the State of Origin last night.  Couldn't shut up for a minute as they paid tribute to the passing of Ron Clarke.

I'm willing to bet it would be the only sports crowd in Australia not capable of showing respect...a Grand Final AFL day crowd included.  Where did these F-wits come from ?

rant over

cheers

Mal.

[thrunthrublu]

The reverberating effect he had was mind blowing.
Billy Mills came from no where, with borrowed spikes mind you (wasn't considered favourite) to win the 10k in tokyo. He beat gammoudi and clarke in a sprint to the line. Because clarke was overwhelming favourite and world record holder, this gave mills an enormous profile back in the USA. He used this to work tirelessly to improve the plight of indigenous Americans - still to this day.

RIP Ron Clarke