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I wouldn't quite go that far. In 1936, Jesse Owens won the Olympics with a 10.3. Athletic.net[1] (which is not perfectly complete but close enough for referenc
by prh8 9y ago
I wouldn't quite go that far.
In 1936, Jesse Owens won the Olympics with a 10.3. Athletic.net[1] (which is not perfectly complete but close enough for reference) shows 33 high schoolers who ran 10.39 or better in 2017. So yes some are faster, but that's almost zero and 80 years later. None of these high schoolers have matched the 9.55 at the 1968 Olympics.
[1]: https://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/Division/Event.aspx?DivID=79871&Event=1 https://www.athletic.net/TrackAndField/Division/Event.aspx?D...
- cm2012 9y agoRecords for the 1 minute mile are closer. Especially since records aren't broken every Olympics.
- prh8 9y agoDo you mean the 4 minute mile? The mile record has been consistently dropping from the 50s until 1999. However, only 10 high schoolers have broken 4 minutes, although 4 have been in the last 3 years. The closest high schoolers have been to it would be Jim Ryun in 1965, only 2 seconds off.
- goatlover 9y ago4 in 3 years is impressive. There were 3 in the 60s including Ryun, between 1965-1967.
- cm2012 9y agoRecords for the 1 minute mile are closer. Especially since records aren't broken every Olympics.
- icelancer 9y ago>Jesse Owens won the Olympics with a 10.3 Jesse Owens also ran in terrible spikes on an ash cinder track. Jesse would threaten to break 10 flat if they used today's equipment with the very hard tracks in use today.
- goatlover 9y agoOwens also didn't have starting blocks.
- nl 9y agoThe 1968 winning time was 9.95, not 9.55. I assume that was a typo!