Presented by ZAMZOWS.
This Day In Sports…August 28, 1981:
Sebastian Coe of Great Britain sets his second world record for the mile run in nine days, lowering the standard to 3:47:33 at the prestigious “Golden Mile” in Brussels, Belgium. Fellow Englishman and rival Steve Ovett, whose record Coe had broken, had just taken the mark back from him two days earlier. This time, Coe smashed the standard by 1.07 seconds, the largest quantum leap in the event since 1975. Ovett had withdrawn from the Belgian event, leaving Coe to essentially chase the clock by himself. Coe’s new standard would last four years.
Coe and Ovett raced head-to-head only six times in their careers as senior athletes, but they always met on the biggest stages. At the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow (the Games that were boycotted by the U.S.), Coe won the gold medal in the 1,500-meters, with Ovett taking the bronze. Then at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, Coe defended his title in the 1,500. The highly-anticipated finish line duel with Ovett didn’t materialize, as Ovett had a respiratory illness and was forced to drop out during the race.
The mile run used to be a centerpiece of track and field competition. But there was a heavy push in the 1970s to adapt metric measurements to sports distances, and tracks were thus converted from a length of 440 yards to 400 meters. By 1979, the mile had lost its favor to the point that it was dropped in favor of the 1,500-meters in all major American outdoor championships, including NCAA events. In high school competition, 1,600-meters was the distance. Interestingly enough, the mile run had never been part of the Summer Olympics.
The current world record in the mile is 3:42.66, set last month in front of more than 60,000 fans in London by British runner Josh Kerr, who broke the 27-year-old record of Morocco’s Hicham El Guerrouj. Kerr sliced almost half a second off the old mark. His time equated to 222 seconds and some change, which was Kerr’s goal. He called his attempt “Project 222”, and he wore custom Brooks Hyperion 222 spikes built specifically for his stride and foot shape. How long will this record last?
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
