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Athletics At The 1968 Summer Olympics – Men's Decathlon
The men's decathlon competition featured as part of the athletics programme at the 1968 Summer Olympics and was held at the Estadio Olímpico Universitario in Mexico City on 18 and 19 October. American Bill Toomey won the gold medal with an Olympic record score of 8193 points. Two West German athletes, Hans-Joachim Walde and Kurt Bendlin, took the silver and bronze medals, respectively. A total of 33 competitors from 20 nations entered the decathlon with 19 athletes managing to finish all events at the competition. The ten-event track and field competition used hand timing in the track events and was scored using the 1962 scoring method. The youngest competitor was Don Vélez (aged 20) and the oldest was Valbjörn Þorláksson (aged 34). The sixth-placer Tom Waddell, representing the United States, later went on to found the Gay Olympics. Schedule Overall summary References External linksOfficial 1968 Olympic Games Report(pg. 114). International Olympic Committee. Re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Estadio Olímpico Universitario
Estadio Olímpico Universitario is a multi-purpose stadium located inside Ciudad Universitaria in Mexico City. It was built in 1952 and at that time was the largest stadium in Mexico. This stadium has a capacity of 72,000. The first major event held in the stadium was the 1955 Pan American Games. During the 1950s and the 1960s this stadium was used mostly for college American football matches between the largest Mexican public universities at the time: UNAM and IPN. From the late 1950s it was used for football matches, some American football matches and athletics. American architect Frank Lloyd Wright called it "the most important building in the modern America". The Olímpico Universitario hosted the 1968 Summer Olympics; for the event the seating capacity was increased from 70,000 to 83,700 spectators (without substantially modifying the original structure) to cover the IOC requirements for an Olympic stadium. It was the location of the track and field competitions, equestri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tom Waddell
Tom Waddell (born Thomas Flubacher; November 1, 1937 – July 11, 1987) was an American physician, decathlete who competed at the 1968 Summer Olympics, and founder of the Gay Olympics (later known as the '' Gay Games''). Early life Waddell was born Thomas Flubacher in Paterson, New Jersey to a Catholic German-American family. His parents separated when he was in his teens, and at the age of fifteen he went to live with Gene and Hazel Waddell, for whom he did chores; they adopted him six years later. The Waddells were former vaudeville acrobats and encouraged Tom to take up gymnastics.Virtual AIDS Quilt.org Retrieved 18 May 2012 Gene Waddell is one of the men in the famous photograph of acrobats balancing atop the Empire State Building. In high school, Tom Waddell excelled ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Decathlon
The decathlon is a combined event in Athletics (sport), athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek language, Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ἄθλος (''áthlos'', or ἄθλον, ''áthlon'', meaning "contest" or “prize”). Events are held over two consecutive days and the winners are determined by the combined performance in all. Performance is judged on a points system in each event, not by the position achieved. The decathlon is contested mainly by male athletes, while female athletes typically compete in the heptathlon. Traditionally, the title of "World's Greatest Athlete" has been given to the person who wins the decathlon. This began when Gustav V of Sweden told Jim Thorpe, "Sir, you are the world's greatest athlete" after Thorpe won the decathlon at the 1912 Summer Olympics, Stockholm Olympics in 1912. The event is similar to the pentathlon held at the Ancient ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1500 Metres
The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletics since 1983. It is equivalent to 1.5 kilometers or approximately miles. The event is closely associated with its slightly longer cousin, the mile race, from which it derives its nickname "the metric mile". The demands of the race are similar to that of the 800 metres, but with a slightly higher emphasis on aerobic endurance and a slightly lower sprint speed requirement. The 1500 metre race is predominantly aerobic, but anaerobic conditioning is also required. Each lap run during the world-record race run by Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco in 1998 in Rome, Italy averaged just under 55 seconds (or under 13.8 seconds per 100 metres). 1,500 metres is three and three-quarter laps around a 400-metre track. During the 1970s and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Javelin Throw
The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about in length, is thrown. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's decathlon and the women's heptathlon. History The javelin throw was added to the Ancient Olympic Games as part of the pentathlon in 708 BC. It included two events, one for distance and the other for accuracy in hitting a target. The javelin was thrown with the aid of a thong ('' ankyle'' in Greek) that was wound around the middle of the shaft. Athletes held the javelin by the ''ankyle'', and when they released the shaft, the unwinding of the thong gave the javelin a spiral trajectory. Throwing javelin-like poles into targets was revived in Germany and Sweden in the early 1870s. In Sweden, these poles developed into the modern javelin, and throwing them for distance became a common event there and in Finland in the 1880s. The rules continued to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pole Vault
Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the Mycenaean Greeks, Minoan Greeks and Celts. It has been a full medal event at the Olympic Games since 1896 for men and since 2000 for women. It is typically classified as one of the four major jumping events in athletics, alongside the high jump, long jump and triple jump. It is unusual among track and field sports in that it requires a significant amount of specialised equipment in order to participate, even at a basic level. A number of elite pole vaulters have had backgrounds in gymnastics, including world record breakers Yelena Isinbayeva and Brian Sternberg, reflecting the similar physical attributes required for the sports. Running speed, however, may be the most dominant factor. Physical attributes such as speed, agility and streng ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Discus Throw
The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field event in which an athlete throws a heavy disk (mathematics), disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than their competitors. It is an classical antiquity, ancient sport, as demonstrated by the fifth-century-BC Myron statue ''Discobolus''. Although not part of the current pentathlon, it was one of the events of the Ancient Olympic pentathlon, ancient Greek pentathlon, which can be dated back to at least 708 BC, and it is part of the modern decathlon. History The sport of throwing the discus traces back to it being an event in the Ancient Olympic Games, original Olympic Games of Ancient Greece. The discus as a sport was resurrected in Magdeburg, Germany, by gymnastics teacher Christian Georg Kohlrausch and his students in the 1870s. Organized men's competition was resumed in the late 19th century, and has been a part of the modern Summer Olympic Games since the first modern competition, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
110 Metres Hurdles
The 110 metres hurdles, or 110-metre hurdles, is a hurdling track and field event for men. It is included in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympic Games. The female counterpart is the 100 metres hurdles. As part of a racing event, ten hurdles of in height are evenly spaced along a straight course of 110 metres. They are positioned so that they will fall over if bumped into by the runner. Fallen hurdles do not carry a fixed time penalty for the runners, but they have a significant pull-over weight which slows down the run. Like the 100 metres sprint, the 110 metres hurdles begins in the starting blocks. For the 110 m hurdles, the first hurdle is placed after a run-up of 13.72 metres (45 ft) from the starting line. The next nine hurdles are set at a distance of 9.14 metres (30 ft) from each other, and the home stretch from the last hurdle to the finish line is 14.02 metres (46 ft) long. The Olympic Games have included the 110&nb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
400 Metres
The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics (sport), athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor running track, it is one lap around the track. Runners start in staggered positions and race in separate lanes for the entire course. In many countries, athletes previously competed in the 440-yard dash (402.336 m)—which is a quarter of a mile and was referred to as the 'quarter-mile'—instead of the 400 m (437.445 yards), though this distance is now obsolete. Like other sprint disciplines, the 400 m involves the use of starting blocks. The runners take up position in the blocks on the 'ready' command, adopt a more efficient starting posture which Isometric exercise#Isometric presses as preparation for explosive power movements, isometrically preloads their muscles on the 'set' command, and stride forwards from the block ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
High Jump
The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat for landing. Since ancient times, competitors have introduced increasingly effective techniques to arrive at the current form, and the current universally preferred method is the Fosbury Flop, in which athletes run towards the bar and leap head first with their back to the bar. The discipline is, alongside the pole vault, one of two vertical clearance events in the Olympic athletics program. It is contested at the World Championships in Athletics and the World Athletics Indoor Championships, and is a common occurrence at track and field meets. The high jump was among the first events deemed acceptable for women, having been held at the 1928 Olympic Games. Javier Sotomayor (Cuba) is the current men's record holder with a jump of set in 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shot Put
The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's competition began in 1948. History Homer mentions competitions of rock throwing by soldiers during the Siege of Troy but there is no record of any dead weights being thrown in Greek competitions. The first evidence for stone- or weight-throwing events were in the Scottish Highlands, and date back to approximately the first century. In the 16th century King Henry VIII was noted for his prowess in court competitions of weight and hammer throwing. The first events resembling the modern shot put likely occurred in the Middle Ages when soldiers held competitions in which they hurled cannonballs. Shot put competitions were first recorded in early 19th century Scotland, and were a part of the British Amateur Championships beginning in 1866. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Long Jump
The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a group are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". This event has a history in the ancient Olympic Games and has been a modern Olympic event for men since the first Olympics in 1896 and for women since 1948. Rules At the elite level, competitors run down a runway (usually coated with the same rubberized surface as running tracks, crumb rubber or vulcanized rubber, known generally as an all-weather track) and jump as far as they can from a wooden or synthetic board, 20 centimetres or 8 inches wide, that is built flush with the runway, into a pit filled with soft damp sand. If the competitor starts the leap with any part of the foot past the foul line, the jump is declared a foul and no distance is recorded. A layer of plasticine is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
