Gerry Lindgren

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Gerald "Gerry" Paul Lindgren (born March 9, 1946 in Spokane , Washington ) is an American long-distance runner who was considered the best high school long distance runner, ran a world record and was eleven times American University Champion ( NCAA ). He was inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame in 2004 .

Life

In his senior year of high school, he ran the American high school record of 3 miles in 1964 with 13: 44.0 minutes. This record lasted for 40 years. He also ran a high school record for 2 miles in Hall 8: 40.0 and improved the old record by 43 seconds. After graduating from Rodgers High School in Spokane, he accepted an athletics scholarship to nearby Washington State University at Pullman and dominated American university long-distance running for 4 years, competing 11 of 12 championship races he competed (indoor and outdoor ), won. He is the only American to have beaten both Jim Ryun and Steve Prefontaine in championship races.

Lindgren was trained by Tracy Walters, who made him run twice a day early on. He sometimes came up to 320 km / week, rarely less than 240 km. In the mostly snowy winter in Washington, he usually ran in a field house on a 200 m cinder track with tight curves in a hall. As a result, he was already in top form in winter, which, however, had a negative effect in summer, as this form of double periodization only enables a limited number of top performances. Although he won the 10,000 m for the first time as an American in the international match against the USSR in Los Angeles and the US Olympic Trials on July 25, 1964 , he was unable to maintain his form until the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and was only ninth. In 1965, at the same time as Olympic champion Billy Mills, he became American champion over 6 miles with a world record time of 27: 11.6 minutes. Lidgren started until 1968 when he could not qualify for the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City as fifth over 10,000 m and fourth over 5,000 m . After completing his bachelor's degree (political science with Russian as a minor), he and his wife opened a running shoe store in Tacoma, Gerry Lindgren's Stinky Foot . In 1980 he moved to Hawaii , where he coached the women's team at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu and also appeared as a motivational speaker. He is 1.67 m tall and had a competition weight of 54 kg.

literature

(The Shadow of) Gerry Lindgren: Gerry Lindgren's book on running. A Runner's Guide to Courage and Strength. Top : Gerry Lindgren 2005. ISBN 0-615-12792-4

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gerry Lindgren. In: USATF - Hall of Fame. usatf.org, accessed on September 16, 2017 .
  2. ↑ Arnd Krüger : Many roads lead to Olympia. The changes in training systems for medium and long distance runners (1850–1997) . In: N. Gissel (Hrsg.): Sporting performance in change . Czwalina, Hamburg 1998, pp. 41-56.
  3. ^ The longest run: The story of Gerry Lindgren. In: Seattle Times Newspaper. November 27, 2005, accessed September 16, 2017 .
  4. ↑ Gerry Lindgren Bio, Stats, and Results. sports-reference.com, accessed September 16, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Lindgren, Gerry
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lindgren, Gerald Paul; Lindgren, Gerry Paul (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American long distance runner
DATE OF BIRTH March 9, 1946
PLACE OF BIRTH Spokane , Washington