Larry James

George Lawrence "Larry" James (born November 6, 1947 in Mount Pleasant , New York , † November 6, 2008 in Galloway Township , New Jersey ) was an American sprinter and Olympic champion in the 4-by-400-meter relay . He set two world records, of which the one with the US relay held for almost 24 years.

The 1.81 m tall Larry James had made a name for himself in high school as a hurdler and triple jumper. He accepted a competitive athletic scholarship from Villanova University with Jumbo Elliott . This placed great emphasis on relays and indoor races. So in 1968 James switched to the 400-meter run . In 1968, 1969 and 1970 he won the indoor championship of the college sports association NCAA and the IC4A championship over 440 yards in the years 1968 to 1970. Elliott trained in the winter on an indoor wooden track outdoors, so that his athletes also take part in the physical confrontations should get used to with the opponent.

The Americans' Olympic qualification was held at Echo Summit near Lake Tahoe at an altitude of 2,250 meters above sea level to simulate the conditions in Mexico City. In the final over 400 m, Lee Evans won in 44.0 s ahead of Larry James in 44.1 s. Both remained well below the world record that Tommie Smith held with 44.5 seconds. Evans had run with the so-called brush shoe , a shoe with 68 spikes that was officially allowed but was rejected by the IAAF . That is why Larry James' time was officially recognized as a world record.

The brush shoe was officially banned at the Olympic Games . Both Evans and James were clearly reluctant in the run-up and in between. In the semifinals, Evans won ahead of James. The finale on October 18, 1968 was the fastest 400-meter race to date. Evans won in 43.86 s ahead of James in 43.97 s and the third American Ron Freeman in 44.41 s, while the other finalists crossed the finish line beyond the 45-second limit. The Lee Evans world record was only beaten in 1988 by Harry Reynolds .

The world record set by the US team in the final of the 4-by-400-meter relay on October 20 lasted even longer . Vince Matthews , Ron Freeman, Larry James and Lee Evans stayed in 2: 56.16 minutes by 3.8 seconds below the old record, which was also undercut by the second-placed relay from Kenya. At the award ceremony, the four colored Americans with berets and raised fists presented themselves as supporters of the Black Power movement . It was not until the US relay at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul that the world record was set, with Seoul being almost at sea level. At the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, ​​the longest-lived world record of 1968 was broken.

After completing his degree in business administration , he worked as a track and field coach at the newly opened Richard Stockton College of New Jersey . Since he could no longer be an amateur according to the American amateur regulations of the time , he joined the International Track Association in order to continue running as a professional. He became the sports director of the university and joined parallel to his master's degree at the Rutgers University in Public Policy from.

Larry James died of colon cancer on his 61st birthday.

Best times

• 400 m: 43.97 s, 1968
• 400 m hurdles : 50.2 s

literature

• Manfred Holzhausen: world records and world record holder. 400m run / 4x100m relay / 4x400m (440y) relay. Grevenbroich 2001
• Bill Mallon & Ian Buchanan: Quest for Gold. New York City 1984, ISBN 0-88011-217-4

Footnotes

1. ^ Arnd Krüger : American sport between isolationism and internationalism. Competitive sport. 18: 1, pp. 43-47 (1988) ; 2, pp. 47-50 . February 27, 2017
2. ↑ Olympic gold medalist Larry James dies at 61st International Herald Tribune , accessed March 7, 2017 .