1968 Summer Olympics / Athletics - Decathlon (Men)
sport | athletics | ||||||||
discipline | Decathlon | ||||||||
gender | Men | ||||||||
Attendees | 33 athletes from 20 countries | ||||||||
Competition location | Estadio Olímpico Universitario | ||||||||
Competition phase | 18./19. October 1968 | ||||||||
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The men's decathlon at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City was played on October 18 and 19, 1968 at the Estadio Olímpico Universitario . 33 athletes took part.
The US American Bill Toomey was Olympic champion . He won ahead of Hans-Joachim Walde and Kurt Bendlin , both from the Federal Republic of Germany.
In addition to the medal winners Walde and Bendlin, Werner von Moltke started for the Federal Republic of Germany - officially Germany. He broke off the competition after the second discipline, the long jump. The GDR - officially East Germany - was represented by Joachim Kirst , Manfred Tiedtke and Herbert Wessel . Kirst finished fifth in the final, Tiedtke came in tenth. Wessel broke off the competition after the fifth discipline.
With Urs Trautmann, Hansruedi Kunz and Werner Duttweiler, three Swiss went into the competition. Only Trautmann could finish the decathlon , he finished seventeen. Duttweiler broke off the competition after the second, Kunz after the seventh discipline. Walter Dießl , Gert Abschied and Horst Mandl
started for Austria . Dießl finished the decathlon in twelfth place. Mandl got off after the third, down after the seventh discipline.
The only starter for Liechtenstein was Franz Biedermann , who finished the competition in 19th place.
Existing records
World record | 8319 points (8235) | Kurt Bendlin ( FR Germany ) | Heidelberg , Federal Republic of Germany (now Germany ) | May 14, 1967 |
Olympic record | 8392 points (7901) | Rafer Johnson ( USA ) | Decathlon of Rome , Italy | September 6, 1960 |
Annotation:
The scores result from the scoring tables valid at the time of the competition. For Bendlin's world record this was the table from 1964, for Johnson's Olympic record the table from 1952. In brackets, the points converted according to the table valid today are given for comparison. According to this rating system that is valid today, the Olympic champion of 1964 Willi Holdorf would hold the Olympic record with 7960 points.
Conducting the competition
The decathlon was carried out according to the same rules as today. The ten disciplines took place over two days. As in the previous games, the scoring was based on the points table from 1964, developed in 1962.
Competition schedule
On October 18th the following were completed:
10.00 a.m .: 100 m
10.40 a.m.: Long jump
3 p.m .: Shot put
4.20 p.m.: High jump
6.10 p.m .: 400 m
On October 19 the following were completed:
10.00 a.m .: 110 m hurdles
10.40 a.m .: Discus throw
12.30 p.m .: pole vault
4 p.m .: javelin throw
6.10 p.m .: 1500 m
Note: All times are Mexico City local time ( UTC −6)
Attendees
33 athletes from twenty countries took part in the Olympic competition:
Disciplines
100 meter run
The discipline was carried out in seven runs.
With 10.4 seconds, Bill Toomey set the fastest time in the 100-meter run in the Olympic decathlon.
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Long jump
With 7.87 m, Bill Toomey achieved the greatest distance in the long jump in the Olympic decathlon.
With his second win, Toomey increased his lead to 78 points over Joachim Kirst, who in turn was 63 points ahead of Kurt Bendlin.
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Shot put
Three athletes did not take part in the shot put : Werner Duttweiler from Switzerland, Werner von Moltke, FR Germany, and Dominique Rakotorahalahy, Madagascar With 16.43 m, Joachim Kirst achieved the largest distance in the shot put during the Olympic decathlon.
Kirst took the lead because Bill Toomey pushed almost three meters shorter and thus received 160 points less. 80 points behind Toomey, Kurt Bendlin was third, ahead of Manfred Tiedtke and Hans-Joachim Walde.
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high jump
The Austrian Horst Mandl did not take part in this fourth discipline.
With 2.10 m Rick Sloan achieved the highest height in the high jump in the Olympic decathlon.
Joachim Kirst extended his lead by 27 points to 109 points. Hans-Joachim Walde was able to push past Manfred Tiedtke and was now only 40 points behind Bill Toomey. Kurt Bendlin lost points due to a weak high jump and slipped to seventh place.
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400 meter run
The discipline was carried out in six runs.
The South Vietnamese Ho Henh Phươc did not participate in this fifth discipline.
With 45.6 s, Bill Toomey achieved the fastest 400-meter time in the Olympic decathlon.
With this run, Bill Toomey took the lead ahead of Joachim Kirst and Hans-Joachim Walde. Toomey was 2.7 seconds faster than the second fastest runner, Kurt Bendlin. The US athlete had made up 224 points on Kirst and was now ahead with 115 points. Walde in third place had also improved on Kirst and was only 94 points behind the GDR athlete. The 1964 silver medalist , Rein Aun, had to abandon his race.
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110 meter hurdles
The discipline was carried out in five runs.
Five athletes did not compete in this sixth discipline: Rein Aun, USSR, Roberto Carmona from Mexico, Chen Chuan-show, Taiwan, Valbjörn Þorláksson from Iceland and Herbert Wessel from the GDR.
In third place, Hans-Joachim Walde was only 11 points behind Joachim Kirst. Bill Toomey remained in the lead.
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Discus throw
Joachim Kirst was able to make up 59 points on Bill Toomey, but still remained second, 128 points behind, ahead of Hans-Joachim Walde, who in turn was 73 points behind Kirst. Kurt Bendlin was able to improve to fifth and leave the GDR athlete Manfred Tiedtke, who had been fifth up to that point, behind. Bendlin had made up 122 points in the discus throw on Tiedtke and was only 99 points behind Mykola Awilow, who was only four points behind Walde in fourth.
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Pole vault
Three athletes did not compete in this eighth discipline: the French Charlemagne Anyamah, Gert DOWN from Austria and Hansruedi Kunz from Switzerland.
With 4.85 m, Rick Sloan and Steen Smidt-Jensen achieved the greatest height in the pole vault as part of the Olympic decathlon.
The clear beneficiary of the pole vault was Kurt Bendlin, who was able to overtake Mykola Awilow in fourth and was only 30 points behind Walde. For his part, Walde had reduced his deficit to Kirst to 34 points.
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Javelin throw
With 75.42 m, Kurt Bendlin achieved the greatest distance in the javelin throw in the Olympic decathlon.
Both Bendlin and Hans-Joachim Walde worked their way past Joachim Kirst for the medal positions. Bendlin was leading with 13 points ahead of Walde and was only 61 points behind Bill Toomey. The two German athletes had dominated the javelin throw. Bendlin had thrown 3.80 m further than Walde. The third best javelin thrower, the US athlete Tom Waddell, had a result that was almost eight meters shorter than Walde's result. Toomey, leading in the overall balance, was almost nine meters behind Walde, Joachim Kirst even 14.60 m.
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1500 meter run
Due to the personal best of the athletes, it was clear that Bill Toomey could only be caught by a fall or a fit of weakness. This case did not occur, the American became Olympic champion and set a new Olympic record , because when converting the existing record to the current rating table, his score was significantly higher than that of the previous record holder Rafer Johnson .
To be able to catch Kurt Bendlin on the silver place, Hans-Joachim Walde had to be almost three seconds faster than his competitor. The division of the runs was determined according to the current score, so that the neighbors ran together. The leading athletes up to then met each other in the fourth race, u. a .: Walde, Bendlin, Bill Toomey, Mykola Awilow, Joachim Kirst and Manfred Tiedtke. At the finish, Walde was over eleven seconds faster than Bendlin and thus secured the silver medal. Bendlin was more than ten seconds ahead of Kirst and only nine seconds behind Awilow. That made him the bronze medalist.
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Bottom line
Date: 18./19. October 1968
The favorites for this competition were above all the US-American Bill Toomey, who had scored 8222 points in the US trials, and the German world record holder Kurt Bendlin, who, however, had a training deficit due to an injury and was unable to fully use his limb that had not yet fully recovered. Another candidate for a medal was the GDR decathlete Joachim Kirst.
In the 100-meter run , the first discipline, Toomey set a clear example with 10.4 seconds and left no doubts about his form. The American was clearly ahead. Kirst was only a tenth of a second behind, however, while Bendlin was three tenths of a second, which was 80 points. In discipline two, the long jump , almost all athletes were able to benefit from Mexico's high altitude. Bill Toomey got the most points here, too, so that his lead increased further. Kirst and Bendlin were in second and third. In the third exercise, the shot put , the picture changed. Toomey, who had a weak point in this discipline, lost so much after a result that was almost three meters behind Kirst's width that the GDR athlete overtook him. Toomey, however, remained second ahead of Bendlin. Manfred Tiedtke from the GDR and the West German Hans-Joachim Walde, bronze medalist from 1964 , worked their way up to ranks four and five.
The high jump as the fourth discipline was actually Kirst's great strength, with 2.16 m he even held the German record. So he was not at all satisfied with his 1.98 m. Four decathletes jumped higher than him, including Walde. Toomey was only two inches back. Bendlin lost a lot of ground here with only 1.80 m and was only seventh. The 400-meter run became a show of strength for Toomey. With 45.6 s he was almost three seconds faster than Bendlin, who was second here, and so the US athlete took the lead again at the end of the first day, more than 100 points ahead of Kirst. Almost another 100 points behind was Walde in third place. They were followed by a group of three with Mykola Awilow, USSR, Tiedtke and Bendlin in sixth place.
Over the 110 meter hurdles at the beginning of the second day, the distances between the athletes were not quite as great as in some other disciplines. Awilow made up a lot of points, Tiedtke and Walde were also strong. Toomey followed just a tenth of a second, followed by Bendlin another tenth of a second. So not too much changed in the overall stand. Exercise seven, the discus throw was rather a weakness as a throwing discipline for Toomey. But here too the distances remained within manageable limits. Toomey was still far ahead in the overall standings, followed by Kirst, Walde, Awilow, Bendlin and Tiedtke - moving closer together.
Twice there were dangerous situations in the pole vault for the top athletes. Toomey initially had two failed attempts at his starting height of 3.60 m, but made it on the third attempt and in the end jumped 4.20 m, which was in the normal range for him. This was Bendlin's entry height. And he also needed three attempts before he was successful and was finally able to book a good 4.60 m. In the overall bill, everything was pushed together behind Toomey. There were only 90 points between Kirst in second and Awilow in fifth. The penultimate discipline, the javelin throw, was a very special strength of Bendlin. With his distance he was clearly ahead of all others in this competition, but was somewhat handicapped by his limb that was not fully operational. That didn't change the fact that the order now looked significantly different due to the respective results of the other decathletes. Toomey, who had thrown more than twelve meters shorter than Bendlin, was ahead with only 61 points, followed by Bendlin just ahead of Walde, who had shown the second best throw of the competition. Kirst and Awilow, whose widths had been below those of Toomeys, were now well more than 100 points behind Walde.
Due to the previous best results for the final 1500 meter run , it was clear that Toomey would hardly be overtaken. Bendlin was the number one contender for silver because he had a better time than his rival Walde. However, this only had to catch up about three seconds to be in the final account before Bendlin, and the altitude of the venue brought some imponderables with it. So all decathletes tormented themselves over this last challenge. Toomey came in sixth overall from all four races, a good second ahead of Walde. Bendlin lost more than ten seconds on Walde, but was not too far behind Awilow and clearly ahead of Kirst, so that the medal distribution was clear. Bill Toomey became Olympic champion and set a new Olympic record - his number of points when converting the existing record to the currently valid rating table was significantly higher than that of the previous record holder Rafer Johnson . The two German decathletes Hans-Joachim Walde and Kurt Bendlin won silver and bronze. Mykola Avilov from the Soviet Union, who still had his greatest success, the 1972 Olympic gold medal , was fourth . Joachim Kirst from the GDR came in fifth.
For a better classification of the performance, in addition to the official points according to the rating table from 1964, the number of points converted according to the current rating system from 1985 is also given. According to this table, which is valid today, there would have been only a few deviations: Places nine / ten would have been swapped and ranks 14, 15 and 16 would have shifted from one another. Otherwise the order would be unchanged. But these comparisons are only indicative, because the different standards of the time must apply as a basis.
space | Surname | nation | Points - official rating | Points - 1985 rating |
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1 | Bill Toomey | United States | 8193 OR | 8064 |
2 | Hans-Joachim Walde | BR Germany | 8111 | 8032 |
3 | Kurt Bendlin | BR Germany | 8064 | 7984 |
4th | Mykola Awilow | Soviet Union | 7909 | 7841 |
5 | Joachim Kirst | GDR | 7861 | 7702 |
6th | Tom Waddell | United States | 7719 | 7620 |
7th | Rick Sloan | United States | 7692 | 7553 |
8th | Steen Smidt-Jensen | Denmark | 7648 | 7507 |
9 | Eduard de Noorlander | Netherlands | 7554 | 7380 |
10 | Manfred Tiedtke | GDR | 7551 | 7387 |
11 | Lennart Hedmark | Sweden | 7481 | 7339 |
12 | Walter Dießl | Austria | 7465 | 7302 |
13 | Clive lunge | Great Britain | 7338 | 7175 |
14th | Jānis Lanka | Soviet Union | 7227 | 6938 |
15th | Wu Ah-min | Taiwan | 7209 | 7082 |
16 | Jurov spas | Bulgaria | 7173 | 6992 |
17th | Roger Lespagnard | Belgium | 7125 | 6932 |
18th | Urs Trautmann | Switzerland | 7044 | 6850 |
19th | Franz Biedermann | Liechtenstein | 6323 | 6161 |
20th | Donald Velez | Nicaragua | 5943 | 5757 |
literature
- Ekkehard zur Megede , The History of Olympic Athletics, Volume 2: 1948–1968, Verlag Bartels & Wernitz KG, Berlin, 1st edition 1969, pp. 372–375
Video
- Olympics - 1968 Mexico City - Men's Decathlon - USA Bill Toomey imasportsphile.com , published February 14, 2016 on youtube.com, accessed November 9, 2017
Web links
- SportsReference Decathlon , accessed November 9, 2017
- Official report - summary p. 120f, English / French. (PDF), accessed on November 9, 2017
- Official report of the Olympic Games 1968 p. 531, English / French. (PDF), accessed on November 9, 2017
Individual evidence
- ↑ IAAF Statistics Handbook, Berlin 2009 page 560 ( Memento from June 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Official report of the 1968 Olympic Games ( Memento of the original from September 17, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. P. 10f, English / French (PDF), accessed on November 9, 2017
- ↑ SportsReference decathlon (100 m) , accessed on November 9, 2017
- ↑ SportsReference decathlon (long jump) , accessed on November 9, 2017
- ↑ SportsReference Decathlon (shot put) , accessed November 9, 2017
- ↑ SportsReference decathlon (high jump) , accessed on November 9, 2017
- ↑ SportsReference decathlon (400 m) , accessed on November 9, 2017
- ↑ SportsReference decathlon (pole vault) , accessed on November 9, 2017
- ↑ SportsReference decathlon (javelin throw) , accessed on November 9, 2017
- ↑ Official report of the 1968 Olympic Games ( Memento of the original from September 17, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. P. 531, English / French (PDF), accessed on November 9, 2017