Ron Clarke

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Ronald William "Ron" Clarke AO , MBE (born February 21, 1937 in Melbourne , † June 17, 2015 in Gold Coast ) was an Australian athlete and politician . The long-distance runner became known for his 17 world records . But he never managed to get a gold medal at a major championship.

Life

In 1956, as a promising young athlete, Clarke was allowed to carry the Olympic flame into the Melbourne Stadium during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games .

At the Commonwealth Games in 1962 he was second behind Murray Halberg over 3 miles . In 1966 he finished second over 6 miles behind Naftali Temu . In 1970 he won his third silver medal when he was beaten in the 10,000-meter run by Scots Lachie Stewart .

At the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 1964 , he - then the world record holder - won the bronze medal over 10,000 meters and was ninth over 5000 meters and in the marathon . At the Olympic Games in 1968 he was fifth over 5000 and sixth over 10,000 meters.

Between 1963 and 1968 he set 17 world records in long-distance running, including four times over 5000 and two times over 10,000 meters .

Perhaps his problem was the lack of tactical flexibility. He always started his races at a high pace. With this flight forwards he avoided all complications at the beginning of a race, but at the end it was no longer enough to improve. The audience loved him for it, but it wasn't enough for a win at major championships. It was characterized by a very high training volume with little variability in training speeds.

Clarke was mayor of the Gold Coast community in Queensland from 2004 to 2012 .

Top performances

800 m 1: 53.8 January 1, 1956
1500 m 3: 44.1 1st January 1968
One mile 4: 00.2 1st January 1968
2000 m 5: 08.8 Melbourne November 22, 1966
3000 m 7: 47.2 Västerås (Arosvallen Stadium) June 27, 1967
Two miles 8: 19.6 London (Crystal Palace) August 24, 1968
5000 m 13: 16.6 Stockholm (Olympic Stadium) 5th July 1966
10,000 m 27: 39.4 Oslo (Bislett) July 14, 1965
20 km 59: 22.8 Geelong (Landy Field Stadium) October 27, 1965
One hour 20,232 Geelong (Landy Field Stadium) October 27, 1965
marathon 2:20:27 Tokyo (National Stadium) October 21, 1964
  • 5000 m: 13: 16.6 min (1966), as a world record 1972 by Lasse Virén undercutting
  • 10,000 m: 27: 39.4 min (1965), beaten by Lasse Virén as a world record in 1972

Interesting

  • He won 30 of his 43 competitions over 10,000 meters or 6 miles between 1961 and 1970.
  • He set a total of 35 national records.
  • He broke his first 10,000 meter world record (28: 15.6 min in December 1963) eight times.
  • He was eight times world best of the year over 5000 meters (1966, 1967, 1968) and 10,000 meters (1963, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1969) - only Paavo Nurmi (13 times) and Emil Zátopek (12 times) exceeded. From 1948 to 1954, Zátopek topped the 10,000-meter world best of the year seven times in a row.
  • He competed in at least 254 competitions between 1964 and 1968, including preliminaries.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Frank Litsky: Ron Clarke, Australian runner Known for World Records, this at 78. In: The New York Times of 17 June 2015 (English, accessed on 18 June 2015).
  2. ↑ Ron Clarke (with Alan Trengove): The unforgiving minute. Pelham, London 1966
  3. ↑ 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, ISBN 978-3-88020-322-8 , pp. 41-56.
personal data
SURNAME Clarke, Ron
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Clarke, Ronald William
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Australian athlete and politician
DATE OF BIRTH February 21, 1937
PLACE OF BIRTH Melbourne
DATE OF DEATH 17th June 2015
Place of death Gold coast