Wes Santee

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Wes Santee (actually: Wesley David Santee ; born March 25, 1932 in Ashland , Kansas ; † November 14, 2010 in Eureka , Kansas) was an American middle-distance and long-distance runner who in the 1950s mainly in the 1500 meters - and the mile run was successful.

In 1949 he received an athletic scholarship from the University of Kansas . At the Olympic Games in Helsinki in 1952 , he did not start over the 1500 m, his specialty, but on instructions from the Amateur Athletic Union in the 5000-meter run , in which he was eliminated in the preliminary run. At the Pan American Games in Mexico City in 1955 , he won the silver medal over 1500 m behind the Argentine Juan Miranda .

At the height of his career, Santee was one of the most promising contenders to become the first person to cover an English mile (1,609 meters) in less than four minutes, alongside the British Roger Bannister and the Australian John Landy . However, Bannister initially succeeded in doing this on May 6, 1954 in Oxford with a time of 3: 59.4 minutes. Landy increased the mark a little later in London to 3: 57.9 minutes. Santee himself did not manage to undercut the four minutes. His best time, set in 1955, is 4: 00.5 minutes.

For this, Santee achieved a world record in the 1,500 meter run on June 4, 1954. In a mile run in Compton, with an intermediate time of 3: 42.8 minutes, he undercut the almost ten-year-old record of the Swede Gunder Hägg by two tenths of a second. However, Santee lost his record to Landy that same month. In addition, Santee set three indoor world records, once over 1500 meters and twice over a mile.

In 1952, 1953 and 1955 he was US champion over 1500 m and one mile, respectively. In 1955 he won the national title over a mile in the hall.

He trained with Bill Easton , where he competed in the mostly 8 km long cross-country runs with relatively large training volumes and was twice American champion. Intensive interval runs followed on this basis in the summer.

Santees career ended in 1956 when the Amateur Athletic Union stripped him from amateur status . He was accused of having exceeded his income from competitions. He was denied participation in the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne.

Santee then served in the United States Marine Corps and later ran an insurance agency. He was married three times and had three children. In 2010, he died at the age of 78 years to cancer .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ gbrathletics: United States Championships (Men 1943–)
  2. ↑ gbrathletics: United States Championships (Men)
  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, pp. 41-56.
personal data
SURNAME Santee, Wes
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Santee, Wesley David
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American middle distance runner
DATE OF BIRTH March 25, 1932
PLACE OF BIRTH Ashland , Kansas , United States
DATE OF DEATH November 14, 2010
Place of death Eureka , Kansas , United States