Walt Murphy is one of the finest track geeks that I know. Walt does #ThisDayinTrack&FieldHistory, an excellent daily service that provides true geek stories about our sport. You can check out the service for FREE with a free one-month trial subscription! (email: WaltMurphy44@gmail.com ) for the entire daily service. We will post a few historic moments each day, beginning February 1, 2024.
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This Day in Track & Field–April 14
1946—Italy’s Adolfo Consolini improved his 5-year old World Record (175-0 [53.34]) in the Discus twice in Milan, first to 176-1 (53.69) and then to 178-2 (54.32).
Consolini, a 3-time European Champion, would have been the favorite had the 1944 Olympics not been canceled due to World War II, but he took advantage of a 2nd chance by winning the gold medal at the 1948 Games in London. He would win Olympic silver four years later in Helsinki. He set his final World Record of 181-6 (55.33) in 1948, after the London Olympics.
He would recite the athletes’ oath when the Olympics came to Rome in 1960.
https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/71922
Photos: http://www.listal.com/list/adolfo-consolini
1979–Coming off an indoor season that saw him set 7 World Records, it seemed inevitable that Maryland sophomore Renaldo Nehemiah would get the outdoor record, but he surprised even himself when he got it in his first meet, running 13.16 at the Bruce Jenner Classic in San Jose to break Cuban Alejandro Casañas’ previous mark of 13.21.
From Steve McGill’s “Master of the Art Form”:
“I ran 13.16 at the Bruce Jenner meet right after spring break. I didn’t wanna run the race because Dedy Cooper was gonna be there, and I didn’t feel I was ready to run against him. But coach [Frank Costello] said I’d be okay, and I said, I don’t want to run the race. So I don’t know if it was pride, anger, or flying three thousand miles [to California], but I was motivated. I ran 13.16 for the world record, and that had to be off of volume because we hadn’t done any [speed work] yet.”
http://tinyurl.com/Nehemiah1316
McGill hosted a Zoom call with Nehemiah and Jean Poquette, his high school coach, in 2021.
https://hurdlesfirstbeta.com/2021/04/24/zoom-call-with-nehemiah/
1979–Lorna Griffin threw the Discus 188-4 (57.40) in Seattle to break her own month-old American Record of 187-8 (57.20). Griffin would set a total of nine ARs in the Discus during the 1979 and 1980 seasons, topping out at 207-5 (63.22).
Looking Back(2012): http://spufalcons.com/news/2012/7/18/12_gen_July27.aspx
2001—Future stars were among the winners at the Arcadia (CA) H.S. Inv.:
Allyson Felix (L.A. Baptist/CA-100/11.83, 200/23.48)—See April 13
Shannon Rowbury (Sacred Heart,CA-800/2:08.52…bronze medalist in the 1500 at the 2009 World Championships; former
American Record holder at 1500 and 5000 meters
Lashinda Demus (Long Beach Wilson,CA-300 hurdles/40.70)…2011 World Champion-400 hurdles, gold medalist at the
2012 Olympics and a 3-time medalist at the World Championships (silver-2005 & 2009, bronze-2013…former
American Record holder (52.47)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lashinda_Demus
Alan Webb (South Lakes,VA-mile/4:01.81-Outdoor PR/ set the Outdoor Record of 3:53.43 the following
month)…former American Record holder in the Mile—3:46.91
Monique Henderson (Morse,CA-400/52.51)…2-time Olympic gold medalist-4×400 (2004, 2008)
DyeStat Coverage: http://archive.dyestat.com/us/1out/Arcadia/index.htm
