Last Updated on November 17, 2012 by Jimson Lee
Forget about Derek Redmond’s pulled hamstring in 1992 Barcelona! However, that race did show us the importance of finishing in the Olympics, and not winning.
Sometimes the great performances are not held in the finals, like Mike Marsh’s 200m 19.73 seconds semi-final in Barcelona ’92.
In the 1984 Olympics 400m semi-final, Bert Cameron of Jamaica pulls his hamstring at around 120 meters, litterally slowing down to stop as others pulled away. Bert was the favorite coming into the Olympics as he won the 400 meters in the 1983 World Championships in 45.05.
Then he decides “What the heck, I’m going for it”.
And go for it, indeed. Miraculously, he eventually finished 4th to advance to the finals.
Alonzo Babers (USA) won the Gold in 44.27.
Here is the video on YouTube:
UPDATE: Sorry, the video is no longer on YouTube.
My word he is a tough nut.
My imagination or did those guys seem to cover the last 100m faster than we see now?