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Full article found here.
Jamacain Herb McKenley is the only man to have reached the finals of the Olympic 100 meters, 200 meters and 400 meters. Even Michael Johnson didn’t achieve that, despite his PB of 10.09 seconds. Personally, if I was the USATF head relay coach, I would put MJ on the 3rd leg of the 4×100 meter relay: a long curve with 2 critical exchanges.
McKenley was also the first man to run the quarter mile under 46 seconds and under 45 seconds.
It took six tries in Olympic Finals to eventually win a Gold medal:
- 1948 Olympics London 200 meters
- 1948 Olympics London 400 meters – Silver
- 1948 Olympics London 4×400 meters – DNF (anchor leg pulled a hamstring)
- 1952 Olympics Helsinki 100 meters – Silver
- 1952 Olympics Helsinki 400 meters – Silver
- 1952 Olympics Helsinki 4×400 meters – Gold!
McKenley coached the Jamaican team from 1954 to 1973 upon his retirement. He also served as president of Jamaica’s Amateur Athletic Association for 12 years and was also a member of various committees of the International Amateur Athletic Federation, now called the International Association of Athletic Federations or simply IAAF.
Jimson Lee
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The great Herb McKenley:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvLjpvzxY-E (includes Jamaica’s 4×400 relay triumph in Helsinki ’52)
“It was a race that for sustained excitement ranks with any before or since …although it was only the quick thinking of the Jamaicans’ American coach, Joe Yancey, that enabled the epic to unfold. Disaster beckoned when, while warming up half an hour before the final, the gigantic Arthur Wint broke his running shoes. He had no replacement pair with him and borrowing a pair to fit was out of the question. Yancey – with no transportation at his disposal – dashed up to the press box to seek help.
Fortunately, a Finnish journalist offered to drive him to the Olympic Village but in the frantic rush to get to the parked car Joe Yancey pulled a muscle, losing precious time. Once under way they realised that as the marathon was taking place at the moment there were road blocks and diversions all over the place. However, after breaking just about every traffic law in the book, they made it to the village and back to the stadium with Wint’s other pair of spikes just as the runners stepped onto the track!
(Courtesy of Olympic Track & Field Athletics Guide, By Mel Watman)
@W.E. – Great find! I embeded the code so we can view it without having to go to YouTube. Thanks.