Ever notice airline magazines and USA Today have those short articles with interesting stats and numbers?
I thought to give it a try with the 400 meters.
Here goes…
The 400 meters
5800 – Number of subscribers to SpeedEndurance.com
3635 – Age of the current world record (in days)
2010 - ? Year of the first sub 43 by Usain Bolt? (We’ll see if he’s serious)
1968 – Year of the first sub 44 (43.86, Lee Evans)
1960 – Year of the first sub 45 (44.9, Otis Davis & Carl Kaufmann at the Rome Olympics)
1948 – Year of the first sub 46 (45.9, Herb McKenley)
1932 – Year of the first sub 47 (46.4 for 440 yards by Ben Eastman)
1900 – Year of the first sub 48 (47.8 for 440 yards by Maxie Long)
437.2 – Number of yards in a 400 meter dash
402.336 – Number of meters in a 440 yard dash
161 – Number of men that have broken 45 seconds (as of 2001) Reference: http://hem.bredband.net/athletics/atb-m03.htm
44.5 – Current 440 yard dash World Record set by John Smith in 1971
44.10 – Fastest Non-American 400 meter time (Gary Kikaya of Congo. Roberto Hernandez of Cuba ran 44.14)
43.18 – Current World Record for 400 meters by Michael Johnson, Seville 1999
22 – Number of sub 44 – 400 meter performances by Michael Johnson (that is an unbelievable record!)
19 – Age of the youngest 400m Gold Medalist and fastest under 44 – Steve Lewis, Seoul 1988
10 – Age of the current world record (in years)
9 – Number of men that have broken 44 seconds
0.24 – Time to convert a hand time to FAT for 100m and 200m (the starter’s pistol is 100-130m away from the finish line)
0.14 – Time to convert a hand time to FAT for 400m (the starter’s pistol is at the finish line)
0 – Number of non-Americans to run sub 44
Any other honourable mentions?
Jimson Lee
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43.45 – White Men’s Record – Jeremy Wariner USA
1 – Number of White Men to run sub 44 (Jeremy Wariner)
2 – Number of Athletes to run sub 44 & sub 20
(M.Johnson, L.Merritt)
7 – Number of Athletes to run sub 44 without running sub 20
(H. Butch, J. Wariner, D. Everett, L. Evans, Q. Watts, S. Lewis, L. James)
3 – Number of Athletes to run sub 45 Indoors (M.Johnson, L.Merritt, K. Clement)
0 – Number of Athletes to run sub 44 Indoors
Great article. How about doing the ladies!!
@Lorraine – yes, that is next!