A profile of Bob Hayes, highlighting his historic 100m victory at the Tokyo 1964 Olympic Games.
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Highlights from the Tokyo 1964 Olympic Games as the USA's Bob Hayes wins the gold medal in the men's 100m event before going on to add the Superbowl to his impressive list of accolades.
The 100m title at the Tokyo 1964 Olympic Games went to Bob Hayes, probably one of the fastest runners who has ever lived and certainly one of the most successful, even though his career was short. In the run-up to the Olympic Games, he appeared entirely unbeatable, winning each of 49 races in which he took part between 1962 and 1964.
Hayes set a clutch of sprinting records. He was the first person to run the 100 yards (91.4m) in 9.1 seconds, and the first person to cover 60 yards (54.8m) in less than six seconds. The form book had him down as a red-hot favourite. He won his first-round race with ease, then won his quarter-final with a similar level of comfort. The only question now remaining was whether, under pressure, he may be hampered by a leg injury he had sustained a few months previously, but the semi-final seemed to answer that final doubt. He recorded a time of 9.91 seconds, which would have smashed the world record, but was not recognised because it was wind-assisted. It was more than enough, though, to get him into the final.
He was placed in Lane 1, which had to be raked over after being badly dug up by athletes at the start of the 20km walk. Hayes was also wearing borrowed spikes, because one of his own pair was lost when it was kicked under his bed in the athletes' village. Yet he exploded out of the blocks, took an early lead, and won by 2m, equalling the world record. It was the 49th win in a row -- Hayes only lost once over 100m, and never over 100 yards (91.4m).
His final act as an athlete, though, may have been his greatest. He ran the anchor leg in the 4x100m, and took over with the USA team in fifth place. What followed was an astonishing display of speed, strength and determination as he brought the baton home with a three-metre margin. It's believed his time for that 100m was around 8.8 secs, a remarkable pace even allowing for the flying start.
After the Games, Hayes transferred to playing professional American football and was a huge success. He spent nearly a decade playing for the Dallas Cowboys, before finishing his career with the San Francisco 49ers, and is the only person to have secured victory in both the Olympic Games and the Super Bowl.
Find more about the Tokyo 1964 Olympic Games: olympic.org/tokyo-1964-summer-olympics
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What commenters say. Commenters recommend studying Bob Hayes' running form, center of gravity, and powerful stride mechanics on older track surfaces.
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@chockobumlickin r/trackandfield • Recommends
On “I hate I took 3 weeks off🙁 form looks bad and I’m slower”
Its all about being over your center og gravity. You seem to have a lot of power, but you aren't using any.,
Think of this awful analogy.
Would you face foward, reach back and pull a wagon, or would you get behind and push it?
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Have a look at Bob Hayes. If he'd been born in this era he'd still be O champ. Look at his arms. Look at where he is over his COG.
He ran 9.9 on cinders. He drew lane one in the O final and ran 10 flat. Lane one is the lane that all the disatnce racers hammer. Its the shittiest lane and the slowest.
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Try to look like this guy. Right now you are not using any drive and you are running on your heels.
Its no use haviong power if you…
…And barefoot humans on surfaces with rocks and sticks, I don’t see them as likely to pick their legs up and slam them down forcefully. They would have more of the pull back even running at high speeds.
Go look at videos of Jesse Owens, Bob Hayes, and Jim Hines. The latter 2 are breaking 10 seconds with less bouncy tracks. Especially look at Hayes link to this video It seems to me that the slow motion capture of him all his power comes from what he generates during stance phase. He seems to put is foot down rather loosely and propel forcefully with powerful hamstring/glute action. Last 20 years athletes have been taught to be frontside and forceful with the foot slamming down. So looking at modern spri…