Forgotten White Athletes?

Wow!!!
Thanks for this Mastermulti.
What a great race by Grindley - taking down Quincy Watts, Butch Reynolds, and Steve Lewis among others.
I knew about Grindley, but never saw any of his individual races. I remember thinking that he was going to be the next great European 400m runner. But then he disappeared. Injuries I guess. What a shame.
 
Grindley had quite the build on him for a 400 meter guy. I wonder what he could have done over 200 meters. He was an incredible
talent. Just sad he didn't stay in the sport longer. That does happen alot but thanks for the memories mastermulti.
 
white lightning said:
Grindley had quite the build on him for a 400 meter guy. I wonder what he could have done over 200 meters. He was an incredible
talent. Just sad he didn't stay in the sport longer. That does happen alot but thanks for the memories mastermulti.
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jacknyc said:
Wow!!!
Thanks for this Mastermulti.
What a great race by Grindley - taking down Quincy Watts, Butch Reynolds, and Steve Lewis among others.
I knew about Grindley, but never saw any of his individual races. I remember thinking that he was going to be the next great European 400m runner. But then he disappeared. Injuries I guess. What a shame.
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you're welcome guys. He was getting some injuries and I think they can become chronic over time - wiser perhaps he left the sport after not making the Atlanta team and concentrated on becoming a pilot (now an instructor).
This has often been the case with white sprinters where it has been expected that after you've had your fun in sports you get a real job. Gambling on getting a secure pay packet from the sport, especially if injuries started to get the upper hand, wasn't the best thing to do in the early 90s.
 
Britain always seems to have excellent 400m runners.
They were especially strong in the 1990s, when they had 3 sub-44.50 guys - David Grindley, Roger Black, and Iwan Thomas.
 
jacknyc said:
Britain always seems to have excellent 400m runners.
They were especially strong in the 1990s, when they had 3 sub-44.50 guys - David Grindley, Roger Black, and Iwan Thomas.
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I saw Roger Black and Iwan Thomas run a few times. Never got to see Grindley until that youtube video. All of
thess guys had talent similar to Jeremy Wariner. Of course I would give the edge to Jeremy Wariner who was
a 5 Time Olympic Champion and a 3 Time World Champion! That is what you call dominance!
 
I think Glen Davis has been mentioned before, but I just found this video on YouTube and wanted to show what he accomplished in track.

 
booth said:
I think Glen Davis has been mentioned before, but I just found this video on YouTube and wanted to show what he accomplished in track.

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easy to see that Glenn Davis would be a world class even today given modern tracks, shoes and training.
Great cadence, smooth style and obviously a winning mindset
 
white lightning said:
I saw Roger Black and Iwan Thomas run a few times. Never got to see Grindley until that youtube video. All of
thess guys had talent similar to Jeremy Wariner. Of course I would give the edge to Jeremy Wariner who was
a 5 Time Olympic Champion and a 3 Time World Champion! That is what you call dominance!
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yep.
All up during the 1990s team GBR could put in any mix of 8 sub 45s 400m guys. This from a small, wet, rather chilly country - only the U.S. with it's huge population, great weather and strong college 400m tradition could beat that.
 
I remember this race and seeing Marcin Urbas gradually getting away from Kevin Little, both knocking Frankie Fredericks back to 4th place. This 19.98 is likely to be the Polish men's 200m record for quite some time

 
mastermulti said:
I remember this race and seeing Marcin Urbas gradually getting away from Kevin Little, both knocking Frankie Fredericks back to 4th place. This 19.98 is likely to be the Polish men's 200m record for quite some time

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I had forgotten about him. Thanks for the video. Sadly he never was consistant like so many others. Now Kevin Little on the other hand
was a very talented sprinter indoors and outdoors. He was one of the few guys to root for from our side in America in the sprints when
I was growing up.

I saw a poll recently. They asked Olympic Level Athletes from around the world if they could take a magic pill that would guarantee them
the gold medal but they would die in 5 years time would they do it? Over half of the athletes (unnamed said they would) You wonder why
people cheat when winning is above everything. Most normal people would never do that. Too many athletes think life ends after sports
and it doesn't. Track is no different from football, soccer, baseball, etc. etc. in the levels of cheating that goes on and very few get caught sadly.
 
mastermulti said:
I remember this race and seeing Marcin Urbas gradually getting away from Kevin Little, both knocking Frankie Fredericks back to 4th place. This 19.98 is likely to be the Polish men's 200m record for quite some time

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as a (possibly) humorous observation, i found it amusing that Kevin Little’s bib number was 1488.
 
The great Swedish high jumper Stefan Holm.
His personal bests are 2.37m (7ft 9-1/4in) outdoors, and 2.40m (7ft 10-1/4in) indoors.
He co-holds the world record for height differential, jumping 59cm (23 inches) above his own height.

Check out this jump!!

​

 
jacknyc said:
The great Swedish high jumper Stefan Holm.
His personal bests are 2.37m (7ft 9-1/4in) outdoors, and 2.40m (7ft 10-1/4in) indoors.
He co-holds the world record for height differential, jumping 59cm (23 inches) above his own height.

Check out this jump!!

​

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Most average sports fans can never even begin to comprehend his explosiveness. The High Jump has always been and will mostly
always be dominated by tall men with great leaping ability. Stefan Holm was so short compared to his competitors. To literally high
jump 2 feet taller than your physical height is as incredible as a 30 foot long jump. Super Hero Type Stuff here on display. LEGEND! :D
 
Stefan Holm is my all time favourite high jumper - what he could do with that relatively short stature of 1.81 (5'11").
Yet there is a Swede above him on the world list - world all-time number 3 Patrik Sjoberg. But he had a handy 2m (nearly 6'7") height
 
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Speaking of Patrik Sjoberg, here is his WR high jump, 2.42m (7ft 11-1/4in) from 1987.
He is still the European record holder and 3rd highest jumper ever.
Apparently he was a pretty good triple jumper as well.
 
both those Swedes are outstanding. There have been and continue to be quite a few northern European standouts - yet all these cold countries have small populations.
 
There was a 15 to 20 year period (late 80s to early 00s) when Sweden was very strong in T&F - Susanna and Jenny Kallur. Johan Wissman. Sjoberg and Holm. Carolina Kluft. Ann Louise Skoglund. Kajsa Bergquist. Emma Green. Sven Nylander. Mattias Sunneborn. Christian Olsson.
Not nearly as strong these days. But Norway has stepped up.
 
jacknyc said:
There was a 15 to 20 year period (late 80s to early 00s) when Sweden was very strong in T&F - Susanna and Jenny Kallur. Johan Wissman. Sjoberg and Holm. Carolina Kluft. Ann Louise Skoglund. Kajsa Bergquist. Emma Green. Sven Nylander. Mattias Sunneborn. Christian Olsson.
Not nearly as strong these days. But Norway has stepped up.
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So many of the European Countries that have declined in Athletics the most is because of mass migration and also lack of funding. Sweden
has become a very dangerous place to live with constant rapes, attacks and murders. It's so sad to see, Even places like Germany and England
look like foreign countries now. If the migration doesn't slow down or stop this countries will be replaced and vanish forever. Track and sports in general just shows what's happening a little sooner than the the rest of society does. Hoping the push back to save Europe starts a.s.a.p.
 
jacknyc said:
There was a 15 to 20 year period (late 80s to early 00s) when Sweden was very strong in T&F - Susanna and Jenny Kallur. Johan Wissman. Sjoberg and Holm. Carolina Kluft. Ann Louise Skoglund. Kajsa Bergquist. Emma Green. Sven Nylander. Mattias Sunneborn. Christian Olsson.
Not nearly as strong these days. But Norway has stepped up.
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yes, I recall all of those names. Sunneborn competes very well in masters competition now.
Now 53 he's done this year - 100m 12.25 (-2.0) 200m 24.65 400m 53.97 LJ 6.18m Shot 12.57m Discus 37.63m Javelin 42.00m
HJ. 1.66m. TJ 12.97m. 400mH. 57.97. Pentathlon. 4097.
I must say, he doesn't hold back on the work - he'll have to cut back on events if he's to rise to the very top of world masters rankings in some events. It's just too hard, especially at 53 years old

 
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jacknyc said:
Speaking of Patrik Sjoberg, here is his WR high jump, 2.42m (7ft 11-1/4in) from 1987.
He is still the European record holder and 3rd highest jumper ever.
Apparently he was a pretty good triple jumper as well.
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That's a sign of elite athleticism as most tall men have poor foot work and the triple jump is all about quick feet and coordination.
 
white is right said:
That's a sign of elite athleticism as most tall men have poor foot work and the triple jump is all about quick feet and coordination.
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Would seem to be spot on - look at Sunneborn's (pink top) quick feet compared to his body builder mate in the video I just added above your post.
No wonder he does so many events well even now
 
In Grindleys 400m race where he let up and started celebrating 10m out cost him .25 seconds I would think but he was a young man, got excited and lost focus for a split second. He would have clocked a solid 44.35 in that race without the let up. Great stamina
 
Speaking of Swedish high jumpers, there is another one that should be mentioned - Kajsa Bergqvist.
She set a Women's Indoor WR in the high jump in 2006, of 2.08m.
So, in the space of 20 years, the little country of Sweden had Patrik Sjoberg set an outdoor WR, Stefan Holm set a height differential WR, and Bergqvist set an indoor WR. Really quite remarkable for such a small country.
 
It's never too late to pursue your dreams as long as you have good health and the will power.

Here is a 70 year old Michael Kish scorching the 100 meters. Many guys half his age couldn't run this fast!


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70-Year-Old Runs 13.47 100m At Penn Relays!​


FloTrack
 
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