Has anybody got a clip of the 1973 4 * 100 relay : USA vs. USSR ? Steve Williams humiliated Valeri Borzov on the final leg. He caught up with him, looked over at him & then said to him "Where are you now Olympic Champion ?". Then, Williams moved-up a couple of gears & simply disappeared into the dust.
After that, the Soviet government issued a warning to all their athletes for "not trying hard enough". Charming !
@JSavic Following the Olympic Games of 1972, Valeriy Borzov suffered from clinical depression for a while, and consequently his sprinting performances in 1973 were considerably less impressive than those of the previous two years. Steve Williams may well have beaten Borzov easily (in a relay event in '73) but that doesn't necessarily mean that he would have been able to beat him if he (Borzov) had still been in his 1972 vintage form. A year is a long time in athletics!
In spite of the whitey against black man hart race card BS posted here, the facts are everyone wanted Hart to kick Russian butt. I was cheering Hart on in the 4 X 400. But looking at the 4 X 400 results watching the broadcast then and this video now it's obvious Borzov got the baton on a sloppy handoff a good 7 yards behind Hart, and made up a lot of ground, probably 3-4 yard. Can't deny that! Borzov would have won the 100 based on that. If you're a reasonable mind you gotta admit it! It's Fact!
Boy, I sure don't remember any white Americans rooting for Borzov. I watched every minute of those Olympic games, and I was deeply into track and field at the time. No American that I've ever spoken to about that meet rooted for Borzov. Everyone was devastated that Eddie and Rey missed their heats, and this race was some payback. The next year, when Steve Williams ran right past Borzov we all finally thought that we'd gotten our own back.
@uhmfar You watched every minute? - At 14 years old?! Didn't you have school to go to?? Everyone was devastated that "Eddie and "Rey" missed their heats? "Everyone"?? Who's everyone? All the 14 year-olds on the block?? You write like these guys were the boys next door and you knew them personally. Steve Williams? Oh! Steve Williams, the other guy who never made the Olympics. The other guy who was given all the 9.9's and 19.9's gratuitously like the 9.9's "given" to Hart and Robinson?
I read an article where Borzov said he felt a muscle problem in his leg during the relay final and decided rather than to go all out he would conserve himself and get the silver medal for the team. It was too risky to try and catch Eddie Hart with this problem
The fact of the matter is that Valeri Borzov was the last Caucasian to win the 100 meters in the Olympics. Although he was Russian, he was still America's "great White Hope", and to me that's sad. I was a Track and Field All American in the 70's. I know for a fact that Ediie Hart ran away from him in the relays and John Carlos destroyed him in the 100 the following summer in California. Borzov NEVER ran under 10 in the 100. He only looked good against inferior competition.
All you guys talk about hand this and Borzov that. He never ran below 10 and that is that. Bill Toomey should have known that when you go below 10 nobody is going to catch them. There were two people from the U.S. in the 100 final. Where was the other Russians in the 100 final? Hines was hand timed at 9.9 and he was timed electronically at nine. Where was the the rematch between borzov and hart who went below 10? Wasn't going to beat him then or later. He looked bad after the relay.
@townstreet The Americans had a 3 meter lead when Hart got the baton, but they won by 5. Hart and Robinson missed their quarter final races because their coach was given the wrong schedule (purposely). He was never notified of the time change. Eddie Hart had run under 10 four times already and Rey Robinson had done it twice. REAL TIMES. Borzov never looked good again, due to the fact that the IOC started testing for PED's and blood doping after 72 thanks to Finland's Lassie Virens recovey times.
Gerald Tinker is an old friend of mine and a wonderful man. I met him back in Los Angeles California when him and I were personal trainers at this gym. He taught me a lot about track and field and helped me improve my times tremendously. Thanks Tinker for always making me laugh and making me a better track runner.
Yeah right. That's why Hasley Crawford and Don Quarrrie both destroyed him 4 years later in Munich. Bob Hayes ran faster times 12 years earlier on dirt in lane 1 in Tokyo. White Americans pulling for Borzov against Black American sprinters says it all. He only looked mediocre against superior competition. He place 3rd in the 76 Olympics. Valeri Borzov never ran under 10.1. Today he wouldn't even qualify for the finals.
(1) Eddie Hart did not increase his lead on Borzov in the Munich relay final. That is a myth and a disingenuous statement. The distance between the two atheletes remained exactly the same.
(2) Borzov didn't bother to try to run Hart down and basically cruised his leg while Hart went off down the track like a stabbed rat, making no headway at all.
@townstreet I read an article where Borzov said he felt a muscle problem in his leg during the relay final and decided rather than to go all out he would conserve himself and get the silver medal for the team. It was too risky to try and catch Eddie Hart with this problem
@townstreet - "Borzov didn't bother to try to run Hart down and basically cruised his leg while Hart went off down the track like a stabbed rat, making no headway at all."
(3) Borzov did run under 10.1. He recorded 10.07 easing up in an earlier round at Munich after waking up just in time to here his race being called. He too had been given the wrong start time.
(4) Neither Rey Robinson nor Eddie Hart ever ran an electronically timed sub-10 hundred. Their 9.9 were run in a windy valley in Oregon and were hand timed. Incidentally Robert Taylor was credited with a 9.9 at that meeting too.
(5) Hart's fastest electronic time was aexactly the same as Borzov's but unlike Borzov, who recorded his time on a slow track at Sea Level, Hart's time was recorded at high altitude.
(6) Borzov was not the last Caucasian to win the Olympic 100 Metres. Allan Wells did it in Moscow in 1980 in a games which you blighters boycotted.
@townstreet - The trials were held in Eugene and it's a not a particularly windy place. In any event, the wind for the 100m final was only. +0.9, hardly a hurricane.
Taylor did run a 9.9 in the quartersfinals, but it was wind-aided.
@MisterPonder Remember Bob Hayes had to have his lane ranked that's a dead track!! Borzov said the Munich Olympic track was "mushy" old standard for track hardness 28-82. 1991 world championships Mondo track hardness=13 1996 OG Atlanta mondo track hardness =11. Beijing 2008 OG new Mondo FTX fastest ever 2009 Berlin world championships new Conipur M track 'smokin fast". Borzov would have made the 2008 Olympic final all he had to do was beat D. Chambers at what 10.?? on the fastest track ever.
Like I said many people wanted to want Borzov to win. If you are not running a 9.9 like Borzov wasn't, Hart who was running a 9.9 wasn't going to slow down for Borzov. Bolt from Jamaica wasn't going to slow down for the other American runners in the 100 meters or the other opponent relay runners he was running against in his relay leg. If you are faster (like Hart was) you are going to get your butt kicked. I watched tv in the sixties were Borzov was blowing us away. But this is the Olympics.
(4) Here (in my next post)is a quote from an American paper following the death of Robert Taylor, who was convincinly beaten by Borzov in the 1972 Olympic Final.
"After high school, he attended TSU and set a freshman record of 9.2 seconds in the 100-yard dash.
After that clocking, Taylor was selected to compete on the European Tour and he was then invited to the 1972 U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, Ore. After a preliminary time of 9.9 in the 100-meter dash, he qualified for the Olympic team by sprinting a 10.0."
Taylor's "dubious" 9.9 didn't do him much good did it? And Hart and Robinson would likewise have had two chances of beating Borzov in Munich, a dog's chance and no chance.
I have to agree with you. I watched every minute of the '72 Olympics live and remember everything. Borzov was just plain awesome at that time.
Even Bill Toomey, the track color commentator, thought Borzov would have won. Toomey even said that if Borzov had gotten the baton earlier, he probably would have beaten Hart in the relay.
I guess the Russian runners were to full from eating to many bowls of hypie o's. You know the cereal that let's you know that you are going to get your ass kicked. Hey are there any Russians out there. You guys still eat Hypie- o's before a relay ass kickin'.
Everybody wanted Borzov to beat Hart so bad. Hart was running a 9.9 100 meters and wasn't going to get beat by a 10.1 100 meter sprinter like Borzov. When do we get it in our heads that 9.9 can beat 10.1. We just fell for the hype and smack that Borzov was talking. He got his ass kicked and if he got the baton at the same time hart got it his 10.1 ass would have still got kicked.
Wow!!! Borzov received the baton 8 meters behind Hart and he made up all but 1 at the tape. He would have smoked both Hart and Robinson in the 100 m. finals!!!
Thanks for posting the video .. great memories and a clip I don't think Ive seen since 1972 !!
Fab first leg by Aleksandr Kornelyuk (Soviet Union .. although he is from Azerbaijan !) ... Would have been greatto have seen Borzov a bit closer to Eddie Hart at the final changeover but the race was all over by then.
Has anybody got a clip of the 1973 4 * 100 relay : USA vs. USSR ? Steve Williams humiliated Valeri Borzov on the final leg. He caught up with him, looked over at him & then said to him "Where are you now Olympic Champion ?". Then, Williams moved-up a couple of gears & simply disappeared into the dust.
After that, the Soviet government issued a warning to all their athletes for "not trying hard enough". Charming !
JSavic 7 months ago
@JSavic Following the Olympic Games of 1972, Valeriy Borzov suffered from clinical depression for a while, and consequently his sprinting performances in 1973 were considerably less impressive than those of the previous two years. Steve Williams may well have beaten Borzov easily (in a relay event in '73) but that doesn't necessarily mean that he would have been able to beat him if he (Borzov) had still been in his 1972 vintage form. A year is a long time in athletics!
TheEctomorph 4 months ago
In spite of the whitey against black man hart race card BS posted here, the facts are everyone wanted Hart to kick Russian butt. I was cheering Hart on in the 4 X 400. But looking at the 4 X 400 results watching the broadcast then and this video now it's obvious Borzov got the baton on a sloppy handoff a good 7 yards behind Hart, and made up a lot of ground, probably 3-4 yard. Can't deny that! Borzov would have won the 100 based on that. If you're a reasonable mind you gotta admit it! It's Fact!
knuckleheadnoogy 8 months ago
In czech "Kokot" means "dick" .D
Homik111 1 year ago
Boy, I sure don't remember any white Americans rooting for Borzov. I watched every minute of those Olympic games, and I was deeply into track and field at the time. No American that I've ever spoken to about that meet rooted for Borzov. Everyone was devastated that Eddie and Rey missed their heats, and this race was some payback. The next year, when Steve Williams ran right past Borzov we all finally thought that we'd gotten our own back.
uhmfar 1 year ago
@uhmfar You watched every minute? - At 14 years old?! Didn't you have school to go to?? Everyone was devastated that "Eddie and "Rey" missed their heats? "Everyone"?? Who's everyone? All the 14 year-olds on the block?? You write like these guys were the boys next door and you knew them personally. Steve Williams? Oh! Steve Williams, the other guy who never made the Olympics. The other guy who was given all the 9.9's and 19.9's gratuitously like the 9.9's "given" to Hart and Robinson?
70sman100 1 year ago
I read an article where Borzov said he felt a muscle problem in his leg during the relay final and decided rather than to go all out he would conserve himself and get the silver medal for the team. It was too risky to try and catch Eddie Hart with this problem
cosmicwarlord2002 1 year ago
The fact of the matter is that Valeri Borzov was the last Caucasian to win the 100 meters in the Olympics. Although he was Russian, he was still America's "great White Hope", and to me that's sad. I was a Track and Field All American in the 70's. I know for a fact that Ediie Hart ran away from him in the relays and John Carlos destroyed him in the 100 the following summer in California. Borzov NEVER ran under 10 in the 100. He only looked good against inferior competition.
MisterPonder 1 year ago
All you guys talk about hand this and Borzov that. He never ran below 10 and that is that. Bill Toomey should have known that when you go below 10 nobody is going to catch them. There were two people from the U.S. in the 100 final. Where was the other Russians in the 100 final? Hines was hand timed at 9.9 and he was timed electronically at nine. Where was the the rematch between borzov and hart who went below 10? Wasn't going to beat him then or later. He looked bad after the relay.
IANBOT2 2 years ago
You don't like to allow the facts to get in the way of a good rant do you old boy?
There were two Russians in the 100 Metre Final in Munich and one American.
Everybody who knows anything about Track and Field knows that Hart and Robinson were not "genuine" 9.9 Men.
Borzov, who would have been capable of sub 10 in Munich if called for, would have beaten both of them.
townstreet 2 years ago
@townstreet The Americans had a 3 meter lead when Hart got the baton, but they won by 5. Hart and Robinson missed their quarter final races because their coach was given the wrong schedule (purposely). He was never notified of the time change. Eddie Hart had run under 10 four times already and Rey Robinson had done it twice. REAL TIMES. Borzov never looked good again, due to the fact that the IOC started testing for PED's and blood doping after 72 thanks to Finland's Lassie Virens recovey times.
MisterPonder 1 year ago
still think that if everything had been equal at the last takeover hart would have kicked borzovs ass i
anastasi69 2 years ago
Gerald Tinker is an old friend of mine and a wonderful man. I met him back in Los Angeles California when him and I were personal trainers at this gym. He taught me a lot about track and field and helped me improve my times tremendously. Thanks Tinker for always making me laugh and making me a better track runner.
Your friend,
Christopher
BreuckelensFinest 2 years ago
ze KOKOT :D :D kokot is in slovak dick
SaMeCuZ 2 years ago
borzov is the fastest clean man ever.
SamuelMcGuffie 2 years ago
@SamuelMcGuffie
Yeah right. That's why Hasley Crawford and Don Quarrrie both destroyed him 4 years later in Munich. Bob Hayes ran faster times 12 years earlier on dirt in lane 1 in Tokyo. White Americans pulling for Borzov against Black American sprinters says it all. He only looked mediocre against superior competition. He place 3rd in the 76 Olympics. Valeri Borzov never ran under 10.1. Today he wouldn't even qualify for the finals.
MisterPonder 1 year ago
@MisterPonder
ust a couple of points.
(1) Eddie Hart did not increase his lead on Borzov in the Munich relay final. That is a myth and a disingenuous statement. The distance between the two atheletes remained exactly the same.
(2) Borzov didn't bother to try to run Hart down and basically cruised his leg while Hart went off down the track like a stabbed rat, making no headway at all.
townstreet 1 year ago
@townstreet I read an article where Borzov said he felt a muscle problem in his leg during the relay final and decided rather than to go all out he would conserve himself and get the silver medal for the team. It was too risky to try and catch Eddie Hart with this problem
cosmicwarlord2002 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
@townstreet - "Borzov didn't bother to try to run Hart down and basically cruised his leg while Hart went off down the track like a stabbed rat, making no headway at all."
LOL! Yeah, all they did was set a WORLD RECORD...
broadjumper1 1 year ago
@MisterPonder
(3) Borzov did run under 10.1. He recorded 10.07 easing up in an earlier round at Munich after waking up just in time to here his race being called. He too had been given the wrong start time.
(4) Neither Rey Robinson nor Eddie Hart ever ran an electronically timed sub-10 hundred. Their 9.9 were run in a windy valley in Oregon and were hand timed. Incidentally Robert Taylor was credited with a 9.9 at that meeting too.
townstreet 1 year ago
@townstreet @MisterPonder
(5) Hart's fastest electronic time was aexactly the same as Borzov's but unlike Borzov, who recorded his time on a slow track at Sea Level, Hart's time was recorded at high altitude.
(6) Borzov was not the last Caucasian to win the Olympic 100 Metres. Allan Wells did it in Moscow in 1980 in a games which you blighters boycotted.
townstreet 1 year ago
@townstreet - The trials were held in Eugene and it's a not a particularly windy place. In any event, the wind for the 100m final was only. +0.9, hardly a hurricane.
Taylor did run a 9.9 in the quartersfinals, but it was wind-aided.
broadjumper1 1 year ago
@MisterPonder Remember Bob Hayes had to have his lane ranked that's a dead track!! Borzov said the Munich Olympic track was "mushy" old standard for track hardness 28-82. 1991 world championships Mondo track hardness=13 1996 OG Atlanta mondo track hardness =11. Beijing 2008 OG new Mondo FTX fastest ever 2009 Berlin world championships new Conipur M track 'smokin fast". Borzov would have made the 2008 Olympic final all he had to do was beat D. Chambers at what 10.?? on the fastest track ever.
bayhollywood 1 year ago
Like I said many people wanted to want Borzov to win. If you are not running a 9.9 like Borzov wasn't, Hart who was running a 9.9 wasn't going to slow down for Borzov. Bolt from Jamaica wasn't going to slow down for the other American runners in the 100 meters or the other opponent relay runners he was running against in his relay leg. If you are faster (like Hart was) you are going to get your butt kicked. I watched tv in the sixties were Borzov was blowing us away. But this is the Olympics.
curtisebling 3 years ago
You are not still going on about the Eddie Hart 9.9 are you. When are you people goingto learn? Here are just a few points for you to chew on:
(1) Hart's 9.9 was hand-timed.
(2)Borzov ran an electronic 10.07 (easing up)in one of the qualifying rounds in Munich, which was hand-timed at 9.8.
(3)Robinson was given a tim of 9.9 in the same race as Hart, although he, Robinson, finished behind Hart.
townstreet 3 years ago
(4) Here (in my next post)is a quote from an American paper following the death of Robert Taylor, who was convincinly beaten by Borzov in the 1972 Olympic Final.
townstreet 3 years ago
"After high school, he attended TSU and set a freshman record of 9.2 seconds in the 100-yard dash.
After that clocking, Taylor was selected to compete on the European Tour and he was then invited to the 1972 U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, Ore. After a preliminary time of 9.9 in the 100-meter dash, he qualified for the Olympic team by sprinting a 10.0."
townstreet 3 years ago
Taylor's "dubious" 9.9 didn't do him much good did it? And Hart and Robinson would likewise have had two chances of beating Borzov in Munich, a dog's chance and no chance.
townstreet 3 years ago
townstreet:
I have to agree with you. I watched every minute of the '72 Olympics live and remember everything. Borzov was just plain awesome at that time.
Even Bill Toomey, the track color commentator, thought Borzov would have won. Toomey even said that if Borzov had gotten the baton earlier, he probably would have beaten Hart in the relay.
Neil6000 3 years ago
dude borzov burned hart in the open 100 and the 4x100
SamuelMcGuffie 2 years ago
I guess the Russian runners were to full from eating to many bowls of hypie o's. You know the cereal that let's you know that you are going to get your ass kicked. Hey are there any Russians out there. You guys still eat Hypie- o's before a relay ass kickin'.
IANBOT2 3 years ago
Everybody wanted Borzov to beat Hart so bad. Hart was running a 9.9 100 meters and wasn't going to get beat by a 10.1 100 meter sprinter like Borzov. When do we get it in our heads that 9.9 can beat 10.1. We just fell for the hype and smack that Borzov was talking. He got his ass kicked and if he got the baton at the same time hart got it his 10.1 ass would have still got kicked.
IANBOT2 3 years ago
Ianbot2 old boy, was Heinrich Heine thinking of you when he said:
"Ordinarily he is insane. But he has lucid moments when he is only stupid"?
townstreet 3 years ago
I worked with Gerald Tinker at Eastern Airlines back in the early 1980's. He was a true gentleman and did not boast about his accomplishment.
rickslick 3 years ago
The same Gerald Tinker who was a wide receiver for the Atlanta Falcons?
swami1 3 years ago
Wow!!! Borzov received the baton 8 meters behind Hart and he made up all but 1 at the tape. He would have smoked both Hart and Robinson in the 100 m. finals!!!
GARAGEHERO1 3 years ago
Well, the US won that race by .31 seconds, so Hart would have been well more than 1 meter ahead of Borzov..more like 4.
BigfistJP 3 years ago
Thanks for posting the video .. great memories and a clip I don't think Ive seen since 1972 !!
Fab first leg by Aleksandr Kornelyuk (Soviet Union .. although he is from Azerbaijan !) ... Would have been greatto have seen Borzov a bit closer to Eddie Hart at the final changeover but the race was all over by then.
cosmicwarlord2002 3 years ago
It was Juris Silovs who ran the 3rd leg that was carried off ... he pulled muscle a few metres before he handed over to Borzov
cosmicwarlord2002 3 years ago
Was that Borzov being carried away on a stretcher or one of his Soviet teammates?
HombreHambre 3 years ago
I have been waiting for this video so long...Thanks a lot!
greennea 3 years ago