Ovett, European 800m silver 1974.mp4

This is only the last 200m of the 1974 European Championship 800m final in Rome, won by Luciano Susanj of Yugoslavia in 1:44.07. I really know little about this race and haven't seen the previous 600m. All I can say is that Susanj was extremely impressive with his last 200m kick in a then very fast 1:44.07. The race is perhaps best known for the accomplishment of a then 18 year old Steve Ovett in winning the silver medal some 15m back in 1:45.77. This was just a year after winning the European Junior event at 800m.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Steve Ovett
• 1974
• European 800m
• silver medal
• Luciano Susanj
• athletics

[deano27671]

@deano27671 Fiasconaro's 1:43.7 was also set at a time where they ran 300m in lanes rather than just over 100m. It should also be remembered that most of the WR's (in fact, I think all) were set using hand held stopwatches. The first electronic time was Juantorena's Montreal WR. Electronic times are usually c. 0.1 slower than hand held. Coe's Florence run was hand timed as 1:41.6!

[deano27671]

@TheEctomorph Happy New Year to you too! Although Wohlhuter's mark of 1:44.1 (hand timed!) set in 74 (therefore a year after Fiasconaro's 1:43.7) was perhaps intrinsically superior to the Italian's ratified record, it could not be ratified as an 800m WR, as no official time was taken for 800m! As you correctly put, 1:44.1 is worth c. 1:43.5, but Wohlhuter did NOT hold the IAAF official WR. Strangely, Snell's 800WR of 1:44.3 was set in an 880 race where he ran 1:45.1, which is 0.8 difference!?

[TheEctomorph]

@deano27671 [continuing on from my previous 'post' about Richard Wohlhuter.]

record holder for the men's 800 metres? Was it Richard Wohlhuter, of the United States of America, or Alberto Juantorena Danger, of Cuba? For years, I have wanted to know the DEFINITIVE answer to that question!

Let me take this opportunity to wish you a happy and prosperous 2012.

[TheEctomorph]

@deano27671 [continuing on from my previous 'post' about Richard Wohlhuter.]

middle-distance star) held the world record for that event from the summer of 1973 right through until the summer of '76 - when the great Cuban athlete, Mr Juantorena, set the Montreal Olympics alight, as it were, by winning the 800 metres in a time of 1:43.50 secs (electronically timed).

So ... perhaps you could clear up this confusion for me, Deano. Who replaced Marcello Fiasconaro as the official world

[TheEctomorph]

@deano27671 [continuing on from my previous 'post' about Richard Wohlhuter.]

I am not certain whether or not Wohlhuter's performance, which was an exceptional one, was ever offically ratified by the IAAF as a world record for the shorter distance - i.e. the 800m. According to SOME sources, Mr Wohlhuter WAS the official world record holder for the men's 800 metres for a couple of years in the mid-1970s ... but according to other sources, Marcello Fiasconaro (the big Italian/Springbok

[TheEctomorph]

@deano27671

For a period of about three years - between the summer of 1973 and the summer of '76 - Rick Wohluter was consistently one of the top three 800 metre runners in the world. I think I am correct in saying that his best year - in terms of athletic performances - was 1974. During the summer of that year, he returned a time of 1:44.1 secs (for 888 yards). That is equivalent to a time of 1:43.5 (or thereabouts) for the marginally shorter distance of 800 metres. To be honest,

[deano27671]

@TheEctomorph Yep. Sub 1:44 is still going to put you in contention at major champs today. In fact, only 5 athletes beat Fiasconaro's 1:43.7 world record, in 2011. He'd still be right up there. Although Fiasconaro was the first to break 1:44.0 for 800m, Wohlhuter ran a 1:44.6 for 880yds a month earlier, although no "official" 800m time was recorded. The usual conversion from 880 to 800m is -0.6, so perhaps Wohlhuter had just crept under that barrier had they bothered to take the time!

[TheEctomorph]

@ARRISIPPY Big Luciano Susanj was a great athlete, who almost certainly never achieved his full potential as an 800 metres runner. I believe that, in terms of natural ability, he was marginally superior to Marcello Fiasconaro (the Italian who held the world record for that distance at the time of the Euro Championships in 1974).

[TheEctomorph]

@deano27671 [continuing on from my previous 'post' about Marcello Fiasconaro.]

that he had been in during the previous year (1973). I think I am correct in saying that 'Fiasc' broke the world record (for the 800 metres) during June or July of that year, and went down in history as the first man to break the 1:44.0 barrier at that distance. No mean achievement. Even today, a time of 1:43.7 secs for the 800m is highly respectable - almost 40 years on from 1973.

[TheEctomorph]

@deano27671 If big Marcello Fiasconaro went through the first 600m of that race in a time of 77.6 seconds (which is by no means exceptionally quick for an athlete of his calibre) then he really should have had enough strength and energy left in the proverbial tank to win the race (or, at the very least, to give Luciano Susanj a really good run for his money) - given that his PB for the distance was 1:43.7 secs.

Clearly, the big Italian/Sringbok was no longer in the scintillating form