Ever Missed A Record Performance?

[gh]

Over on another thread, Mike Renfro noted that he had once missed a World Record due to an agonizing circumstance:

<< Ironically, I have only missed one WR when I was in the stadium. At Modesto, I ducked out for a quick cig because I didn't think Stacy would vault during the opening ceremonies. That worked like a charm. I missed another, in '77 at W Cup (Ackerman's 1.97) because I was told (incorrectly) that the money change at the train station would close before the meet was over, and I had to pay the hotel bill. I waited at the hotel, and waited, and...
When the others returned, I asked, how high did Rosie jump? They were a bit releived, as they had been debating on the way back how to tell me.>>

Anybody else have a good story to tell in this department? (not necessarily a WR, since those are so few and far between these days)

[Hulk]

Re: Ever Missed A Record Performance?

I wasn't present in the stadium, and this isn't really a good story, but...

In August of 1996, I forgot to set the VCR to tape the 200m final in Atlanta. So, I rushed home from work (west coast, ergo 3 hours earlier than EDT), and turned on the TV in time to see a sweat-drenched, happy Michael Johnson, flash bulbs firing in the background, and the confusing ASCII code '19.32WR' on the screen. I really didn't understand what I was looking at until the slow-motion replay -- and even then I *still* couldn't fathom it! Surely that wasn't a real time!

I wished I had gone home from work at noon like I had planned and set that damn tape! Hulk was most definitely mad that night...

Funny thing is: I didn't see the complete, unedited race until almost 5 years later. The only things ever re-played were either close-ups, or slow-motions, etc...

[gh]

Re: Ever Missed A Record Performance?

OK, here's one from me, now that the ball is rolling. A few years back, when dual meets were still a big thing, the differential gave out on my car (damned Audis) so I couldn't drive to Berkeley as planned on a warm spring afternoon for a 3-way.

After the meet, got a call from a friend who was there. Said it was a great meet, and proceeded to run down the list of winners: "Joe Blow 7-foot-2, Jim Smith 26-5....." And then he said, "Is that everything?"

I quickly ran through the events in my head and said, "no, wait, how was the 5000?"

"Oh, what's that Kenyan guy's name from Wazoo?"

"Rono?"

"Yeah, that's the the one, ran 13-something..... 13:08.4, that was it."

Now there's a dual meet record that will never be broken!

[trackstar]

Re: Ever Missed A Record Performance?

And of course, this started with my Ychlindria Spears NHS story here: http://www.trackandfieldnews.com/tfn/di ... hread=4685

[jhc68]

Re: Ever Missed A Record Performance?

Off sport story... at the Montreal Olympics my wife and I were had good seats watching Olga Korbut on the uneven parallel bars and exactly as she began her famous back flip and catch off the high bar a heavy-set lady came barging down our row of seats and completely blocked my wife's view just as the crowd's collective gasps and oohs and ahhs filled the arena!

[HL]

Re: Ever Missed A Record Performance?

My father was going to pick me up at college then we would drive down to see the state high school meet. Well, my mother called me to tell me that their cat had scratched my father on the arms when we tried to pick the cat up. Although, it was serious she still thought that perhaps he shouldn't drive all the way to the meet (about 200 miles). So when he arrived, I told him that it would probably be best for me to take him home and let a doctor take a look at the scratches. The year 1965, the place Wichita, Kansas, so I missed Ryun's sub 4 mile at the Kansas State High School meet.

[trackhead]

Re: Ever Missed A Record Performance?

I was just coming up the stairs to the bleachers in Sacramento in 2000 and just missed seeing Gail Deevers run her current 100mHH AR.

[RMc]

Re: Ever Missed A Record Performance?

I was planning on traveling from Palo Alto to Indianapolis for the 88 Trials when my boss got the stupid idea that he wanted to impress his former company with how he had built up his own consulting firm. So he wanted us to do a dog & pony show on the Friday that the Trials started. He was angry that I wouldn't just cancel my trip and paid for my ticket change, but I had to miss the first day. Just happened to miss FloJo's 10.49 thanx to his arrogance.
Fortunately, we got back at him when almost the entire firm left to create a new firm a few months later due to his inepitude. (At least I got to see her "real" WR the next day.)

[Half Miler]

Re: Ever Missed A Record Performance?

As a 16 yr-old at the height of track fandom, I had never left a meet early. The running events had just concluded at the '82 Jenner Classic, and my dad, who had driven us to the meet, wanted to beat the exit traffic. Most of the crowd was of the same mindset, though a single field event was still in progress, and I remember Garry on the announcer's mic, calling back the masses "...there's still an exciting javelin competition going on!" Reluctantly, I followed my dad out, thinking that Bruce Kennedy would probably throw 260-something anyway.

It wasn't until the next morning that the front page of the Mercury sports section slapped me in the grill with Bob Roggy's huge 307-6 AR.

At least I was right about Kennedy (264).

[O Atkins]

Re: Ever Missed A Record Performance?

I had seen all finals of all events but one at a couple of Olympics. We had missed the bus and were climbing the steps to the stadium when we heard a tremendous cheer. We entered the stadium and were about to rush down to our seats in fromt of the long jump pit when we noticed that Bob Beamon was on his knees on the track and the other jumpers were standing around in shock. At least we got to review that jump over and over on the large screen in the village that evening. I can not get that story out of my head.

[dl]

Re: Ever Missed A Record Performance?

Walt Murphy - Please tell your '95 Jonathan Edwards story so I don't have to!

[KevinM]

Re: Ever Missed A Record Performance?

O Adkins wins.

[az2004]

Re: Ever Missed A Record Performance?

well, the Edwards 95 jumps were right in front of me.....

even before the marks were recorded we all new they were WR, my seat was right on the 18 meter mark, and Edwards was clearly to the left of my seat..!!

[marknhj]

Re: Ever Missed A Record Performance?

I was in the LA Sports Arena in the late 1980's when Randy Barnes broke the world indoor record. Unfortunately I had just spotted my soon-to-be ex wife in the crowd a few sections from me. Since she was not a T&F fan (excellent grounds for divorce) I was looking at her and wondering if she was stalking me when I heard the crowd roar.

[Bob H]

Re: Ever Missed A Record Performance?

I've missed a couple, but the one that my friends and I always kid each other about was the one that occurred in a morning session at the 1986 European Championships in Stuttgart. It's my recollection that the session began at 9am with the qualifying round of the women's javelin, with running events beginning at 10. Most of my friends and I started getting to our seats between 9:30 and 10--some earlier and some later. Very few were there from the beginning, and it was they who had the pleasure of telling us all, one by one as we drifted in, that we had missed a World Record.

Fatima Whitbread had shattered the WR. Not imagining that anything of the sort would happen that early in the morning, we all chose a few more minutes of sleep and we all regretted it. But the fun part was watching the expressions on the faces of the next arriving guy as he learned the news. The phrase "oh, shit" was uttered more than once. And the reaction of each, upon learning the painful truth, produced a new round of laughter from those who had preceded.