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Re: US Olympic Relay Teams in 68
I remembered a 4x1 team with Carlos and T.Smith on it beating the US OG team. Or at least I thought I did, so I looked it up. Annoying habit, that.
And there it is, in Vancouver, B.C., on September 28 '68, following the USFOT and before the Games.
US B beats US A, both in 39.1. The A team was the same foursome in the same order as at the Games: Greene, Pender, R.R. Smith and Hines. The B team was Charlie Mays (#3 long jumper), Larry Questad (#3 200), Carlos and T.Smith.
From the T&FN story: "Ronnie Ray tool the baton with a healthy lead over Carlos, but Carlos gobbled it up and Tomkmie beat Hines on the last leg."
The story also mentions that Smith won what must have been the easiest 45.2s in history, as he beat a distant second-placer, 47.7. Smith shut down in the last 35 yards, nearly walking across the finish. The story said he was trying to run his way onto the 4x4 team.
Oh, and an interesting tidbit from the T&FN preview edition. The OG team was going to run with the baton in the right hand. Greene starts in right hand; Pender takes with left, shifts to right; Smith takes with left, shifts to right; Hines takes with left, no shift. Curious.
Perhaps just a part of the evolution to the now common, right-left-right-left, albeit somewhat skewed in U.S. history for some 15 years by Carl Lewis's idiosyncracy of taking with the left and shifting to the right even though he anchored.
I remembered a 4x1 team with Carlos and T.Smith on it beating the US OG team. Or at least I thought I did, so I looked it up. Annoying habit, that.
And there it is, in Vancouver, B.C., on September 28 '68, following the USFOT and before the Games.
US B beats US A, both in 39.1. The A team was the same foursome in the same order as at the Games: Greene, Pender, R.R. Smith and Hines. The B team was Charlie Mays (#3 long jumper), Larry Questad (#3 200), Carlos and T.Smith.
From the T&FN story: "Ronnie Ray tool the baton with a healthy lead over Carlos, but Carlos gobbled it up and Tomkmie beat Hines on the last leg."
The story also mentions that Smith won what must have been the easiest 45.2s in history, as he beat a distant second-placer, 47.7. Smith shut down in the last 35 yards, nearly walking across the finish. The story said he was trying to run his way onto the 4x4 team.
Oh, and an interesting tidbit from the T&FN preview edition. The OG team was going to run with the baton in the right hand. Greene starts in right hand; Pender takes with left, shifts to right; Smith takes with left, shifts to right; Hines takes with left, no shift. Curious.
Perhaps just a part of the evolution to the now common, right-left-right-left, albeit somewhat skewed in U.S. history for some 15 years by Carl Lewis's idiosyncracy of taking with the left and shifting to the right even though he anchored.
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