Jim Ryun's Munich fall

[Chicago]

It was a shame that Jim Ryun's appeal was denied and he was not reinstated following his fall at the Olympics. He certainly would have been allowed to continue if it happened today.

His petition for reinstatement was actually written by Howard Cosell.

[noone]

True, and Jon Drummond wouldn't be DQ'ed nowadays.

[Django]

My recollection is faulty, but I think Ryun had run a fast mile in Toronto not long before the OG began, so he had returned to top fitness, and might have been ready for a gold medal

[Conor Dary]

He ran 3:52.8....

[Django]

Thanks for that info. His WR mile had been 3:51.1, so a very fast time for that era.

[DoubleRBar]

It definitely would have been very interesting with Jim Ryun in the Munich Olympic final. Hard to say if he would have won the gold medal, but he certainly had a chance at it.

[NotDutra5]

My recollection is faulty, but I think Ryun had run a fast mile in Toronto not long before the OG began, so he had returned to top fitness, and might have been ready for a gold medal

My recollection was that Ryun was very up and down during 1972. He did run the quick race in Toronto but he also had some really down races. I'd have to find my Olympic preview issue from 1972 but I'm not sure he was considered either favorite or co-favorite at that point.

[Davidokun]

My recollection was that Ryun was very up and down during 1972. He did run the quick race in Toronto but he also had some really down races. I'd have to find my Olympic preview issue from 1972 but I'm not sure he was considered either favorite or co-favorite at that point.

From that issue:

Form Chart

B. Kipchoge Keino (Ken)-Jim Ryun (US).
D. Francesco Arese (It)-Mike Boit (Ken)-Brendan Foster (GB)-Mansour Guettaya (Tun)-Ulf Hogberg (Swe)-Klaus-Peter Justus (EG)-Frank Murphy (Eire)-Cosmas Silei (Ken)-Ray Smedley (GB)-Henryk Szordykowski (Pol)-Bodo Tummler (WG)-Pekka Vasala (Fin)-Dave Wottle (US).

'Expert' Predictions

BN	Ryun	Keino	Vasala	Boit	Arese	Smedley
CN	Ryun	Keino	Arese	Vasala	Boit	Wottle
DD	Keino	Ryun	Vasala	Boit	Arese	Guettaya
RQ	Ryun	Keino	Wottle	Boit	Tummler	Justus
MW	Ryun	Keino	Vasala	Foster	Boit	Arese
JP	Ryun	Keino	Arese	Boit	Wottle	Vasala
All	Ryun	Keino	Vasala	Boit	Arese	Wottle

[cigar95]

Ryun had run 4:19 in the Coliseum ("Vons Classic?) not long before the 3:52, which was "x,3" at the time it was run.

[jc203]

In 1972 Ryun was training at UCSB, where I still had some connections. A couple of people I knew were stunned when he ran the 4:19 at in LA. They swore that only a few days before Ryun was running brutal repeat miles well under 4:10 with minimal rest in between. Certainly was an up and down year for him. What a disappointment for him, and the world, that he fell.

[Davidokun]

Ryun had run 4:19 in the Coliseum ("Vons Classic?) not long before the 3:52, which was "x,3" at the time it was run.

Looked up his significant record that season in the pages of T&FN:

Date	Location	Venue	Meet	Event	Round	Place	Performance
March 4	Los Angeles	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum	Meet of Champions	Mile		7	4:19.2
April 22	Lawrence	Kansas Memorial Stadium	Kansas Relays	Mile		1	3:57.1
April 29	Des Moines	Drake Stadium	Drake Relays	Mile		7	4:09.0
May 14	Philadelphia	Franklin Field	Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. International Freedom Games	Mile		9	4:14.2
June 9	Los Angeles	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum	Vons Classic	Mile		1	3:57.3
July 8	Eugene	Hayward Field	Olympic Trials	1500	F	1	3:41.5
July 29	Toronto	Canadian National Exhibition Stadium (?)	Metro Toronto Police Games	Mile		1	3:52.8
September 8	Munich	Olympic Stadium	Olympic Games	1500	H	9	3:51.5 (fell)
September 13	Rome	Olympic Stadium (?)	Zauli Memorial	1500		3	3:44.3

[Chicago]

I suspect if Ryun was from the Soviet Union or East Germany, he would have been reinstated lickety-split.

[gh]

In.... What a disappointment for him, and the world, that he fell.

I believe the correct term is "fell"

[Trickstat]

I suspect if Ryun was from the Soviet Union or East Germany, he would have been reinstated lickety-split.

I don't think there was any rule allowing advancement in such a manner until several years later. At the 1990 European Champs, Peter Elliott fell in the 1500 heat and was advanced to the final. I think the rules in 1990 only allowed this to happen if another athlete was considered at fault and was disqualified.

[Django]

I had forgotten that he had run such poor times ( for him) as 4:19 in March of 1972, and its very interesting to learn that, just days earlier, he had done incredible workouts at UCSB. In retrospect, I wonder if he was “training through” some of those early races, planning to peak at the OGs? At that point, I think he was self-coached, and coaches of the era such as Bowerman might have advised him about the benefits of rest in a training program.
He’s now a friend of a friend, and I might possibly be able to ask through my friend about what was happening that resulted in those huge fluctuations in performances.