Rome 1960

[Per Andersen]

Either you mis-heard it or whoever said it got it wrong. Shavlakadze was not a Russian--he was a Georgian. And I believe Brumel, who also beat John Thomas, was Ukrainian.

All Soviets were "Russians" to Americans in the good ol' Cold War days, no matter where in the USSR they actually came from.

I was going to post the same thing. It is completely incorrect, but " the Russians" were the whole country in US parlance back then. 99 % of US'ers, I'm sure, had no idea or interest in what " Union of Soviet Socialist Republics" meant. USSR= Russia... that simple.

Same thing in Western Europe. We called them Soviet-Russians or Russians. It meant the same thing in those days. Stalin was born in Georgia. Made no difference.

[FrankS]

The Rome Olympics were the first games that I can recall. I think the BBC covered the athletics pretty comprehensively. At the time, Halberg's gutsy victory impressed me most. I went to a post-Olympic meeting in Manchester, UK which featured gold medalists Herb Elliott, Otis Davis, and Don Bragg.

[runforfun]

I remember the Rome OG's well...a great break through race by Max Truex was one of the highlights to me....a surprise 6th, right behind Murray Halberg with an American record 28:50.2 ...first American under 29:00 in 10,000m. I was a high school runner at the time and much inspired by Truex's performance.

[dukehjsteve]

I remember the Rome OG's well...a great break through race by Max Truex was one of the highlights to me....a surprise 6th, right behind Murray Halberg with an American record 28:50.2 ...first American under 29:00 in 10,000m. I was a high school runner at the time and much inspired by Truex's performance.

And if I recall correctly, it not only was an AR for 10K, but also for 6 miles, even though 346 meters longer than 6 miles ! Needless to say, no intermediate clock at an English distance at the OG's.