Should T&F News have ranked Pekka Vasala in 1971?

[Living in the Past]

Does anyone recall that Pekka Vasala beat Keino in Helsinki at the World Games at 1500 meters in 1971? In other words, in the year BEFORE Munich? Vasala ran 3:38.6.

A picture is worth a thousand words.

http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss25 ... iendoa.jpg

I wonder what's going through Keino's head in this photo of the 1972 Olympic final. Deja vu?

http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss25 ... nich72.jpg

[Daisy]

Re: Should T&F News have ranked Pekka Vasala in 1971?

I can only imagine it was a one off great result for him, rather than a breakthrough year?

Just out of interest, what was the injury that knocked out Liquori for the whole of 72?

[Daisy]

Re: Should T&F News have ranked Pekka Vasala in 1971?

Just out of interest, what was the injury that knocked out Liquori for the whole of 72?

OK before bad hammy gets on my case

I will say that the young folks are usually are pretty adept at using this Intertubes thing, you know with the Goggle and Wikithingy. At a minimum we should be able to expect that this particular young folk could use those tools to look up a little history on well-documented subjects such as ........
See Ryun thread for this quote

I decided to do some research on those intertubes. Wiki came up short but I found the answer from the horses mouth. (see interview at Runners World )

You were the youngest to run the 1500 meters in 1968. Did you get the stress fracture actually during the finals?

No, I think I got it in the semifinal. So I thought if I iced it down before the final, I would be okay, which was a miscalculation. But the stress fracture was coming on for a couple of weeks; between the Trials and the Olympics, it came on. I had a long year. That was a problem, but I wouldn't have come in the top six finishers at the Olympics anyway.

But the next one (1972) hurt, because I was in a position to win, when I had torn ligaments in my foot that took a long time to heal, almost a year before they were right again. That was a case of over-training. I tried to train through it, and it just hung on. It was a plantar fascia thing, which in the old days people didn't know that much about it. It probably would be treated a lot better today.

[Living in the Past]

Plantar fasciitis cost Liquori the 1972 season. He was always training on the edge. I think in the Liquori interview in this magazine at the end of the 1971 season, Liquori said he was going to increase his training volume by about 10 percent.

One of Liquori's greatest accomplishments was forging a long career in the era of amateur athletics, largely made possible by his retail shoe business (Athletic Attic). But he was always prone to short-term injury, and he had bad luck in the Olympic years of 1972 and 1976. I think he might have also been injured in 1980, although ultimately it wouldn't have mattered.

[Living in the Past]

My goodness. Torn ligaments AND plantar fasciitis!

[bambam]

My goodness. Torn ligaments AND plantar fasciitis!

The torn ligament in this case is certainly the plantar fascia.

[Living in the Past]

I guess I need to post an irony alert next time.

:wink:

[bambam1729]

I guess I need to post an irony alert next time.

:wink:

Sorry, got it