Another Germanic thread

[EastBayprepoftheweek67]

When Jurgen Haase ran a then personal best 28:12.6 10000m (3rd best performer ever at the time) on 5/25/66 at Leipzig, what was his handicap? (Apart from lack of competition.)

[EastBayprepoftheweek67]

Re: Another Germanic thread

Uh oh, with all the activity on the other posts, this one seems to need some punching up.

Think horse racing and how they handicap horses.

[hj197steve]

Re: Another Germanic thread

he was overweight ?

[EastBayprepoftheweek67]

Re: Another Germanic thread

>he was overweight ?

You're on the right track.

[Jon]

Re: Another Germanic thread

>>he was overweight ?

You're on the right track.




He was pregnant...??

[hj197steve]

Re: Another Germanic thread

a wild ***ed guess here.... perhaps he had some sort of cast on an arm due to a broken bone ? That's a pure guess.

[Rob]

Re: Another Germanic thread

..

[EastBayprepoftheweek67]

Re: Another Germanic thread

>a wild ***ed guess here.... perhaps he had some sort of cast on an arm due to a
>broken bone ? That's a pure guess.

Steve, close. Haase was wearing something, of a medical nature. Yet, he was not sick.

[kuha]

Re: Another Germanic thread

Wow! This is obscure! T&FN reports that "he carried along the way a half pound (250g) instrument which measured the activity of his heart."

[EastBayprepoftheweek67]

Re: Another Germanic thread

>Wow! This is obscure! T&FN reports that "he carried along the way a half
>pound (250g) instrument which measured the activity of his heart."

Got it. Good job,

Maybe obscure, but it sure did pique my imagination. It would seem that he was wearing some sort of early heart monitor. Was he compelled to wear it as part of a study designed to make better runners? How was it secured? Were any results ever published, then, or after the East German files were opened?

I sure as heck would not have volunteered in a competitive race to carry an extra 250 grams 25 times around a track. We used to screw on the shortest spikes we could to save ounces, if that. We cut pieces of clothing off our uniforms. I never volunteered to run distance medley relays (an American parochialism, in metric speak, legs of 1200m, 400m, 800m 1600m,) because I just hated carrying a baton for four laps.

Oh well, I hope others find enjoyable the picture a world class runner in a world class performance as just part of a medical experiment.

[kuha]

Re: Another Germanic thread

A neat bit of trivia that you unearthed! It would be interesting to know more about the device he wore...and if anyone else of the era ever was part of a similar experiment.