Memories from 1956 pre Olympic meet at Santa Ana, CA.

[Cannon]

Any of you oldsters attend the November, 1956 pre-Olympic meet at the Santa Ana College track? I was a 12 year old new fan and was thrilled to be able to see many of our Olympians perform in the meet.

Highlights were Leamon King's 10.1 100 meter win over Thane Baker, Ira Murchison and Bobby Morrow and Hal Connolly's WR 224-10 hammer throw...which was never ratified due to irregularities of he landing area.

I remember Tom Courtney winning the 800m and I think Jerome Walters winning the 1500m. Those were the good old days when, as far as I know, PED's were unheard of.

[lonewolf]

I competed collegiately 1949-53 and we never heard any mention of PEDs

[Atticus]

I competed collegiately 1949-53 and we never heard any mention of PEDs

There was already drug-testing at the 1968 Olympics, so I'm guessing that's the decade that it became a significant problem. I do remember reading that the Nazis were already looking at steroids and testosterone as performance enhancers.

[gh]

Steroids were still "legal" in 1968 (not specifically prohibited by the rules)…. There's basically no real testing for almost a decade after that. In those days it was still a far graver sin to accept money.

[Cannon]

Unfortunately, money brings in cheaters...it's human nature. Probably the beginning of the end for track and field i.e. athletics (as they say in the UK) was money. Of course, money is not all bad...it's an appropriate reward for those who can handle it. But, it inevitably brings in the cheaters and the bad fruits there of.

[IndioBailBonds]

NO I didn't attend but I wish I could attend and watch out Olympians performance.