Track & Field: The Sophisticate & the Natural

TRACK & FIELD

Scandinavians just naturally throw a javelin farther than anybody else. Americans traditionally make the best shotputters, and the high jump has been a Russian specialty ever since Valery Brumel appeared on the scene. Milers come from everywhere. The last four world record holders, in order, have been a Yorkshireman, an Australian, a New Zealander and a Frenchman—and last week France’s Michel Jazy found himself confronted with two new challengers who could hardly be more dissimilar. In Wanganui, New Zealand, East Germany’s Jurgen May beat Kenya’s Kipchoge Keino by a bare .3 sec. in the second fastest mile ever run: 3 min. 53.8 sec., just .2 sec. off the still unrecognized record that Jazy set last June.

Neither May nor Keino is exactly a parvenu—except to the mile. A sturdy 23-year-old whose father was killed fighting with the Wehrmacht in World War II, May holds the world mark for 1,000 meters. He earns his living as a sports reporter for an East German daily newspaper, gets all the time off (with pay) he needs to compete abroad and pursue a carefully supervised regimen that requires him to run 50 mi. a week in practice. Keino, the world record holder at 3,000 and 5,000 meters, is a skinny (5 ft. 9 in., 145 Ibs.) Kiganjo policeman and a purely natural athlete who has had practically no formal instruction. “I have not been coached or trained by anyone since my first appearance on a track,” he says, and shows it. He runs with a peculiarly formal, pistonlike gait, rolls his head while he is running (a trait that, experts say, impairs his balance), likes to take the lead at the start of each race and try to hold it all the way.

May, of course, is more sophisticated. At Wanganui, his strategy was to let Keino tire while setting the pace, save his own strength for a final kick to the tape. He did precisely the same thing in a rematch last week at Auckland: dogging Keino’s footsteps for most of the race, he turned it on in the last 20 yds. to win by 3 ft. in 3 min. 54.1 sec.—tying the listed world record held by New Zealand’s own Peter Snell. Twice was too much for Keino. “I am going back to Kenya and learn how to sprint the last lap,” he said. “Just wait—I am going to get that record.” Snell, who was a spectator at the contest, thought otherwise. One day, he predicted, East Germany’s May is going to run a 3-min. 50-sec. mile.