Incredible Alberto Juantorena (1:43:50) and respect to Ivo Van Damme (1:43:86)... What a race ! #juantorena #albertojuantorena #1976 #olympics #800meterrace #800meter #montreal #koşu #yarışma #olimpiyat #cuba #caballo
I just watched the 1972 and the 1976, and I had not noticed it before 1972 they broke lane after 100 metres in 1972, in 1976 ,it was 300 metres ,I couldn't understand why a brilliant athlete Steve ovett , the European 800m champion , could not get a strike or challenge him, because of the advantage.
Anyone heard of Marcello Fiasconaro, south african 400, 800m runner. Broke world record in 1973, 1 min 43 7, running for italy. His world record was broken by the Cuban. Most track followers today have never heard of Fiasconaro. He was a great athlete, a big hero in south africa and italy in those days. Roy b, CapeTown south africa 🇿🇦
He ran both distances too, 400 and 800 , like Juabtorena. And like him suffered from injuries that eventually forced him to stop running. That is why he was not here, racing against the Cuban.
@@juliomiguel6597 In SA Fiasconaro ran some 100 and 200m races as well. At club level only. I was a school kid in about 76, I was not a bad school sprinter. I read in newspaper Fiasconaro was running the 100m in a club event. Although I was still a junior, I trekked out to what was called the Bellville athletics track, a grass track, in great excitement. I was going to run against him. Lined up on the starting line, Fiasconaro was not there. He was not even at the stadium I noticed, as if he was there would have been kids following him around. He was that popular here. If you Google his name, you will find a vid of him telling his life story. He was a rugby player, only came into track when his rugby club and a athletics club merged. He was about 21 when he was discovered by the clubs track coach. That's probably one of the reasons he had many injuries, started very late. Roy b, CapeTown south africa 🇿🇦
@juliomiguel6597 By the way, Fiasconaro became a athlete by chance. He was a rugby player, played centre for Villagers rugby club in CapeTown. About 70 or 71, Villagers rugby merged with a local track club, Celtics Harriers. TCeltics coach was looking for some sprinters, 3 or 4 rugby players started running in our summer. End of season they went back to playing rugby. Fiasconaro remained with the track club. In his first season he had run a sub 46 sec 400. He became a big hero here. So if not for the merger, he would never have known he was a great track athlete. Amazing story, on internet , Google him, he tells his life story. Roy b , CapeTown south africa 🇿🇦
@user-kh2ig7ew3w Google Fiasconaro, there a vid on internet where he tells his life story. Amazing story of the rugby player who became a great athlete by chance. Roy b, CapeTown south africa 🇿🇦
Only man ever to win 400 and 800 in same Olympics. There is actually a huge difference in the training methods for the 4 and the 8. That's why this is so rare. Andale caballo!
I remember a coach once told me that if you are good at one distance then if you can learn the necessary endurance you can be better at the next distance up. I think Juantorena proved him right!
@@victorherrera2567 I did forget! That's maybe better. But the 400-800 double is the longest sprint and the shortest distance races. Alberto was such an elegant runner!
I thought about both of the men you mentioned. And hey, America has a lady that just might duplicate Alberto's feat in Paris. Look her up. Thanks for your comment.
@@stephaniegormley9982 Back when Alberto ran, we were all track athletes. Alberto was the butt of our friendly jokes because Cuba was a Communist Country. It was just friendly ranking - socially incorrect today. But man, he had strides like no one ever saw before, and just destroyed America's proud 400 runners. I've heard that he's still around and doing good. But I wanted to mention another current fascinating 400 runner - Sydney McLaughlin. At the 2022 World's, she won the 400 hurdles by almost 2 seconds, ecplising even Jaunterina's margins of victory. Like Alberto, Syden has that classic, almost loping stride. She anchored the 4×400 women's relay team with a split just over 47! I'd like to go back and watch the Men's 400 in 1976, just to catch the wonderful Alberto's time, because a 47 is incredible. I love being a track junkie, and am hoping for Sydney to double in 2024 Paris, and maybe to see some of the sterling records of all time fall - Flo Jo, Ussien, Johnson, ect. But first I'll watch Alberto one mo time!
My favorite athlete ever!! He was discovered, practiced hard for several months and broke WR in 800m at his first major competition ever. Unbelievable athlete!
To understand how fast these men were, they'd have won gold at 2023 World Championships Eugene! Legends! Memorial Van Damme is named after this man! RIP.
Impressive that a man that big could do another lap and still run away from the field. He has long legs but the stride length is just incredible. I would be taking two strides for one of his.
In fact his injuries started in 1975, before these games, he got operated and could train only several months for this. He never recovered completely. In 1978 he went again to surgery and he was never the same afterwards
I remember van Damme from the 70s. He ran in South Africa once or twice, before SA was expelled from world athletics. Many top runners ran in SA in those days. South africa had 4 of the top 800m runners in those days. Fiasconaro, Broberg, Malan, and van Zyl. Roy b Cape town, south africa 🇿🇦 .
@@roybean7166 hi, what year was SA expelled from world athletics ? African countries did not participate in Montreal OG because of an incident : a team ( or the national team ) of rugby of SA had been invited to play in Australia, for sure once the exclusion of SA from world sports was already implemented ) and Africa asked the IOC to suspend Australia from the incoming Games, which was refused. Then African countries decided not go to the Games. That is why Mike Boit, the favorite for the 800 mts did not participate. Next year, 1977, he ran against Juantorena and lost. But at that time VAn Dammed unfortunately had already passed away.
Fun fact: he broke the world record of Italian / South African Marcello Fiasconaro, who coached me once, and, like Juantorena , also a 400m runner who preferred running positive splits
I am grateful to you for mentioning Marcello Fiasconaro, a great and versatile athlete. It is strange that his 800 m Italian record is still unbroken (1:43.7)
Хуанторена , в 1976 году, совершил нечто уникальное, не только победил на дистанциях 400м и 800м, что ни до него, не после него, не удавалось никому, но и установил два мировых рекорда 800м 143.50 и 400м 44.26(для равнинных стадионов)
Rick Wohlhuter was a bit disappointing here and might have won the silver if he hadn't tried to overtake Juantorena on the back straight. He seemed to run out of energy when he was passed by Van Damme and then seemed to slow down after that in disappointment. In a race in which the World Record was broken he didn't even equal his own personal best.
Excellent! The Best Runner for the 800 meters ever! 1:43.5 can you imagine if he at 500 meters or look at 1:02 at this video again, was not cut off for 3 seconds more than sure the time would have been 1:40.5.
They didn't call Juantorena "El Caballo" (Spanish for "Horse") for nothing. Wolhuter also had a beautiful stride. He glided like a gazelle around the track.
Hello, thank you very much for mentioning your uncle Mr. Zabierzowski. On this occasion, I had the opportunity to learn about his belief in Juantorena and his strategy for this legendary 800 meters race. Juantorena completed the first lap at an unexpectedly high pace of 50.5 seconds and Ivo Van Damme and Rick Wolhutter, worn out by the speed, finished the race behind Juantorena. I pay tribute to Zygmunt Zabierzowski, the Polish athlete, sprinter, and coach who contributed so much to Alberto Juantorena's achievements.
@@alpsargn1713 Zygmunt have good coach pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanis%C5%82aw_Petkiewicz and after that he could used trening methods when he worked with Juantorena. Zygmunt took Polish champion on 400 m before the war in August 1939
Tremendous performance by Ivo Van Damme in this race! If he had not left us too soon, he could have made us watch very special races that went down in the history of athletics. A true unsung hero!
Remember the classic line from David Coleman commentating a Juantorena race, "and Juantorena opens his legs and shows his class"...........Brilliant slip of the tongue.
The outside lanes ,had no chance unless they ran a crazy 300 m first lap , Steve ovett was 5th he finished so fast. Whoever changed the break of from the l 100 m to make it to a 300 m completely ruined this Olympic 800 m. I doubt the Cuba would of front runed if he had ovett next to him .Coe tired the same tactics in the European 800,m ovett just sat there and kicked past him but he didn't expect Bauer to be just behind him and lost
This convention had the effect of increasing speed and cutting down on bumping and elbowing when the runners moved across into the inside lane. However, it was eventually abolished because fans did not like it and officials thought being in the outside lanes would be a disadvantage.
those in the stands seeing this WR, also saw a world record in the men's 400m hurdles, set by Edwin Moses, USA. Which event was first on the track that day- men's 400 hurdles or men's 800m? I was there, I saw them both, they were back to back, but can't remember in which order they appeared.
July 25,1976... According to the official program: 17h15 - Men's 800 m final & 17h30 - Men's 400 m hurdles. You remember perfectly, they were back to back races.
I was there, too, but I didn't recall they were back-to-back until you mentioned it. What a fun day of track watching. Our family saw 4 days of track, 1 day of basketball, and watched the end of the marathon from underneath the overpass just outside the stadium while it rained.
With American Mike Shine getting the Silver behind Moses prompting O.J. Simpson doing the commentary on the entire Track competition to say "he's not even supposed to be here!!!" About Mike Shine.
This could have been one of the races of the century if Kenya's Mike Boit had been running. Their IAAF World Cup 800m in 1977 gave a glimpse of what might have been.
No one who boycotted would have beaten Juantorena in that race. Mike Boit may have got a medal but he wouldn't have won against the Cuban in that form.
Never forgot the classic line from David Coleman the BBC athletics commentator ‘Juantorana opens his legs and shows the World what he’s got’. Everyone in Britain laughed at the double meaning
@@billplaney2585 I know , so did I. I was trying to make a humorous comment about them . Tube socks were terrible compared to the socks runners have now not to mention the shoes and clothing they have now . I had many blisters and lost toenails because of them .
And that was pretty much all that the Cuban did, yes a great Olympics in 76 and didn’t a major race ever again. After this he was forever in the shadow of Sebastion Coe, Ovett and a long list of American 400 m runners
He had a lot of problems with injuries after these games - had problems with his back and had to have corrective surgery in 1977 and wasn't quite the same athlete afterwards.
@@paulwilliams8389 We will never know about that,..but Kenya has been a powerhouse in middle & long distance running since the 60's. The Kenyans must have been planning & strategizing on how to win the 800m among other races...
