Men's 1500m - Munich 1972 - 50 fps 

I also have those nostalgic memories of sitting with my mum in the living room as she shouted encouragement at the television as we watched David Wilkie swim to victory at the Montreal Olympics and Daley Thompson in the decathlon in Los Angeles and Fatima Whitbread with the javelin.

Pekka vasala all time my best for 1500m

I was watching it too and I was missing my hero Jim Ruyn. This race was not complete without him.

@I sari Yes, I seem to recall that Jim Ryun was entered to run in the 1500, but for some reason, either illness or injury, he didn't make the starting line in the heats.

@I sari Yes, I seem to recall that Jim Ryun was entered to run in the 1500, but for some reason, either illness or injury, he didn't make the starting line in the heats.

@I sari Yes, I seem to recall that Jim Ryun was entered to run in the 1500, but for some reason, either illness or injury, he didn't make the starting line in the heats.

2:33 for me in hs....last place

probably recorded with the Beta-Max system... a pity everyone went VHS...

moreover, penultimate lap was 55.2

About Kip Keino, you are right to mention those Kenyan runners' breakthrough in long distance running. It was widely accepted, at that time, that black athletes could never run long distances because they didn't have stamina. But how time have changed, eh? Today they are absolutely unbeatable, especially East and North African athletes; marathons etc, they have dominated them all . . . .!!

Did Kip Keino attend WSU?

@@macvatu Those athletes live at high altitude, and have the God given genetics to run distance. I think there is one tribe in Kenya that has a huge percentage of the best marathon times ever....it's basically one little group of people.

I remember Lasse Viren but didn't know of this guy. That was SOME kick there at the end to beat a future, gold medal, world champ. Seems to me the Finnish track coach should've gotten some bonus money when he got back home as well the "Flying Finns" who did well in 1972 & '76

@@macvatu Bolt was a short distance runner and shouldn't take part in this discipline!

Rod Dixon several years later openly accused another Finn of "blood doping" I.e. cheating.

Rod was a kid who had no expectations on him......yeah, he was happy!

Dixon checked to see if anyone was coming..then surged past the runner who had earlier passed him...almost did seem he did just enough to get a bronze Olympic games metal...all good!...better than the dummy Murphy in 2020 800...pushing and shoving with African runners instead of taking the lead from the outside.

Spank V ahuset

He won third place by a mile! He knew where he finished!

Tyyyt4rgihggghhjhhhhghhhhvhvbvvhhhhýyh Hvidovre

Almost?? It WAS over 50 years ago.😁

No, it's by b/w kinematografia but later enhanced colorized and shown with dubbed commentary. Finns found out about their victory around 3 days later.

Maybe things went backwards in Finland after blood doping became illegal. Or maybe life became too easy and the Finns just lost their sisu.

@@nickbamber268 Very interesting opinion - the first of your propositions. The second one - life becoming too easy through the development and evolution and losing the old-time-courage is every nation's issue and they have to deal with it...I just can't imagine Finland being the only nation having failed in this. But the training methods after blood doping was banned...I'm not sure what the other athletes did, but the Finns had difficulties to leave the illegal resources (like Vainio winning Silver Medal in 10 000 meters LA 1984 and caught using banned methods). The issue might be that the Finnish athletes didn't change their training to the global standard after blood doping was banned, but resumed doing the old way and were left behind in the progress.

@@jh79male Well, you Finns can't have your cake and eat it! Finns always used to go on about their unique sisu so if it really did exist then it might have been part of the reason for the success of the really great athletes like Nurmi. This early success most likely created considerable pressure on the later generations of athletes to succeed as Finnish sports followers were (and still are) amongst the most ardent supporters of their nation's athletes. As for using non-approved or unethical methods of course the Finns were not unique in that. Suspicion also fell on one or two of Britain's super top middle distance runners during the 80s. Then we had the Spanish wonder when Spanish athletes suddenly became world class around the time of the Barcelona olympics, about the time when EPO started to become popular. God knows what is available nowadays. I see a lot of amazing times that would not have been considered humanly possible 40 years ago. One of the main interests in watching athletics nowadays is to try to figure out who's honest and who's not!

@@nickbamber268 Eikö teillä kommareilla ole mitään muuta tekemistä, kuin levittää tuota Suomi-vihaanne kymmenillä eri nikeillä kaikilla urheiluvideoilla, joissa suomalaiset jotenkaan menestyy. Pitäisi lynkata tuollaiset maanpetturit!!

@@nussu72 I remember seeing Martti running a 5K in Rauma in 78 and then beating Wor Big Bren in Prague. He got caught, remember! Don't fake your outrage. Doping of one kind or another was common in Finland in the 70s.

يا عمار

Nothing to do with being brave, he basically wasn't good enough.

@@francishunt562 Leading from the front in an Olympic final is not for the faint hearted.

I remember that! I only read about it in the newspaper.

Rod Dixon was only 20 years here.

Yes he beat the fireman Smith

@@lsari6948 22.

Clarence Mendonca - or with Jim Ryun!!

@@craigpruess5565 Ryun?

Jim Ryun?

@@Widebody20 Oh yes indeed. Jim Ryun, from Kansas. Distinctly remember Life Magazine featured him in one of their issues of the mid 60s.

Also amazing is that he went from a 1500m runner to winning the NYC Marathon 11 years later.

It's the beer.

Indeed!

Its not cool. It makes no sense to anybody that isnt Finnish

It is!

Terve terve!

Finnisch ist eine fürchterliche Sprache!

@@bobby1968100 Nicht so grässlich wie Deutsch🤣😆😅

He could have run that in his Wellies

binkyxz3...did you get the covid19 vaccine?? Just wondering.

Hannu tämä on hienoa tietää.

@@MrKLindholm yup

Absolutely correct. See my note about this.

And Dixon was coached by his brother using Lydiard training principles

Meikäläinen 8-vuotiaana. Ensimmäiset olympialaiset, joita seurasin. Hienoja muistoja.

@@kenstirrat1468 So you take rumors as facts? As if Finns were somehow more likely to (blood) dope than others. No evidence to support that.

@@kenstirrat1468 Taidat ymmärtää suomea kommentistasi päätellen... viittaa jotenkin Ruotsiin päin....

@@PaulVinonaama Every Finn is blood doped. Blue eyes mean more efficient killing. Period.

Very suggestive with that period being the start of ...... er....Finnish "experiments "

@@djangorheinhardt I bet you know nothing about what you are writing about. Vasala was in excellent condition for the entire summer 1972, having run almost a WR (1.44.5) in 800m and was one of the favorites here.

@south islander The only thing we know for sure is that Kenians are fully loaded nowadays as they have been caught masswise. Makes you suspect also the Keino era.

never reached the same heights again, made the 74 euro final , but sort of disappeared thereafter.

Tactically perfect. The Finnish record to this day.

Surprisingly clear

I'm not sure, but I think he was the only Brit to get a medal at Montreal (1976) - bronze in the 10k?

@@archiewoosung5062 correct. Top bloke and now a top commentator. Made the most of a limited talent. Like a lot of athletes didn't have the best early training. Need to go faster rather than longer. Better at the longer events.

@@archiewoosung5062 the only track medal yes.

Vasala might have been capable of much faster times than seen here.

@@PaulVinonaama Coe was definitely capable of faster times than he ever ran but didn't have the kind of pacesetters that others have had , modern nutrition, training methods or the opportunity to race on much faster tracks they have had since the 1990's. And exactly the same could be said about Vasala and most runners from that era.

@@KryptonitetoallBS Weren't there pace setters for Coe? In any case, he often ran expressly in order to break the record (competing with Ovett in this respect) and got closer to his limits. Vasala actually never tried his limits, but in 1972 he had ran 800m in 1.44.5 in a solo run when the WR was 1.44.3, giving an indication of his potential. I believe he might have gotten several seconds of his 1,500m record.

@@PaulVinonaama I don't know enough about Vasala to comment about whether he fulfilled his potential or not. I do know however that Coe had far more potential that he left untapped for various reasons. Injuries effect all athletes but the illnesses which Coe had lost him entire seasons and had a knock on effect for seasons to come. Pacesetters was also another major factor in Coe not lowering the world records even lower than he did. Just google his world record attempts. The pacesetters he had were generally woeful. Later on, top athletes had other top athletes willing to sacrifice their race just for their man to attempt a world record. There were occasions when Coe was in fantastic condition but there was no-one who could push him to run faster as for example Ngeny did for El Guerrouj.

Neutral Observer Races over 400 meters sometimes involve tactics. Coe won some races in 3:40. You are making ridiculous comparisons.

Ttidd

They were also influenced by drugs.

@@davd1986 Yeah, great doping indeed.

@@danieljacobson6223 skäms på dig!

They were so full of steroids that it poured out of their ears!

@@danieljacobson6223 in compared to Johaug or Kenian runners generally the boys from Finland were sunday school boys

John Adams ....just no. Aho no.

@@johnvollmar8414 Oh yes... =)

John Adams Aho is Finnish.

Finnisch findet fast feminin e fabelhafte Frauen fantastisch! Frag Fred, fusioniert fei fast fesch fürsorglich

If I remember right, Pekka Vasala was a former sprinter and switched over to the 1500 as he got older. This would explain why he was so fast at the end of the race.

Munich 1972. Teutonic engineering 😉

Explain I don’t know much about the 1972 olympics. Who was gone?

@@ianbusche1471 the Israeli athletes were killed by terrorists in their dorm/rooms. First it was a hostage situation, with demands, but soon realized the terrorists did not plan on escape.

@@billyhndrsn4542 I think most of the Israeli athletes were killed at the airport.

@@jsmariani4180 you are more than likely correct. Israel no longer sends athletes to the games as a reminder to the world what transpired. I need to do more research as to what transpired in 1972, but haven't allowed myself to do so.

Rye Cooder, You are right sir, nobody copied Jim Ryun's 1500 m world record running yet. 60.5 - 1:58 - 2:55 - 3:33:1 The last 300 was 38.1. El Guruge got to the closest running 39.1 last 300 on the 2:55 1200 in the 2004 Olympic 1500 m final. Yet, Ryun would have beat him with about 6-7 meter, what means there wouldn't have been a real race, different class. Jim Ryun was the greatest ever 1 miler talent.

And in the 60’s Ryun was setting records on cinder tracks!

And without rabbit with no pressure on. Nobody pushed him from behind to run those world records.

Yes Jim Ryan was amazing! Phenomenal talent. I wish he had run the 800 at Mexico as well as 1500. I think he could have won. But he had had mono and was not at his best. A little bit of a hard luck kid.

@@davidowen1408 Indeed! Ryan would've outkicked Vasala.

I remember this like it was Yesterday! I listened to the opening of these Games on the first Crystal Radio that I had just completed while laying in bed (Australia) and then before long the TERRORISTS STRUCK! What a low act of Humanity that was and still is. John.

I never liked Gammoudi, and i was elated when Billy Mills outkicked him in the 10K at the 1964 Olympic Games to win the Gold Medal in one of the greatest kicks of all-time.

@@richardmilliken8705 Gammoudi won 4 Olympic medals. He was a stud.

olympic runner gammoudi

@@AllinGold2 Yes, Gammoudi is one of the greatest Olympic Distance Medalists of all-time, but he was outkicked by the amazing Native American, Billy Mills in the 1964 Olympic 10K final. And only Dave Wottle's kick in the 1972 Olympic 800m final matches Billy Mill's kick. Mills Olympic Victory in the 10K at the 1964 Olympics was sweet because Gammoudi bumped & both fouled Mills & Clark in that last lap sprint. Had Gammoudi tried to pull that crap against Steve Ovett he would've been punched in his adam's apple and collapsed right on the spot. I respect Ovett for his running abilities (Gold Medal in the 1980 Olympic Games in the 800m and bronze medal in the 1,500m at the 1980 Olympic Games) and for his mental & physical toughness. Steve never took crap from anyone.

Couldn't agree more

And Rinne did it with the help of a pace-runner.

.

There was no pre-african dominance, there was a good finnish runners. Africans are not superhuman.

good finnish runners and super doping!

Only americans dopers?? Pure illusion!!In those time all the east block already knows how to use anabol steroids! and Finnish used already both: steroids and blood transfusion!

Blood doping was perfectly legal in Olympic sports until 1986. The US cycling team was doing it openly in the 1984 LA Games. You guys do know that blood "doping" involves storing a pint of one's own blood in cold storage, and then re-infusing it on the eve of the competition, right? It wasn't cheating--it was athletes doing what they always do, taking an edge, and this one was perfectly legal at the time.

Lasse ran away from Yifter in the last laps of the 10,000, and Yifter and Keino were the best African athletes of that era.

With doping wings!

@@detskalldaltas133 Det svider ont eller...?

@@bror8228 Det gör det för Ni är helt värdelösa utan fusk!

@@detskalldaltas133 Jag hörde en finsk talesätt: Falsk som en svensk. Har du hört det...?

Detskalldaltas, yes I agree.It was revealed later that the Finns were experimenting with blood doping around this time so............?

Niin minäkin.