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Largo
Sport climber
The Big Wide Open Face
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Topic Author's Original Post - Jul 9, 2013 - 12:16pm PT
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How about two-time Olympic marathon champ Abebe Bikila who used to run the 26 mile race bare footed. In 2:15. Try that on for size, Holmes . . .
Abebe Bikila was born on August 7, 1932, the day of the Los Angeles Olympic Marathon, in the village of Jato, located 25 kilometers outside the town of Mendida, Ethiopia. His father was a shepherd. Abebe decided to work for the Imperial Bodyguard to support his family, and walked over 20 kilometer to Addis Ababa where he started as a private bodyguard for the members of the royal family.
Onni Niskanen, a Finnish-born Swede, was hired by the Ethiopian government to train potential athletes. He soon spotted Bikila. 1960 Summer Olympics
Bikila at the 1960 Olympics.
Bikila was added to the Ethiopian Olympic team only at the last moment, as the plane to Rome was about to leave, as a replacement for Wami Biratu, who had broken his ankle in a soccer match. Major Onni Niskanen entered Bikila and Abebe Wakgira in the marathon.
Adidas, the shoe sponsor at the 1960 Summer Olympics, had few shoes left when Bikila went to try out shoes and he ended up with a pair that didn’t fit comfortably, so he couldn't use them. A couple of hours before the race, Bikila decided to run barefoot, the way he'd trained for the race. Bikila was warned by Niskanen about his main rivals, one of whom was Rhadi Ben Abdesselam from Morocco, who was supposed to wear number 26. For unknown reasons, Rhadi did not acquire his black marathon bib before the race, and instead was wearing his regularly assigned track and field bib number 185.
The late afternoon race had its start point and finish at the Arch of Constantine, just outside the Colosseum.
During the race Bikila passed numerous runners as he searched for Rhadi's number 26. By about 20 km, Bikila and Rhadi (actually wearing number 185) had created a gap from the rest of the pack. Bikila kept looking forward to find the runner with number 26, unaware that Rhadi was running right beside him. They stayed together until the last 500 m, when Bikila sprinted to the finish line. Bikila won in a record time of 2:15:16.2.
Oh Yeah!
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BLUEBLOCR
Social climber
joshua tree
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Absolute Sensational Feat ! !
I saw Petch climb 10d cracks barefooted
I once walked to the store barefooted. Oww!!
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Herb Elliott in the 1500 meter race in the 1960 Rome Olympics....he won in World Record time and simply toyed with the field.
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Fletcher
Trad climber
The great state of advaita
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First thing that came to my mind were many of Ali's fights. A performance of a different kind, perhaps, but still a performance in an athletic setting. Like him or not, the man knew how to put on an entertaining and smart show. Or maybe show of smarts? An early pre-cursor of performance art backed up by grace and muscle.
For me Carlton Fisk's home run in game 6 of the 75 World Series is up there. I was 13 years old and a huge Red Sox fan at the time. This was made all the stronger in the cauldron of having a father and grandfather who were die-hard Yankees fans... maybe that should have qualified for child-abuse?? Ha ha!
I remember being home alone (I still cannot remember where the rest of my family was that night!) and going ape-shit after midnight when Fisk hit that ball. But there were some other amazing plays in that game too. Bernie Carbo's pinch hit home run and his hail mary catch to save the game also come to mind.
[Click to View YouTube Video]
Eric
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climbski2
Mountain climber
Anchorage AK, Reno NV
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Anyone got that video of him campusing around on the playground recently..
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k-man
Gym climber
SCruz
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1) Two routes free on El Cap in 24 hours, certainly that has to be up there on the scale of amazing athletic performances.
2) Olga.
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Sierra Ledge Rat
Mountain climber
Old and Broken Down in Appalachia
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I can't get excited about anything except climbing when it comes to great athletic performances.
How can you even compare baseball to some of the free climbing speed ascents in Yosemite Valley?
That's like comparing a game of tiddlywinks to someone climbing 5.13
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gonzo chemist
climber
Fort Collins, CO
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Honnold. The Triple, in 18 hours. Sounds freakin' exhausting.
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Jennie
Trad climber
Elk Creek, Idaho
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Jul 10, 2013 - 10:38am PT
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Jackie Joyner-Kersee setting a new heptathlon record in the 1988 Olympics...a record that still stands.
Five days later she won another gold medal in the long jump.
Possibly the greatest woman athlete in history, Jackie participated in four Olympics...winning six medals(three gold)and four gpld medals in the World Championship games.
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michael feldman
Mountain climber
millburn, nj
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Jul 10, 2013 - 10:54am PT
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How about Goran Kropp? In 1996, he made a solo ascent of Mount Everest without bottled oxygen or Sherpa support in May 1996 (though as everyone knows, much of the route was fixed by Sherpa and others from other teams). Unlike everyone else, he rode his bike (with gear) from Sweden to basecamp (as close as he could get, and then he hiked), and then rode back home again after the climb!
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ncrockclimber
climber
The Desert Oven
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Jul 10, 2013 - 11:01am PT
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Dan Gable's performance at the 1972 Summer Olympics comes to mind. He not only won the Gold Medal, but did not give up a single point in the entire tournament. Dominant only begins to describe his performance against the best that the world had to offer.
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k-man
Gym climber
SCruz
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Jul 10, 2013 - 11:06am PT
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69 dogs (with buns) in 10 minutes.
You know you're green with envy ...
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Bob D'A
Trad climber
Taos, NM
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Jul 10, 2013 - 11:34am PT
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Big Red...won the Belmont Stakes by a whopping 31 lengths going away...maybe the greatest athletic performance in modern times.
http://www.secretariat.com/
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Stimbo
Trad climber
Crowley Lake
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Jul 10, 2013 - 11:44am PT
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Eric Heiden..... he won 5 gold medals in speed skating at the 1980 Olympics, everything from the 500 to the 10,000.
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Elcapinyoazz
Social climber
Joshua Tree
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Jul 10, 2013 - 11:52am PT
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I think I'd view any Leadville 100 win as far, far superior to anything listed here so far. And I'm not even a runner.
Some dude ran fast for nine and a half seconds. So what?
Some dude ran fast for 100 miles, with 12k+ elevation change, at altitude, in gnarly weather...holy cow!
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ron gomez
Trad climber
fallbrook,ca
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Jul 10, 2013 - 11:55am PT
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I remember sitting on a log in C-4 when Bachar comes walking by, we say hey to each other, I ask what he's been up to for the day and he casually says, "just did El Cap AND Half Dome," I laughed and said, "yeah right!" He chuckles, I give him a hit off my beer and he walks on. A bit later I hear again about this feat and my jaw hit the deck thinking the ground those two covered in a day. Back then that was big. Bachar/Croft, 2 walls in a day
Peace
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Jul 10, 2013 - 12:35pm PT
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How about Bob Beamon's long jump record which so surpassed previous efforts
it gave rise to a new adjective: Beamonesque?
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Scraptee
Trad climber
Tacoma
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Jul 10, 2013 - 01:14pm PT
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Emil Zapotek won gold medals in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters and the marathon at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki. The marathon was a last minute decision and was his first race at that distance. Oh yeah, he broke Olympic records in each event. Never happened before and will never happen again.
The guy was an animal. He used to train running hills in combat boots carrying his wife on his back..
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