PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE:

Hafa Adai,

We get to meet a lot of interesting people in our sport. Some famous, some not so famous, but they all have fascinating stories. Some stories deserve to be shared with others.

Approximately 5 years ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Ron Clarke, the great distance runner, when he visited Guam. Clarke was here on business, and I was meeting with him to talk about the hotel resort business and the activities we have to offer here on Guam. Clarke was in the planning stages for building an ecotourism resort in Australia, which would also have nature trails and a world-class sports training facility. Of course, it would also have a track & field facility for athletes to train.

Clarke was now a true businessman, but to me he was still the champion runner. I spent a couple of days talking with him about the sport and found out a little more about the man and his experiences in track & field.

Arguably the greatest distance runner that ever lived, Clarke held 17 world records for distances from the 2-mile to 20 kilometers during his career. He was the guy that was upset by US runner Billy Mills in the 1964 Olympic 10,000M in Tokyo.

Clarke was the first man to run the 10,000M distance under 28 minutes. The 27:39.4 world record that he set for 10,000M in 1965 lasted until Lasse Viren of Finland broke it with a 27:38.4 in 1972. However, Clarke will always be known as the man who set a number of records, but never won the gold medal in the Olympic Games or any major championship.

Why was Clarke, who was obviously the world’s fastest runner, never an Olympic champion? All who know Clarke’s racing method understood the answer. When I spoke with Clarke about his racing tactics, he told me that to him anything short of running all-out in a race was cheating. Drafting behind another runner, having him do all the work by breaking the wind, then blowing by near the finish was not right in Clarke’s mind. Clark got his records, but paid the price by not winning any gold medals.

When speaking of medals, Clarke shared this story with me. Clarke had never raced the Czech legend Emil Zatopek who had won the 5000M, 10,000M, and the Marathon, all in the same Olympic Games in Helsinki in 1952. This is something that is unlikely to be duplicated. To Clarke, Zatopek was a hero from an earlier era. Zatopek had a similar front-running style and was nicknamed “The Human Locomotive” because of the visible effort that he put into each race and the noises he would make while circling the track.
When Clarke got the opportunity to meet Zatopek in Prague in 1966, he was happy to interact with the man who not only was a multi-world record holder, but unlike him, was also an Olympic Champion. Before Clarke left Prague, Zatopek gave him a present, saying: “Don’t open this until you have left. It’s for you because you deserve it.” Later, in mid-flight to his home Clarke opened the box. Inside was Zatopek’s Olympic 10,000M gold medal with Ron Clarke’s name inscribed on the backside of the medal.

I’ve heard a number of track & field related stories, but this is one story of humanity and friendship that should be shared over and over again.

(Zatopek died at age 78 in November 2000. Today, Clarke is CEO of Couran Cove Island Resort located just off Queenland’s Gold Coast. It was the 2001 Winner for Accommodation in the Australia Tourism Awards.)

Sincerely,
Fred Schumann, GTFA President