Product Description
Track and Field Athletics is the most universally known and practised of all sports. Its modern forms emerged for the most part around 1860 in Great Britain and USA. Its coming of age was accelerated with the revival of the Olympic Games (Athens 1896) and the foundation of the IAAF (International Amateur Athletic Federation) in Berlin, 1913. The latter is the governing body of the sport with over 200 affiliated countries, still with the same letterhead which now stands for International Association of Athletics Federations. The 400 metres, known nowadays as the "one-lap race", is one of the most thrilling tests in the sport. It is sometimes referred to as "the killer event". Being just beyond the limit through which a well-trained runner can maintain his maximum speed, it requires excruciating labour, especially in the closing stage. Well over a century ago, a famous observer of track deeds wrote that in the quarter-mile (the English "ancestor" of the 400 metres) athletes "run themselves blind before reaching the tape". Once classified among middle distance events, it is now regarded as a "prolonged sprint". This book chronicles and comments the evolution of the event from Lon Myers, the 19th century marvel, to Michael Johnson, holder of the current world record (43.18 in 1999), which is the equivalent of four 100-metre fractions in 10.795 each. Attention is also devoted to the parallel evolution of the 4X400 metre relay. Women's one-lap races have a relatively short history, which is also related in detail. As in most of RLQ's works, throughout the book one finds interesting asides devoted to sundry episodes emanating from the myriad of aspects of this fascinating event. All runners and other relevant authorities are mentioned in the text.
