The Michigan Daily-Saturday, August 2, 1980-Page 15
SHOWDOWN AT 1500 METERS
MOSCOW
the Olympic
meters yest
with Steve O
father "cam
A week a
race and fin
800 meters.
way round.
It was a s
- a long wa
of 3:32.1 he
unlike last
found the fin
The 103,00
Stadium hi
English run
Coe beats out Ovett or
(AP) - Sebastian Coe won The East German overtook frontrun- The race was held in a flat, pic-
gold medal in the 1,500 ning Dutchman Gerard Nijboer near turesque course, parts of it along the
erday, evened his score the end and held on easily to win in two Moscow River. It could have produced
vett and in the words of his hours, 11 minutes and three seconds. It even better times except for the muggy,
e back froin the dead." was more than one minute off his win- hot weather.
go Coe ran a bad tactical ning time in the Montreal Games in In the field events, Gerd Wessig, a 21-
ished second to Ovett in the 1976. year-old East German cook, said his
This time, it was the other Nijboer, who ran the marathon in country's national anthem almost
2:09.1 earlier this year for the second caused him to miss the jump that gave
low race. Coe won in 3:38.4 best time ever recorded in the 26 mile, him a world record.
y outside the world record Wessig set a mark of 7 feet, 8 inches
e shares with Ovett. But and won the high jump gold medal.
Saturday, it was Coe who "I had gone the first three steps when
ishing kick. I heard the anthem being played for
Xl fans in Moscow's Lenin some awarding ceremony. It bothered
ad come to see the twoY
ners fight it out in a gran-
gold
Olympics, said he was confident
throughout and nothing could break his
concentration.
The silver went to 1976 champion
Jacek Wszola of Poland and fellow East
German Jorg Freimuth.
In the distance events, Miruts Yifter
of Ethiopia became the only individual
double gold medalist in the track com-
petition by adding the 5,000-meter title
to his earlier victory over 10,000
meters.
The distance-running double realized
an old dream of the wiry little runner,
who had been unable to achieve his goal
at two earlier Olympics.
Yifter now joins the elite group of
those who have won both races in one
Olympics. Finland's Lasse Viren was
the last to do it, taking both events in
1972 at Munich and 1976 in Montreal.
Viren finished fourth in the 10,000 this
time and dropped out of the marathon
Friday.
He is the only Olympian to win two
individual gold medals here so far. The
Soviet Union's Viktor Markin won the
gold in the 400 meters and ran on his
country's 1,600-meter-winning relay
team.
Going into the.final circuit, Ireland's
Eamonn Coghlan seized the lead. Yifter
matched him stride-for-stride and shot
ahead going into the final turn, 200
meters from the end.
dstand climax to the Olympic track and
field events. But unexpectedly Jurgen
Straub of East Germany was second in
3:38.4 and Ovett, 3:39.0, had to be con-
tent with the bronze medal.
Britain is one of the countries not
using national flags or anthems at the
Olympics as a token protest against
Soviet intervention in Afghanistan. The
Olympic flag was raised to the
masthead and the Olympic hymn was
played during the awards ceremony.
But happy British fans, waving the
Union Jack, did their best to drown out
the music by singing "God Save the
Queen." "So we didn't totally miss
out," Coe said.
Asked if he would have preferred the
British anthem at the medals
ceremony, Coe said: "The decisionwas
made to have the Olympic flag and an-
them, and I respect the reasons for it."
In other action, Waldemar Cierpinski
won the Olympic marathon, becoming
only the second man ever to win that
event in two consecutive Olympics.
"I never dreamed of winning again,
but it was a good payoff after three long
years of preparation," he said.
Olympic
roundup
me, but I went on and jumped, and I
made it," Wessig said,
The anthem was not the only thing
troubling the lean, moustachioed
jumper. He took a long run from the
right side and at a crucial moment,
marathon runners began speeding in
front of him.
But Wessig, little known before ,the
Coe
... avenges loss
385-yard event, was runner-up in 2:11.20
for Holland's first Olympic track and
field medal.
'The Dutchman finished ahead of a
Soviet trio, Setymkul Dshumanazarov
2:11.35, Vladimir Kotov 2:12.05, and
Leonid Moseyev 2:12.14.
SPOR TS OF THE DAILY:
-Ohio St. is team
to boiat, say coaches
By AL FANGER
special to The Daily
CHICAGO - The upper echelon of Big Ten football will continue to be
composed of four teams, concurred the conference coaches at yesterday's
ninth annual Big Ten kickoff luncheon.
A sizable portion of the represented media also agreed that Ohio State,
Purdue, Michigan and Indiana would be contending for the conference
championship, as well as post-season bowl bids. All four teams appeared in
bowl games following last season.
WITHIN THAT exclusive group of contenders, coaches indicated that
Ohio State is the team to beat. They cited the Buckeyes' quick, agile defense,
which returns eight starters this season, as the advantage that places them
in a favorable position to win the title.
"Last year there were a lot of predictions about our team, and luckily
they were wrong," said Buckeye coach Earle Bruce. "This year there are
once again a lot of predictions, and I hope to hell they're right."
The event, which was held in the Palmer House Hotel, gave both the
press and the public an opportunity to meet the Big Ten's two newest
coaches - Frank "Muddy" Waters of Michigan State and Mike White of
Illinois.
SPEAKING AT A press conference, Waters expressed uncertainty
about his team's strengths relative to the rest of the conference.
"I can't tell you much about our team, because I don't know much about
our team," said Waters, who came to MSU from Saginaw Valley State
College.
When asked if the Spartans' offensive line would be capable of opening
gaps for their talented backfield corps, Waters replied, "No. But anybody
(among the media) who has any eligibility left should see me."
D'ver
HEIDELBERG, West Germany (AP)
-Formula One driver Patrick
Depailler was killed yesterday when his
Affa Romeo hit a guard rail and flipped
over during a private testing session at
the Hockenheimring race course.
The 35-year-old Frenchman -was
pronounced dead on arrival at the near-
by Heidelberg University Clinic.
A track spokesman said the cause of
the accident probably would not be
determined because the car nearly
disintegrated in the crash.
Depailler, who was killed eight days
before his 36th birthday, began his auto
racing career in 1966 after campaigning
motorcycles for several seasons. He
won a European championship in For-
mula Two in 1974 and earned a ride with
Ken Tyrrell's Formula One team in
1972.
Barrett sets record
IRVINE, Calif. (AP)-Lanky Bill
Barrett, who lives in Alpharretta, Ga.,
and attends UCLA, broke the world
record yesterday with a time of 2
minutes 3.24 seconds in the 200 meter
individual medley at the United States
Swimming Championships.
Barrett's record came in an event not
swum in Olympic competition. For the
individual medal, laps are swum in first
the butterfly followed by the
backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle.
Barrett's world record was the third
set in this week long program at the
outdoor, 50-meter pool of Heritage
Park.
Tracy Caulkins of Nashville, Tenn.,
already a triple winner-although one
was a tie, was first among the qualifiers
for the women's 200 individual medley.
kiled
Twitty leads
PHILADELPHIA (AP)-Howard
Twitty, who says he has never played
better golf over a sustained period in
his pro career, tied the course 36-hole
record of 130 yesterday and held a two-
stroke lead in the $250,000 Philadelplia
Golf classic.
With all his birdies-he hasn't bogeyd
a hole in two rounds-Twitty is just two
strokes ahead of Mark Hayes, the
veteran pro from Oklahoma.
Track meet set
MOSCOW (AP) - Intermediate
hurdler Edwin Moses will lead 85 mem-
bers of the U.S. Olympic track team in
a meet in Rome Aug. 5 featuring at,
least 22 Olympic champions, including
eight Soviets, the organizers announced
Friday.
The meet will be attended by com-
petitors from West Germany and
Kenya, who have boycotted the Olym-
pics along with the United States. The
program will include 16 men's events
and four women's races.