Dave Wottle's 800m Gold Medal Win at Olympics Video!

[BGSU33]

I have often heard about the race, but I never saw it until this video. Simply incredible.....he goes from dead last in the pack (by a good bit too) to start the race, then closes the gap, and then he just turned it on down the stretch for a photo finish!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LHid-nC45k

[BGFan]

I remember watching that live. I was all of 13 years old at the time.

[h2oville rocket]

I have often heard about the race, but I never saw it until this video. Simply incredible.....he goes from dead last in the pack (by a good bit too) to start the race, then closes the gap, and then he just turned it on down the stretch for a photo finish!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LHid-nC45k

Wottle had good foot speed for a distance guy. He was going to win most races with a slow pace for that reason alone.

[BGSU33]

Dave Wottle is on the front cover of the current issue of the BGSU magazine. Watching him run that race never gets old!

[BGSU33]

Just watched the video again, seems to get better every time I see it. Is there anyone of this board who was in school when this happened? I know the ability to view and share technology wasn't anything like it is today, but did this cause a big stir on campus? Over 40 years later and before I was born, this run is still a thrill to see. Just wondered what the energy was like for those at the time.

[factman]

I was just back from Vietnam and remember the parade for Wottle. Also remember the MAC championships at BG which I think was his senior year.

[fredthefalcon]

I wasn't on campus when the gold medal was won, but I was on campus when Wottle was running for BG as a freshman and soph. BG's Men's track, particularly long distance running was elite in those days. In fact, the bigger name on the track team at that time was Sid Sink, who I believe was an NCAA cross country champ or at the very least an All American.

[factman]

Sid was the American record holder for the steeplechase for a time, if I remember correctly.

[Falconfreak90]

Awesome...simply awesome. Love the references to Canton Oh and BOWLING GREEN STATE from the legendary Jim McKay.

[BGSU33]

Awesome...simply awesome. Love the references to Canton Oh and BOWLING GREEN STATE from the legendary Jim McKay.

I can't help but get a kick out of hearing him say "he (Wottle) got married, and some people said he shouldn't have gotten married, that it would ruin him." ha ha

[h2oville rocket]

I was at UT that year and ran against Wottle my freshman year. BG and the MAC in general were nationally prominent in track with several NCAA champs, "the World's Fastest Man" in Hasley Crawford from EMU in 1976 and Wottle who also struck Olympic gold in one of the smartest races you'll ever see. BG finished second in the NCAA one year in the indoor meet. Sink was All-American in both track and X-country a total of ten times, more than any other Falcon, I believe-he was NCAA champ in the steeple, not sure if he was the American record holder but he was awfully good. I ran in the MAC championships at BG in I think, 1973. It was a preview of the NCAA's best in some events. Al Schotterman and Jacques Accambray from Kent were 1-2 in the nation in the hammer, Rick Dowswell of OU was an Olympian for Canada and NCAA champ in the javelin, Bruno Pauletto was an Olympian for Canada in the shot, Wottle, of course, for the US and Crawford for Trinidad-Tobago. Very sad to see men's track all but disappear-

[unfalconbelievable]

I wasn't even alive when this race was ran. What an incredible acheivement. Brings tears to my eyes ever time with McCays call.

The crazy thing is that he was so far off the leaders pace they actually thought he was injured and had to pan to a seperate camera angle because he wouldn't fit in the screen.

Wow......wow......still amazing 41 years later.