Billy Mills and the 1964 Olympics
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This summer, the Olympic Games were to be held in Tokyo, but alas! The pandemic pushed the games to 2021, and denied us a chance to watch some great rivalries that were in the making.
Today we take you back five decades and a bit, to the 10,000 m race of the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games! Let’s dive straight in!
The Race
On 14 October 1964, a field of 40 runners lined up in Tokyo, in pursuit of the 10,000 m Gold, at the 1964 Games. One of them was a virtually unknown lanky US athlete by the name of Billy Mills, who had qualified in both the 10,000 m as well as Marathon distances.
Ron Clarke, the Australian world record-holder for the distance, at [28m 15.6s] was the favorite, and was expected to be challenged by defending champion Pyotr Bolotnikov of the Soviet Union, and Murray Halberg of New Zealand, the 5,000 m gold medalist from the 1960 Olympic Games.
Billy Mills, almost a minute slower than Clarke in the qualifying heats and having never run under 29 mins, was not expected to be in the picture.
The Halfway Mark
Ron Clarke seized control early on and led the field at world-record pace, using a tactic of surging every other lap, to wear down his opponents.
At the 5,000 m mark, Mills was among the four runners still keeping up with him, but struggling to do so.
The others were local favorite Kokichi Tsuburaya, Mohammed Gammoudi of Tunisia, and Mamo Wolde of Ethiopia.
“I stayed with the pack,” Mills said. “At that point I thought I’m going to be with him down to the finish.”
Tsuburaya lost contact first. Mills pushed on, summoning his reserves, and briefly shot to the front of the field as well. Clarke grabbed back the lead, but slowed down the pace however.
With 2 laps to go, it was Clarke, Gammoudi, Mills and Wolde. Then Wolde dropped back, leaving three in the chase for Gold.
Mills stepped in at the front of this group, hoping to pick up the pace, and lead all the way to the finish. But Clarke overtook him, and yet again, unexpectedly, slowed it down a bit.
“That was like the telling point, I’ve got a chance to win,” Mills thought to himself.
The 25th and final lap.
As they went past the bell, Mills pulled up alongside Clarke’s shoulder and moved slightly ahead around the first bend. But Clarke responded immediately and his right arm pushed Mills, who stumbled into the next lane.
Mills was low on sugar at that point, he felt the beginnings of numbness and slightly blurred vision. But he fought through it and stayed close enough, to ‘be pulled along’ by Clarke. Gammoudi had taken the lead at this point
"I decided with 120 metres to go I'd make one final try to win,” he said.
The Finish
Mills knew where his wife was sitting, 14 rows up and 90 metres from the finish. That was the designated point from where he would launch his final kick.
“I start lifting my knees, lengthening my stride, pumping my arms,” he said. “My body’s not reacting. I almost panicked. I’m like, ‘I can’t let it happen’.”
Mills remembered that he had eaten a candy bar 20 minutes before the race and how it had given him a boost of energy. He reached deep down inside himself, and regained that same energy again.
“I felt, ‘I’m going to win. I may not get to the finish line first. I may never be this close again. I’ve got to do it now’,” he said.
“I can win, I can win,” Mills thought coming into the last stretch. “One final time, I can win. It was so powerful.”
Mills came seemingly out of nowhere, on the outside, putting on a breath-taking burst of speed over the final 50 metres.
As he blew past first Clarke and then Gammoudi, NBC TV analyst Dick Bank was screaming the famous words: “Look at Mills! Look at Mills!”
“I’m lifting my knees, pumping my arms,” Mills said, “and the tape breaks across my chest.”
Gold medal. Olympic record.
Mills’ winning time of [28m 24.4s] was an Olympic record, and only 9 seconds off the WR! He finished 50 seconds faster than his previous best! Gammoudi took silver in [28m 24.8s] and Clarke bronze in [28m 25.8s]
Billy Mills was an unknown runner at the start, he was a star by the end of it.
There’s something radically inspiring about the words, “You’re almost done.”
He was in third place until the very last minute of the race. It was as if he was struck by a bolt of lightning, to blaze past the rest.
His win is considered one of the greatest and most historic upsets in Olympic history.
https://visualwisdom.substack.com/
Epilogue
Only 7 days after the 10,000m gold medal ceremony, in which he felt he did not belong, Billy Mills ran the 1964 Olympic marathon and was among the leading contenders for much of the race.
Eventually, he finished a respectable 14th.
Power of Small Wins - The Goal Gradient Effect
Coined by behaviorist Clark Hull in 1932, the Goal Gradient Effect states that as people get closer to a reward, they speed up their behavior to get to their goal faster.
In other words, people are motivated by how much is left to reach their target, not how far they’ve come.
It makes sense to give it your all when the target is closest to you. Why waste that precious energy for a target that is far away?
Fast forward to the modern world, we are chasing goals and deadlines. The closer the goals appear to us, the more energy we are willing to expend.
As Hull put in his original research:
“Rats in a maze run faster as they near the food box than at the beginning of the path.”
So, how does this benefit me?
Say you are trying to lose weight, it will help to set smaller goals.
Add more stops to celebrate your weight loss journey (0.25 - 0.5 kg / week), instead of making it a long slog (20 kg in 6 months time)
If you are trying to read more, set smaller daily targets, maybe 3 pages / day? Instead of tasking yourself with getting through an entire book in a month.
Similarly, if you are trying to build a business, why not set smaller goals? 20 new customers a day, instead of 400 new customers every month.
https://www.conversion-uplift.co.uk/glossary-of-conversion-marketing/goal-gradient-effect/
If you want to reach a goal, you must ‘see the reaching’ in your own mind before you actually arrive at your goal.” - Zig Ziglar
What We’re Reading
How businesses like Uber, Duolingo, Starbucks and LinkedIn use The Goal Gradient Effect to drive customer engagement and loyalty.
Race Update
The London Marathon, scheduled on 4th October this year, has created a ‘Bio-secure Bubble’ for its elite runners.
All runners will stay in the same hotel, and will be allowed to train on the surrounding 40 acres.
Let’s hope we get to see a closely fought challenge this year to the dominance of Eliud Kipchoge over the last two years.
That’s a wrap from us!
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Stay healthy, stay fit, and stay safe! <3
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