1975 Miracle Mile: Filbert Bayi runs

[@judithsands9266]

We watched this live in the UK and willed him round that last lap, Filbert a Legend

[@jefferygordon4162]

I Remember this race like it was yesterday. I was a 17 year old high school student. I was in the National Stadium Kingston Jamaica. I never paid to get in (confession is good for the soul) My older brother Bancroft and I climb over the wall into the bleachers and then from the bleachers we climb the fence into the grandstand. what I remember most was the crowd shouting " Africa, Africa, Africa" to celebrate Bayi's fantastic run.

[@michaeldamas25]

God is good. You were to see how good our God is for that historic race....the best runners were chasing the fastest bayi.

[@leonietaylor7054]

I was'almost 17 .Went crazy over this dude Loved Bayi my crush🤣

[@mrnanji1]

AS TANZANIAN I AM VERY PROUD OF HIM AND VERY VERY HAPPY - WHAT A MEMORY FOR US.

[@redd605]

I was just wondering did he run the 1976 Olympics or was there a boycott

[@freddymello3227]

Tanzania's true legend

[@AbdallahNorman]

Great Bayi, The Living Legend..!

[@ronharry3068]

Bayi was truly amazing,as were the athletes of that era, fifty years ago! His 3:32 in the commonwealth games still stands!

[@athleticscoach2012]

Bayi the master of front running

[@ericgeorge5483]

Filbert Bayi, the greatest front runner in track history.

[@APBCTechnique]

Exactly !

[@kevinwalker5155]

Instablaster

[@ericgeorge5483]

@@kevinwalker5155 What is an instablaster???

[@shadiidinyo1657]

There is major Nyambui

[@ericgeorge5483]

@@shadiidinyo1657 I had forgotten about Nyambui!!

[@LEAVEtheLIGHTon]

Eamon Coghlan a great favorite of mine surprized Filbert Bayi on the bell ,I dont think he knew he was close and then he took off .Thanks for uploading

[@randyevermore9323]

The way Bayi responded to Coghlan's challenge with just over lap remaining was jaw-dropping. Any mortal would have been demoralized and drifted back into the pack at that point. Not Bayi. He simply stepped on the gas again and tore through a 55-second last lap (last 880 in 1:53.?). It was almost like he was playing rope-a-dope with the others in the race -- several months before Muhammad Ali's famous rope-a-dope fight later that year.

[@cmt51597]

Great, great race....incredible pace for the time...great challenge by Marty, but Bayi just seems too determined to win big. Thanks for this great post.

[@kurtfrancis4621]

Hey, Reggie McAfee....Cincinnati Courter Tech's all-time great...4:08.5 mile / 1:52.5 880yd double win at the 1969 State Class AA meet. Both state records.

[@marknorris1381]

What a runner!

[@michaeldamas25]

Bayi bayi bayi. My dad once told me to be and to do like bayi. While at school bayi was the icon

[@djangorheinhardt]

Martin Liquori,here, is now one of the leading jazz guitarists in America and well known in Jazz circles the world over.He has also been vocal,so I believe,in the denunciation of Lasse Viren and his....er.... aids in his running.(Alleged aids anyway!)

[@jmysterio100]

Ive met Rick Wohlhuter. Tony Waldrop passed away a few years ago.

[@bigbirdcage753]

The first time I ever went stadium.

[@andrewprice3744]

Me too!!!!

[@TheEctomorph]

[Continuing on from my previous 'post' about Mr Filbert Bayi]: better of his great rival - the Kiwi middle-distance star, John Walker - in the 1500 metres final at those Olympics. If Mr Bayi had had the opportunity to compete in Montreal, he would have certainly given Walker a real test. Sadly, by the time the 1980 Olympics came round, the great Tanzanian middle-distance runner was past his physical prime. However, he did manage to win a silver medal at those Games -

[@joecct77]

They cut off the announcement of the official time. When they announced "point zero" the place went nuts.

[@michaellord6884]

It was unfortunate that the black African nations boycotted the Montreal Olympics. Filbert Bayi would have been favourite to win 1500 metre gold.

[@Tubewings]

I read that Bayi was suffering from a bout of malaria before the Olmypics, so even if the boycott didn't happen, there was a chance he wouldn't have been able to compete anyways.

[@bfc3057]

​@@Tubewingsthat's correct

[@andrewprice3744]

I carried to the National Stadium for first time as a young boy by my Father.

[@mandykhoo2473]

This was an odd race by all standards: the pacemaker is the winner?!!! Bayi brilliance

[@FinnMove]

Filbert Bayi was a great and strange athlete. Name another athlete who has guts to use this kind of tactic.

[@runcaz7802]

FinnMove: David Rudisha, albeit the 800. But...your comment was posted prior to London 2012 :-)

[@marknorris1381]

John Ngugi? Ngugi had to because he had no sprint.

[@janeburton238]

The day Coghlan hit the really big time - 2 min 45 secs elaspse before the commentator figures out his name.

[@TheEctomorph]

[Continuing on from my previous 'post' about Mr Filbert Bayi]: one. That said, he did succeed in breaking the great Jim Ryun's world record (for 1 mile) of 3:51.1. Ryun's record lasted for eight years - from May 1967 until May 1975. It is very unfortunate - from Mr Bayi's perspective - that Tanzania was one of the African nations that chose to prevent its athletes from competing in the Montreal Olympic Games, in 1976. We will never know whether this superb athlete would have got the

[@michaeldamas25]

May be in Montreal bayi would have done the miracle and be able to go for the gold!

[@TheEctomorph]

[Continuing on from my previous 'posts' about Mr Filbert Bayi]: in the 3000 metres steeplechase. If he had opted to compete in the 1500 metres at the Moscow Olympics, it is unlikely that he would have been able to match the performances of Steve Ovett and Jurgen Straub - let alone that of the great Sebastian Coe (who, of course, won the Gold in that event). Nevertheless, when Bayi was at the peak of his powers (6 years earlier, in 1974) he was unquestionably a brilliant athlete.

[@LPCLASSICAL]

Bayi at his 3.32 1500M best would have tested Coe in Moscow - but by 1980 he was past his best - Coe was well ahead of him in the late season Zurich 1500M which Coe won in 3.32 looking easy.

[@lanagorgeous9485]

If only Africa didn't boycott the 1976 Olympics, the 1500m would have been epic, an all timer, but without Bayi it was a tactical affair!

[@soulyrasheed]

bayi could run at least 3:48 with william tanui setting the pace...

[@simonsedwards1513]

DEFINITELY!!!!!!!

[@markjones195]

He seems to have run quite wide in the lane plus at an uneven pace. Plus a solo run. Likely would have been first man under 3:50 given modern pacing and running tighter to the rail.

[@ЭдгарГольцов]

Бэйи решил поиграть с соперниками в кошки-мышки и показать что он умеет не только подавлять всех убийственным темпом,но и быстро финишировать. Наградой стал мировой рекорд, жаль только,что не ему удалось покорить рубеж 3.50 ,хотя с моей точки зрения, он заслуживал этого больше Уокера, поскольку был очень смелым, я бы даже сказал -безбашенным бегуном

[@malehumanperson7901]

57 isn't that quick for a first lap. Why did they let him get so far ahead?

[@jmysterio100]

That's 3:48 mile pace.

[@TheEctomorph]

Filbert Bayi was unquestionably a great athlete, when he was young and in his prime. I, for one, do not believe that he ever achieved his full potential at the 1 mile distance. In February 1974 - when he was just 20 years of age - he won the Commonwealth Games title at 1500 metres, setting a world record of 3:32.16 in the process. That time equates to a mile time of 3:49.5, or thereabouts. Sadly, though, the great Tanzanian runner never ran a sub 3:51 second mile; let alone a sub-3:50

[@randyevermore9323]

As I recall, he was taken down by malaria several times during his peak years, like so many great African runners (e.g., Wilson Kipketer). And then there was the African boycott of the 1976 Olympics. I agree, though. He was so brave and had so much potential that went unrealized due to circumstances beyond his control.