De Castella, Salazar & Lopez - Rotterdam 1983

The much anticipated showdown between Robert de Castella and Alberto Salazar to determine who was the best marathon runner in the world. Rotterdam Marathon 1983.

[@jbyesterday3959]

Thanks for the upload.

[@johnsrous1616]

The way de Castella ran his race so easily and never seemed to wear out(although he likely felt he was worn out by the end)he put Salazar away easily. We in the US thought Alberto won win as he had his little streak of big marathon victories going but he took an ass whipping that day.

[@mancebo7]

Guys - "Lopez" is the Spanish version of the Portuguese name "Lopes". It's Carlos Lopes (pronounce "LOPSH" - not "Lopez".)

[@rodjones8411]

Around 4:00, you can see Robert de Castella squeezing sponges down the backs of his legs. For a good number of years after this you would regularly see runners in Australia mimicking this during amateur running events because they thought it was a technique to cool down their legs. The reality was that Deeks had had a diarrhea accident during the race and was cleaning himself! Makes his run even more impressive

[@MrLinwood68]

I always thought Alberto Salazar was a sook when he never use to win. De Castellan - always a class act.

[@jeffreykicia6534]

The same goes for Shorter. I beat him three times and he was never friendly toward me here in Colorado in road races!

[@jeffreykicia6534]

My PR is a 2:18:16 time @ Boston to finish in 52nd place in my first Marathon ever. I cannot image running a 2:08:03 time is super insanity and quite fast. Deek was disappointing @ the Olympics along with Seko of Japan of whom I raced against at Boston where he defeated Virgin, Rodgers, Heffer, Hodge, and Shorter in a time of 2:09:26 and broke the Boston record by one scant second. My 10K time was a 29:33.60 in a NCAA Final my Senior year and a 14:01.84 in the 5,000 meters and made All-American times two.

[@runcaz7802]

Zatopek: Great upload, a real gem!

[@marcopfonsecaBH]

tempo ido e vivido naquela época eu era maratonista e me inspirava nestes caras...

[@vlaco1984]

Hever Morales: Rodolfo Gomez ended up 3th in 2:09'25. Great race, thanks for uploading!

[@paulej2871]

I watched the full marathon live on TV here in Australia....I don't think there has ever been a better 1 on1 final 5km...their times were astonishing They literally flew over the last 1000m...up on their toes sprinting the last 150m...Lopez gave a real insight to his potential for the LA Olympic marathon Mind you I still think the greatest marathon I have ever watched was the 1982 Commonwealth Games race in 1982. Deeks time for that race in those conditions was almost 2 minutes faster than what most good judges were predicting...that 2 hrs 11 minutes would be a really good time...He ran 2:09:18

[@cy8685]

😂😂😂 There have been DOZENS of marathon finishes much faster and closer than this one, with 2 or 3 finishers within one second of each other.

[@peterbedford449]

So? He was stating his opinion, no need to shit all over him. He's just saying he thought it was a great race, and it was. No need to shit all over the guy. Cheers.

[@paulfogartysongs]

oh yeah, me too. I watched it live with a bunch of other university athletes from around Australia - we were all competing at the university games, or something like that, in Sydney. I remember Steve Moneghetti competed at those same games in the 3k or the 5k. From memory he either lapped or damn near lapped the entire field. Like a firestorm. Caliguiri won the 110hurdles, I finished 2nd about a week behind him. lol.

[@thepsychologist8159]

I love de Castella's technique. His arm swing is unorthodox but I actually adopted something similar years ago. The lower arm-swing with side-to-side motion requires less energy than a 'Kipchoge/Farah-style' technique, and it also promotes a higher cadence. Samuel Wanjiru also had a similar technique, and clearly it worked well for him too considering he still holds the marathon record from 2008, achieved in Beijing running a hot and humid race with poor air quality.

[@laureanonascimento151]

Boa noite, tempos bons eu participando da maratona atlântica Boa vista largada e chegada no Leme

[@Hever73]

Rodolfo Gomez is racing here too! what was his place?

[@bmrcoachingacademy8531]

Deek was always the better runner than Salazar. Now off course Salazar has trashed any reputation he had left.

[@tedallison6112]

And now -we see --2:02:57-- ---a country mile ahead of any shown here------not to mention --2:00:25-- compliments of Eluid Kipchoge. 43.03- 400-1:40.91 -800 -7:20.67 3K-12:37 5K-26:17 10K------yep----we' ve entered a New Age for running..............

[@paulfogartysongs]

Salazar must have been in the middle of a clean week.

[@竹島省三]

瀬古がと言うより中村監督がキャステラの影に怯え何度もあったキャステラとの対戦の機会から逃げ続けた結果スケジュールは破綻頭の不自由な瀬古は炎天下の外苑を50km爆走大量の血尿を出し壊れたまま本番へこう見るとキャステラの充実ぶりは凄い。

[@sedwards8870]

Deeeeeeeeeeeek!!!!!!!!!

[@rampart6557]

Salazar always lost the big international races and he bombed at LA in '84. He also carried his hands way too high, which makes your shoulders and upper back tight in distance running and wastes a lot of energy. A great runner in the USA, especially at NYC, but that lousy Oregon program did him no favors. De Castella followed the Lydiard training system, as did Carlos Lopes, and it showed.

[@rodjones8411]

Totally agree. Salazar's running gait is so inefficient: look how badly he heel strikes. In fact it's a testament to Salazar's guts that he was ever world class because he simply does not look like a runner. Similar to Norway's Ingrid Kristenson (spelling?) and Paula Radcliffe

[@geneclemetson4779]

Are you serious? Salazar didn't choose to run like that. That's the way his body is. Did you bother to pay attention to how pigeon toed he is? His physiology didn't allow him to run any other way.

[@竹島省三]

瀬古がた