• October 16 down the years

A defeat to tug the heart strings

Colette Besson came with a withering late run to pip Lilian Board to victory in the women's 400 metres final © Getty Images

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1968
Olympic track and field events which stirred extreme emotions - and not just if you were British.

Lillian Board was the UK's latest golden girl. The new Mary Rand (October 14, 1964). Blonde and attractive - and talented enough at 19 years old to start the 400 metres final as favourite and control the race. Coming into the final straight, she held a clear lead - and, although she didn't increase it, no-one came back at her. Until suddenly... For British viewers, the last fifty yards still make difficult viewing - partly because you know this was Board's only Olympic Games: she died young before the next one. She seemed to be maintaining her pace at the end of the race - but someone else seemed to be accelerating. Long black hair flapping, Colette Besson of France came through in a middle lane to catch our Lillian just before the line. Excruciating now as it was then. The women's 400 was still a relatively undeveloped event - so despite Mexico City's helpful high altitude, Besson's winning time was slower than the 1964 final, when another British girl had started as favourite. Board recovered to win two gold medals at the European Championships a year later, including a thrilling revenge over Besson (September 20).

In Mexico, the big race outside British households was the final of the men's 200 metres. Spectacular in itself and hugely famous for its aftermath. The favourites were US team-mates Tommie Smith and giant John Carlos. Smith held the world record of 20.0 seconds - but Carlos had run 19.7 in illegal 'brush spikes' (September 12) and he was installed as favourite when Smith pulled a groin muscle during his semi-final. Maybe this played on Carlos' mind. Maybe he expected to win the final relatively easily against an injured rival - an expectation which must have increased when Carlos led by nearly two yards coming off the bend. But Smith had great strength over the last half of a 200 metre race (he'd once set a world record at 400), and now his groin held together as he came whistling down the last fifty.

But of course this was a race remembered more for its medal ceremony, which Smith and Carlos turned into a protest about racial inequality in the USA. Smith wore a black scarf, Carlos a string of beads in memory of black people murdered by lynch mobs, and they both had bare feet to symbolise poverty. Their stance on the medal rostrum is one of the great iconic images: heads bowed, black gloves, one arm held straight out above their heads. The IOC, who forced US officials to send Smith and Carlos home, came out of this very badly. Peter Norman didn't. An Australian who ran the race of his life to pip Carlos for the silver, Norman wore a civil rights badge on the rostrum. When he died, Smith and Carlos were pall-bearers at his funeral. 'Pete became my brother in that moment,' said Smith. Yes, said Carlos, but the big thing was 'I didn't know a white guy could run so fast.'

The air in Mexico may have contributed to higher standards in the pole vault, though improved technology was the real ingredient: stronger and more flexible poles led to the Olympic record being equalled or broken an incredible 33 times. Claus Schiprowski of West Germany came into the Games with a personal best of only 5.18 metres. He improved it five times to 5.40, losing the gold medal only on countback. Near the end of the competition, the Smith-Carlos medal ceremony took place. The whistling and booing which greeted it may have disturbed the concentration of three tired vaulters, and none of them could clear 5.45. Apart from the 1906 Intercalated Games, American vaulters had won the event at every Olympics. But Bob Seagren was the last for 32 years (September 29). East Germany's Wolfgang Nordwig won the bronze - and a controversial gold against Seagren in 1972 (September 2).

Meanwhile there were high jinks in the 3,000 meters steeplechase, especially at the water jump. Kenyan outsider Amos Biwott didn't like getting his feet wet. Instead of pushing off from the barrier and landing in the water, he jumped clear of it altogether, landing on the same foot he took off from. Inefficient style or not, it kept him in contention at the last hurdle, and he outsprinted his more fancied team mate Ben Kogo to win the gold.

1994
Andrea de Cesaris drove his last World Championship race in Formula 1. It was his 208th, the most by any driver who never won one. While Michael Schumacher was winning the European Grand Prix in Jerez on his way to becoming world champion for the first time, throttle trouble forced de Cesaris's Sauber to retire after 37 laps. He finished on the podium only five times in all those Grands Prix, partly because he was prang-prone early in his career ('de Crasheris'), and because he drove many of them in uncompetitive cars: Alfa Romeo, Rial, Dallara, first-year Jordan...

2004
The first professional snooker player to make a break of more than 147. Yes, you read that right. During a qualifying match in Prestatyn for the UK Championship, Leo Fernandez gave away a free ball before any had been potted. Jamie Burnett took the brown as an extra red, then added a maximum 147. Because it was a qualifier, Burnett didn't receive a financial bonus for the break. In 2009, he made his second appearance in the final stages of the World Championship, 13 years after his first, a gap which equalled the tournament record.

In 2005, John Higgins thrashed Ronnie O'Sullivan 9-2 in the Grand Prix final. On the way, he became the first to make a century in each of four consecutive frames of a major professional event, and set another record by scoring 494 points in a row.

Jack Johnson was a giant in the ring © Getty Images

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In 1994, the day before his 25th birthday, US Open champion Ernie Els beat Colin Montgomerie 4&2 to win the World Matchplay for the first time. Els had a three-shot lead after nine holes, lost it by the end of the first round, then in the afternoon took an immediate lead which he never lost. Montgomerie pulled back to only one behind at the 10th, but Els kept succeeding with difficult shots in tight situations. While Monty just failed to sink an 18-footer at the short 14th, Els knocked his in from 17. The shot that won the title was typical of his day. Three up with three to play, he hooked his tee shot into thick rough with overhanging trees in the way. Instead of using a wedge to smash his way out, Els took an eight-iron and batted the ball along the ground to within eight feet of the hole. He won the event for a record seventh time in 2007 (October 14). Monty won it in 1999.

1909
The punch to end them all. White America was so desperate to take the world heavyweight title back from Jack Johnson that they started looking downwards. With no good white big 'uns around, they asked a good little 'un. Stanley Ketchel was the reigning world champion at middleweight. He was a savage fighter ('The Michigan Assassin') who could take it as well as dish it out - but he had no illusions. Johnson was not only the greatest boxer of his age, he also outweighed Ketchel by 2½ stone and punched his weight. I'll do it for the money, said Stan. But only if he agrees not to hit me too hard. I'll do it as an exhibition. Fair enough, said Johnson's people. We'll put on a show and Jack will carry you the full twenty rounds. Tradition has it that Ketchel agreed to this but formulated a cunning plan. When Johnson least expected it, he'd hit him with a real punch, hoping to knock him out when he was unawares. But the alternative story looks more likely. Ketchel claimed that Johnson had agreed not to draw blood. But there's clearly some red stuff on his face in the video - and Johnson smacks him around rather harder than strictly necessary. So what happened in the 12th round may well have sprung from exasperation and anger. As they came out of a clinch, Ketchel threw a right hand from miles back that caught Johnson full in the face as he began to half-duck. Down went the giant, up went white spectators' hats. Up got their black bogeyman, down went the uppity middleweight. As Ketchel started another big punch, Johnson hit him so hard with his own right hand that the follow-through forced him to jump over Stanley's body. Ketchel was spark out, and legend has it that two of his teeth were found in Big Jack's glove! Looking for further barrels to scrape, someone dragged Jim Jeffries out of retirement to fight Johnson (July 4). Ketchel hadn't defended the middleweight title again by the time he was shot dead the following year (October 15).

1964
The first backstroker to swim the 100 metres in under a minute. In the final of the medley relay at the Olympic Games, Tom Mann led the USA off with a time of 59.6 which broke the world record he'd set the month before. The USA became the first quartet to go under four minutes.

On the athletics track, Britain's John Cooper ran the same time as European champion Salvatore Morale to win silver in the 400 metres hurdles. But American world record holder Warren 'Rex' Cawley was a clear winner. Britain won two medals in the same event four years later (October 15). Cooper died in a major plane crash in 1974 (March 3).

Athletes from New Zealand and Poland retained Olympic titles today. In 1960, Peter Snell's victory in the 800 metres was a complete shock. When he won it again now, it was utterly predictable. Arguably the greatest ever at this distance, he put in one of his muscular sprints with 250 yards to go and won easily, His time of 1 minute 45.1 was second only to his world record 1:44.3.

In the triple jump, Jozef Schmidt added four centimetres to his Olympic record of 16.81 to finish ahead of two Soviets. Four years earlier, he'd become the first to jump 17 metres (August 5).

In the qualifying round of the women's javelin, Yelena Gorchakova became the first woman to achieve a ratified throw of over 60 metres. Her 62.40 made her a huge favourite for the final, but she could manage only third behind the 60.54 of 17-year-old Mihaela Peneş from Romania. Gorchakova had won another bronze in 1952: her gap of 12 years 84 days between Olympic medals is a record in track and field. If Peneş had repeated her winning distance four years later, she would have won a second gold instead of a first silver.

Defending champion Elvīra Ozoliņa of the USSR finished fifth in the 1964 javelin after fouling her last four attempts. She felt so embarrassed by her performance that she had all her hair shaved off. Her future husband Jānis Lūsis also won the Olympic javelin - on this same day in 1968, when his last-round 90.10 broke the Olympic record and Finnish hearts.

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