Word: bendlin
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Toomey modestly insists that "behind every good decathlon man there's a good doctor," and indeed the demands of the brutal competition are enough to strain the strongest body. Kurt Bendlin, West Germany's world record holder, arrived in Mexico City complaining of two sore knees and tendonitis in one elbow. Toomey had a pulled hip muscle for which he was being treated with cortisone. Even so, in the first test, the 100-meter dash, Toomey hit the tape in 10.4 sec., best time of the day and good enough for 959 points under the complicated decathlon scoring...
...when I missed the opening height on my first two attempts," said Toomey. He pulled himself together to vault 13 ft. 91 in., tying his personal record. A 206-ft. i-in. javelin throw kept him in first place, a bare 61 points ahead of West Germany's Bendlin, who had moved into second with a monumental heave...
...gold medal was riding on the last event, the 1,500 meter run. If he could beat Toomey by 10 sec. or so, Bendlin could still win. But he never came close. Gasping in the thin air, every muscle rubbery with fatigue, Toomey led all but a few strides of the way and drove to victory by 30 yds. Final score for the ten events: Toomey 8,193; Bendlin 8,064-a total that dropped the West German to third, behind his countryman Hans-Joachim Walde, who had also run a faster 1,500. "That was the worst competition...
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