Word: decathlons
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Joining in the off-hours fun was the great U.S. men's track team. But the days were spent in grim practice for the main events of the Games: the duels this week on the brick-red track of the Olympic Stadium. Decathlon Star Rafer Johnson (TIME cover. Aug. 29), proud flagbearer of the U.S. team in the opening ceremonies, spent up to six hours a day getting ready for his battle with Formosa's Yang Chuan-kwang, and Russia's Vasily Kuznetsov. Foreigners flocked to watch the workouts of another U.S. superstar: Boston University...
...that sense, the decathlon poses an impossible challenge. No one man can ever hope to be the absolute best in all ten events. The lean sprinter will have trouble with the shot; the beefy weight man will lumber through the 100 meters. Worse yet, the events are cunningly alternated so that the competitor has no chance to use the same muscles and reflexes twice in succession. The cumulative effect is numbing. Because of his rare combination of speed and strength, Johnson is at his best in the 100 meters, 400 meters, the javelin, discus and shotput. But his weight...
...have come from Russia's Kuznetsov. At 6 ft. 1 in., 187 lbs., Kuznetsov, by profession a high school science teacher, has neither the size nor the natural talent of Johnson. To make the most of what he has, Kuznetsov has worked laboriously on his technique in each decathlon event since 1953, now exceeds Johnson in the pole vault and 1,500 meters, compares well with him in the broad jump, high jump and discus. Kuznetsov is proudly grooming his five-year-old son with the same thoroughness : "When we wake up in the morning, Vitya jumps...
...expect he will surpass his previous show ing. I am sure that when we meet again in Rome we shall be good friends." Just Poof. Kuznetsov, Johnson, Yang and a husky long shot from Oregon named Dave Edstrom (best score: 8,176) will likely turn the decathlon competition in Rome into the tensest in history. "It's only going to take one bad event to bump a guy right out of a gold medal," says Coach Drake. "A bad start in the sprints, a puff of wind at the wrong time in the high jump or pole vault...
...decathlon, each competitor's performance in each of the ten events is measured against a formidable 78-page book of tables...