Word: maki
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...Goteborg track meet, Haegg ran a mile in 4:06.2, two-tenths of a second under the record set by Britain's Sydney Wooderson in 1937.* Two days later, at Stockholm, he ran two miles in 8:47.8 -to shatter Finn Taisto Maki's pending out door mark by five seconds and Montanan Gregory Rice's indoor mark by three...
...conspicuous U. S. runner. But suddenly, within a fortnight he set new world's indoor records for two miles and three miles. Instead of an affair as one-sided as the Russian invasion of Finland, the Garden race looked like a square shake, particularly at Maki's favorite distance, three miles. Rice's style sports a fast sprint to the tape. Maki's formula is an almost imperceptible acceleration, pulling farther & farther away from his opponent un til he has an invulnerable lead. If Rice could dog Maki's heels for two and a half...
...they started churning around the Garden boards-Maki, loping along with hands held low like a cross-country runner-chesty, short-legged Greg Rice showing that he had as much sisu (fighting spirit) as any Finn. Mincing along in his pony gait, he stuck to Maki's heels, moving forward when Maki (coached by Tutor Nurmi, standing stop watch in hand in the infield) moved forward. For 31 laps the Notre Damer and the Finn were so close together that the Miraculous Medal on Rice's chest practically beat a tattoo on Maki's back...
...steamed up. Off went Rice like a quarter-miler. While 14,000 spectators stood on their toes and yelled themselves hoarse-and Tutor Nurmi sank forlornly to a wooden bench in the infield-Rice tore around the Garden like a tornado, broke the tape 28 yards in front of Maki, 20 yards in front of onetime Record-Holder Don Lash, who had also whizzed past the Finn. Rice's time (13:52.3) not only broke the world's record he set six weeks ago, but was only ten seconds short of the mark Maki made outdoors in Finland...
While track experts predicted an unprecedented boom of three-mile racing in the U. S., Maki's sympathizers (of whom there are many) explained his defeat: 1) he had come to the U. S. directly from the Karelian front, 2) he had attended too many banquets "for Finland," 3) he was unaccustomed to running on small saucers and board floors. Let Maki meet Rice outdoors some time* and track fans will see the real Flying Finn, they added...