Word: meters
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Suriname won its first gold medal ever at the pool. Anthony Nesty's record swim in the 100-meter butterfly brought out a bright national banner with the wonderful slogan A DIRT WAGON CARRIES DIRT, BUT IT DOES NOT CARRY SHAME. There were old names too. Saving her heptathlon for the coming world championships in Rome, the regal Jackie Joyner-Kersee focused on the long jump and equaled East German Heike Drechsler's 24-ft. 5 1/2-in. world mark. With Carl Lewis standing by for his own turn at the long jump and Greg Louganis still perched on his diving...
...collapse at the end of long races in the high- 90s heat, and medics cool the runners down with towels soaked in ice water. But Eric Tosada, a springy 18-year-old track man from Puerto Rico, doesn't even bother to sit down after clicking off 3,000 meters in 9 min. 38 sec., a new world record for Special Olympians. (The overall world record is 7 min. 32.01 sec.) He bounces around delightedly, and comes to prideful attention when his picture is taken. Another kind of athletic accomplishment is that of George Kelsey of New Jersey, who cannot...
...courage of Juan Alberto Duarte of Paraguay is incandescent. He runs every step of his 300-meter heat with a crooked, skipping swing of his legs, and twice, on nothing but determination, manages to pass the runner ahead of him. But in the end he is last, the ninth of nine. Only eight medals and awards have been prepared. The officials do not know what to do. Eunice Kennedy Shriver does, however. She hotfoots it down from the stands, gives Duarte a second hug and decrees that he get a medal for extraordinary heroism. She is entitled to such expansiveness...
...Beverly, 19, who functions at a second-grade level intellectually, is pleasant and mannerly, but she is shy. Townspeople collected enough money to send her mother and two women coaches along for support. Last Tuesday afternoon she hit her start on the button and ran a fast 8.7 50-meter dash, her personal best by 1.9 seconds, good enough for a bronze medal. Her head coach, Sandy Davis, was so choked up he couldn't talk straight...
...chill bumps and tears in your eyes," said Cindi McCollough, 31, a swimming coach for the Georgia team who had taken time off from work to make the trip. As she spoke, a slightly confused swimmer began to splash through a third lap of a two-lap, 50-meter freestyle race; a coach, fully clothed, dived in to bring him back. It was a funny moment, and everyone laughed. Good manners tell you, of course, that you do not laugh at a mentally handicapped person's blunder. But this, it was clear, was different. The laughter was friendly, and letting...