ATHLETICS WEEKLY SPECIAL REPORT
The Sixties sprint legend in kidney transplant rehab as Powell breaks his 100 yards world record
By Randy York, June 3rd 2010
Our correspondent caught up with Charlie Greene, the 1968 Olympic 100m bronze medallist, four days after his historic mark was erased from the record books
Charlie Greene, who at the age of 65 has only just lost the world 100 yards record he set in 1967, as he was in his heyday
A condensed version of the following story appeared in the June 3 edition of Athletics Weekly, available in stores in the United Kingdom and online – click here for a free trial copy.
AS Asafa Powell officially revised the 43-year-old world record for 100 yards in Ostrava last week, the previous holder, Charlie Greene, was in rehab after a kidney transplant and unable to walk.
Three and a half months after receiving a new kidney, the third man to run sub-10 seconds for 100m is moving a lot slower but still upbeat.
The 65-year-old, who won the 1968 Olympic 100m bronze medal and ran 9.21 for 100 yards in 1967, said on Monday: “My new kidney is working well. It’s the body that’s old, and my biggest problem now is the neck surgery I had last year before the transplant. Those two things together have slowed the progress and caused problems, but I am back in a rehab facility and ready to do all of the hard work that’s required for me to walk again.”
Charlie has spent so much time in hospitals and rehab that he can’t perform the fundamentals required to walk.
“Every day in a hospital takes away your ability to use your muscles,” he said.
He has been dismissed three times from the University of Nebraska Medical Center and another three times from rehab facilities. A month ago, he was hospitalised for having water on his heart and lungs.
“I was sent home once and when I got home, I couldn’t breathe, so I was sent right back,” Charlie said. “My oxygen level was very low.”
It took a week to stabilise Charlie’s condition, but he pushes forward with courage and hope.
“I’m tired of everything I’ve been through, and I’m way behind in the recovery I thought I was going to have, but mentally, I’m starting to kick back to where I need to be,” he said. “Today I’m starting a new program, and it’s really going to test my mettle. I fully expect to walk by the time I get out of here.”
For once, though, he isn’t putting unrealistic demands on himself, so his body has time to adapt to a fully functioning kidney. Instead of next week or next month, he’s setting his goals for later in the summer and is focusing primarily right now on “getting better every day.”
Charlie Greene pictured with University of Nebraska athletics director Tom Osborne (left) and billionaire Warren Buffett (right)
While he works hard to meet his goals, Charlie has done a lot of thinking and has some advice for all of his friends in track and field around the world.
“Enjoy your good life while you have it and remember to give back to track and field,” he said. “You hear so many good programs ask for coaches in soccer, baseball and football. Well, what we need to do as track and field people is get out there and give back to the programs that have given so much to us.
“When your running days are over, contact a track club and tell that club that you’d love to volunteer what you know and believe in, so you can help young kids reach their goals like your reached yours. I did a little bit of that for a Lincoln high school, and I enjoyed it. I got more back than I probably gave. Kids are like sponges these days. They want to learn, and they need someone to teach them.
“When I coach sprinters, I tell them I cannot make them fast. Their parents and their genetics make them fast. I can only teach them how to be quicker by employing biomechanics and proper technique. The secret is to teach them how to run in straight lines. I tell them not to run with the idea of winning the race, but to run correctly so they can be the very best they can be.”
Charlie encourages others to do the same thing with the events they know best.
Greene on Bolt
Regarding Usain Bolt, Greene said: “Each generation has its ‘world’s fastest human’. Today he is the world’s fastest human. The world’s fastest human is a title. You do not keep it. Once you go to the Olympics and win a medal, you then become part of history.”
Powell ends the imperial age
IT WAS the end of an era. The 100 yards, one of the most famous distances in athletics history, had an official world record dating from 1967 – until last week.
American legend Charlie Greene’s 9.21 was the quickest officially measured, automatic time for the historic event, which was more commonly run than the 100 metres in Britain and the United States until the second half of the last century.
Although the 100m has always been the distance used in the modern Olympics, Britain’s AAA Championships included the imperial distance until 1968, while the Americans held out until well into the Seventies.
Many have since run quicker of course. Indeed, when he set his world 100m record of 9.58 in Berlin last year, Usain Bolt probably covered the first 100 yards (91.44m) in 8.86 seconds.
There have also been faster hand-timed, “manual” clockings, but such do not count as records.
However, seven days ago in Ostrava, the organisers set up equipment to record 100-yard splits – and for the first time someone was clocked electronically as quicker than Greene.
At last Powell’s 9.07 en route to his 9.83 win in the Czech Republic brings the world record at this archaic but emblematic distance up to date.
The history of the 100 yards
Briton Arthur Wharton is said to be the first official world record-holder as he clocked 10.0 in 1886.
The 10-second barrier was broken for the first time in 1890 – by J Owen (not to be confused with Jesse Owens) at 9.8.
By 1924, Chariots of Fire legend Eric Liddell had brought the British record down to 9.7.
Jesse Owens tied the world record with 9.4 in 1933. -
Charlie Greene ran 9.21 at altitude in Provo, Utah, on June 16, 1967.
Bob Hayes (9.1 in 1964), John Carlos (9.1 in 1969), Houston McTear (9.0) and Ivory Crockett (9.0 in 1974) have all been clocked quicker manually.
Asafa Powell was electronically clocked at 9.07 in Ostrava on May 27, 2010.