Billy Mills
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William "Billy" Mills (born June 30, 1938) is the only American ever to win a Olympic gold medal in the 10,000 m run which he did at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. That race has been called the greatest upset in Olympic history.
Born in Pine Ridge, South Dakota, Billy Mills, a Native American (Oglala Lakota (Sioux)), was raised on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. He was orphaned at the age of 12. Mills took up running while attending the Haskell Institute, which is now known as Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kansas. Both a boxer and a runner in his youth, Mills gave up boxing to focus on running. He attended the University of Kansas on an athletic scholarship. He was named a NCAA All-America cross country runner three times and in 1960 he won the individual title in the Big Eight cross country championship. The University of Kansas track team won the 1959 and 1960 outdoor national championships while Mills was on the team.
After graduating with a degree in physical education Mills became a lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps. He gave up running for a while, then returned to it. Mills qualified for the 1964 Summer Olympics on the U.S. Track and Field Team in the 10,000 m run and the marathon.
No American had ever won the 10,000 m before Billy Mills did it, and no American has done it since.
The favorite in 1964 was Ron Clarke of Australia who held the world record. The runners expected to challenge him were defending champion Pyotr Bolotnikov of the Soviet Union, and Murray Halberg of New Zealand, who had won the 5000 m in 1960.
Mills was a virtual unknown. He had finished second in the U.S. Olympic trials. His time in the preliminaries was a whole minute slower than Clarke's.
Indeed, Clarke set the tone of the race. His tactic of surging every other lap appeared to be working. Halfway through the race only four runners were still with Clarke: Mohammed Gammoudi of Tunisia, Mamo Wolde of Ethiopia, Kokichi Tsuburaya of Japan, and Mills. Tsuburaya, the local favorite, lost contact first, then Wolde. With two laps to go only two runners were still with Clarke. On paper, it seemed to be Clarke's race. He had run a world record time of 28:15.6 while neither Gammoudi nor Mills had ever run under 29 minutes.
Mills and Clarke were running together with Gammoudi right behind as they entered the final lap. They were lapping other runners and, down the backstretch, Clarke was boxed in. He pushed Mills once, then again. Then Gammoudi pushed them both and surged into the lead as they rounded the final curve. Clarke recovered and began chasing Gammoudi while Mills appeared to be too far back to be in contention. Clarke failed to catch Gammoudi but Mills sprinted past them both. His winning time of 28:24.4 was almost 50 seconds faster than he had ever run before.
Mills later set U.S. records for 10,000 m and the three mile run, and a world record for the six mile run.
Billy Mills was inducted into the United States Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1976, and the United States Olympic Hall of Fame in 1984. He is also in the National Distance Running Hall of Fame, the Kansas Hall of Fame, the San Diego Hall of Fame, and the National High School Hall of Fame.
Billy Mills is the subject of the 1984 film Running Brave, starring Robby Benson.
See also
External links
- USA Track and Field Hall of Fame - Billy Mills (http://www.usatf.org/HallOfFame/TF/showBio.asp?HOFIDs=110)
- Kansas University Athletics - Track & Field (http://kuathletics.collegesports.com/sports/c-track/kan-c-track-body.html)
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