Decathlon Sweep

Out to break his own world decathlon record in the Olympics last week, Bob Mathias, the U.S.'s one-man track team, felt "pretty licked" after the first chilly, overcast day. He took second in the 100-meter dash, then won the shotput and the 400-meter run in his fastest time, 50.2 sec. In the high jump he placed third with a 6-ft.-2.81-in. leap, a shade off his best ever. But in the broad jump he pulled a thigh muscle and placed sixth. At day's end he was running 27 points behind the record pace he had set in the Olympic tryouts back home in Tulare, Calif.

As the second decathlon day dawned murky and cold, the friendly Finns, concerned with Bob's performance, gave him a helper. A "wonderful little Finnish official," whose name Bob could not pronounce, trailed Mathias with a scoring book, told him "just how well I had to do to break the record." That was all Tulare's No. 1 citizen needed. He won his 110-meter high hurdle heat and the discus throw. Still 99 points behind his record pace, he took third in the pole vault at 13 ft. 1.47 in., his best vault by 0.72 in. Bob was urged by his faithful scorekeeper to do even better in the two final events. As darkness fell, Bob threw the javelin 194 ft. 3.15 in. to win the event. At 9:40 that evening, by the ghostly light of the Olympic torch, he took off on the 1,500-meter run. Pacing himself to the limit, he sliced 4.5 sec. off his previous best time, placed fourth in his heat, lurched to a dead halt 10 feet past the finish line.

At 10:30, Bob Mathias left a mob of newsmen and radio sportcasters in his dressing room, came out and trotted once more around the track to the roar of 5,000 diehard fans. He had racked up a total of 7,887 points, 62 points better than his own world record. But the cheering was not all for the pride of Tulare: his two team mates, New Jersey's 1 8-year-old Milton Campbell and North Carolina's Floyd Simmons had nailed down second and third places for a U.S. sweep of the Olym pics' most demanding test.

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