Greatest U.S. Team Ever

On the eve of the games, bitterness still flared in Melbourne's Olympic Village. Officials waited nervously to see whether any more nations would pull out; the Hungarian team tore down the Communist flag, hoisted, black-draped, a Hungarian flag with the Kossuth arms. But the big news was about the U.S. .team.

For weeks U.S. track buffs had been singing the blues because of injuries and poor pre-Australian performances. Only Coach Jim Kelly was unperturbed, and last week reports from Melbourne about warmup sessions proved him correct. Minnesota's Fortune Gordien ambled out to the practice field and spun his discus in a casual. 195-ft. toss that bettered his own world record. California's Cy Young, holder of the 1952 Olympic javelin mark (242 ft. 3/4 in.), broke that record by flinging his spear 256 ft.

Next day, in a tune-up meet at Geelong, 45 miles away, the U.S. team put on a spectacular performance. Nearly all the injured had recovered; they bore down and won six out of eight events, swept the first three places in four of them. Parry O'Brien, world's best shotputter, got off a 60 ft. 4 1/2 in. toss to stay in front of Teammates Bill Nieder and Ken Banturn. California's Bob Richards and Bob Gutowski cleared 14 ft. 8 in. and George Mattos reached 14 ft. to dominate the pole vault. Lanky Charley Dumas, only man ever to high jump 7 ft. officially, settled for 6 ft. 6 in., two inches ahead of Teammates Phil Reavis and Vern Wilson. High Hurdlers Jack Davis, Lee Calhoun and Joel Shankle also finished 1, 2, 3. In a later meet, Davis set a world's 120-yd. high-hurdle record at 13.3 sec.

For all the heartening U.S. achievements, the heartbreaking failure of Australia's John Landy spoiled the day. Testing his sore legs for the first time in weeks against topflight competition, the world's fastest miler finished eleventh in a two-mile run. "This could be the end," said the dejected champ. "Every step was an effort. There's no time to get fit."

There was time for Russian observers to get a striking view of U.S. power, and Soviet Coach Gabriel Korobkov was properly impressed. "This U.S. team," said he, "is the greatest ever assembled by any country any time."

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