At the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, little-known American runner Billy Mills achieved what many believe to have been the greatest upset in Olympic running history. He defeated world-record-holder Ron Clarke and a global field in the 10,000-meter final.
To this day, Mills is the only American to have won Olympic Gold at the classic 25-lap distance. You can watch his famous last-lap sprint here on YouTube.
It's less well known that Mills also qualified for and ran the Olympic Marathon in 1964. He doesn't clearly remember the latter stages of that race, as he nearly blacked out from hypoglycemia. But he finished 14th in 2:22:54.
In this podcast, Mills talks about:
# Growing up on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation as a member of the Oglala Lakota people
# Attending Kansas University, where he began to dream of Olympic success
# Joining the U.S. Marines after college
# Where he got the courage and confidence to challenge Ron Clarke in the Olympic 10,000 meter race
# A final 200-meter speed session 4 days before the 10,000, where he clocked 23.3 from a standing start# The true meaning of an Olympic championship
# His family's plans to attend their 14th Olympics this summer in Paris
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