BILLY MILLS
The Olympic Legend
The Olympic Legend
Posted December 14th, 2006 at 9:19 AM by Jenna Sumara
Section: News & Results, Motivation, Columns, Olympics, SPOTLIGHT
This is part two of the 5-part series: “BILLY MILLS: Overlooked Hero of Running” (Links to the other installments in this series are located at the conclusion of this article).
Billy Mills was born in Pine Ridge, South Dakota on June 30, 1938 in the Oglala Sioux Indian reservation. Billy’s Lakota name is Makata Taka Hela meaning “love your country” or more traditionally translated, “respects the earth”.
After losing his parents when he was only 12-yrs old, Mills became involved with running at the Haskell Institute; an Indian school located in Lawrence, Kansas. In the late 1950’s, Mills attended the University of Kansas on an athletic scholarship.
At Kansas his hard work and natural abilities on the track continued to flourish. In 1958 and 1959 he was All-American in cross country. In the 1960 Big Eight Conference, Mills won an individual title in cross country. The following year, Mills again became the conference champion in the two mile race; coming in with a time of a little over nine minutes.
After college, Mills decided to join the Marine Corps and became a lieutenant. Although he enjoyed military life, Mills was drawn back to running and began racing while in the service. These racing times enabled him to qualify for the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo; where Mills would pull-off one of the greatest upsets in sports history.
No American had ever won a medal in the 10,000m and at the time, Mills wasn’t even a dot on the radar in terms of coverage. The primary focus was on Australia’s Ron Clarke, who held the world record in the event and Tunisia’s Mohammad Gammoudi, who was considered to be Clarke’s only rival for the Gold. As a matter of fact, after the race, Clarke said: “Worry about him? I never even heard of him.”
After unremarkable qualifying times; few expected Mills to even have a shot. Mills even had to run the event in borrowed shoes because the shoe sponsor said there were only enough for the potential winners.
Mills was initially able to keep up with the lead back, but as the race progressed he fell back and got caught up in a slower pack of runners. However, Mills was able work his way around the pack (exerting tremendous energy in the process) to at least get within a reasonable distance of Clarke and Gammoudi. Before giving away how the rest of the race unfolded, we thought you should see it for yourself . . . Click on the play button to watch the race’s final lap!
As you saw, the biggest push came in the last 100 meters of the race where Mills was able to sprint past both of his competitors; pulling in a last lap time of 59.8 seconds. This brought his overall race time to 28 minutes and 24 seconds; a personal best and a new Olympic record.
Following the Olympics, Mills forged on and broke new world records. In 1965 he set the outdoor world record for the 6-mile and US records in the 10,000 meter and three mile races.
Mills was inducted into the United States Olympic Hall of Fame in 1984 and is an official member of the United States Track and Field Hall of Fame.
He remains the only American to ever win a gold medal in a 10,000 meter Olympic race and is an inspiration to countless people, both within the Native American community and beyond.
Check out the first installment in this series:
The next installment, Part 3, will be about Mills’ life after running. It is entitled - BILLY MILLS: Compassionate Warrior
Sources: [Essortment - Biography of Bills Mills], [Running Past]
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Tags: 10000m, 1964 tokyo olympics, all american, american indian, Billy Mills, billy mills running strong for american indiana youth schoarship, cross country, distance running, global unity through global diversity, humanitarian, Lakota, Makata Taka Hela, marine, Marine Corps, Mohammad Gammoudi, native american, Oglala Lakota, Oglala Sioux Indian reservation, Olympian, olympic champion, olympic legend, Olympic record, olympic gold, outdoor world record, ron clarke, running brave, running strong, running strong for american indian youth, Sioux, university of kansas, value based self empowerment, warrior, world record
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The Final Sprint