Passage II

Billy Mills Takes Gold

[1] Runner Billy Mills qualified to run in the 10,000-meter race in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, but he was a long shot. [2] In Tokyo, however, Mills became the first to win an Olympic gold medal for the United States in this event. [3] His qualifying entry time lagged almost a full minute above the world-record time held by Australian Ron Clarke.(18)

Mills, an Oglala Lakota, spent his childhood on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. He started long-distance running while attending boarding school in Kansas. Initially, running was part of his training regimen for boxing, his first love. Mills had dreamed of being a boxer since he was a child.

Mills broke numerous high school track records, earning himself an athletic scholarship to the University of Kansas. With Mills as a star runner, Kansas won the 1959 and 1960 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. After graduation, he became an officer in the Marines and assumed the duties of military life. However, Mills was soon drawn back to the track, and, while still in the Marines, races became part of his life again.

At an important point in his training, Mills wrote the words “Gold Medal” in his journal. He was determined to win, despite being rather unknown as an athlete.(23) Because of his unremarkable qualifying time, the US Olympic shoe sponsor didn’t even send him running shoes for the race. Luckily, Mills borrowed a pair and was ready to run when he hit the starting line. (25)

All eyes were on the overseers, Mohamed Gammoudi of Tunisia and Ron Clarke, as they began the last lap of the race. Suddenly, Mills, who had been in third place, broke from the pack, sprinted ahead, and won the race. Before a stunned crowd, Mills had run the 10,000 meters 45 seconds faster than his qualifying time. He set an Olympic record of 28 minutes 24 seconds, finishing ahead of Mohamed Gammoudi and Ron Clarke. As of 2014, he remained the only US runner to have won an Olympic gold medal in the 10,000-meter race.