- Saturday, April 20, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
IT was another Olympics in Tokyo and the year was 1964. Among several who had come to Japan hoping to bag at least one medal was Billy Mills. A former United States Marine, Mills was no favourite and not even a rising star. Aged 26 then, the half-native-American and half-white, Mills loved to run and he went to the Olympics thinking that his favourite sport would liberate him in some way.
Well, the dream came true and in the most unexpected way.
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Born in South Dakota, Mills or Tamakoce Te’Hila (his native name) became an orphan at the age of 12 (raised by his grandmother) and survival was a struggle for him. His social ambience had not helped him and forced to grow up on reservation, Mills had only become determined in his mind.
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Mills took part in the men’s 10,000 metres race in the 1964 edition and it was the longest of the seven men’s track races at that event. The race was predicted to be a three-way contest between New Zealand’s Murray Halberg, the defending champion in the 500 metres; erstwhile Soviet Union’s Pyotr Bolotnikov, the defending 10,000 metre champion and the then world-record holder Ron Clarke of Australia.
Till the halfway mark into the race, only Clarke among the three expected names was at front with Tunisia’s Mohamed Gammoudi and Mills around him. The American had already started surprising people since no media person had even asked him a single question prior to the start of the event.
Mills was good at cross-country running in his university days and while his time for qualifying for the Games was not extraordinary, the man had kept the best for the finals.
Mills beat all in the last-minute sprint
The 10,000-metre race was more about endurance and tactics and as the race entered its final leg, Clarke, Gammoudi and Mills were seen elbowing each other while trying to take that decisive lead. The scenario was changing each minute with Clarke leading once only to be overtaken by Gammoudi. But both of them were left shocked when Mills suddenly accelerated and sprinted past them at the very end to win by a gap of almost three metres. In the process, he even beat his own personal best time by 47 seconds.
Mills’ win is considered one of the biggest upsets in the history of the Olympics. The man had said over his victory, “I am flabbergasted”. Even one Japanese reporter had asked him after he reached the finishing line first, “Who are you?”
Mills, who is 83 now, has spent much of his life working with Native American communities and is the first and the only American till date to win the 10,000-metre gold at the Olympics. Post his running career, Mills co-founded the nonprofit Running Strong for American Indian Youth with Eugene Krizek.
