How Mexico defined modern racewalking

hace 1 mes 26

Early successful 1966, with the Olympics conscionable nether 3 years away, General José de Jesus Clark Flores, President of the Mexican Olympic Committee, oversaw a programme to pull planetary coaches to enactment with Mexico’s astir promising athletes. The Mexican squad had returned from the past 2 Olympics with a azygous bronze medal connected each occasion, and they expected to bash amended connected location soil. After all, the crushed for staging these games was to task an representation of Mexico arsenic a modern nation.

More than thing else, General Flores wanted a medal successful 1 of the glamor events connected the track. It would beryllium tough, arsenic these are among the astir competitory events successful the Olympic program. There was, perhaps, 1 opening: the walking races.

In 1966, this subdivision of the athletics had a precise tiny pursuing extracurricular of Europe, and its popularity was declining successful the West. The large walkers present each came from Eastern Europe, peculiarly the USSR. In theory, that meant determination were lone 9 oregon 10 men lasting betwixt Mexico and a medal. In addition, these were agelong region races, staged implicit 20 and 50 kilometers, wherever Mexico City’s altitude would springiness location athletes an advantage.

Coach Hausleber and Sergeant Pedraza

When the overseas coaches arrived, the Polish Jerzy Hausleber was assigned to the walkers. 36 years aged astatine the clip and brought up successful the pugnacious neighborhoods astir the Gdansk shipworks, it is uncertain if Hausleber had been a competitory walker himself; his main athletics was really boxing. One vantage of his tenure was that helium came escaped of charge, portion of an speech with the Polish government. Hausleber was fixed conscionable six athletes to enactment with. Fortunately, 1 of them was service sergeant José Pedraza Zúñiga.

Pedraza had been raised connected a Michoacán ranch wherever moving had been a information of life. With small imaginable of uncovering work, helium joined the army, wherever helium was allowed to play sports. The Mechanized Brigade’s hoops squad played successful 1 of the large leagues, and the young José Pedraza was bully capable to beryllium selected for a fewer games. He could dribble and people points connected a break, but was excessively tiny to person immoderate large interaction connected a athletics wherever tallness ruled.

Instead, Pedraza started to ore connected athletics. He came adjacent to making the Olympic squad successful 1960 and 1964, but astatine 27, that imagination seemed over. There was inactive committedness successful Pedraza, however: helium had conscionable won the archetypal ever Mexican walking championship. Within weeks of Jerzy Hausleber’s arrival, Pedraza besides won the Central American and Caribbean Games title.

The value of this triumph should not beryllium overestimated: Pedraza’s contention was staged implicit 10 kilometers, fractional the Olympic distance, and nary of the countries successful the portion had a walking tradition. However, winning was a assurance booster and it whetted the squad’s appetite for much and greater success. Hausleber and “El Sargento” Pedraza buckled down to work.

“La Marcha” is born

Hausleber identified a problem. Walkers astatine the clip tended to instrumentality agelong strides, keeping their heads and shoulders stiff. This benignant that favored taller men, but astir of the Mexican squad was abbreviated and stocky. If Hausleber couldn’t marque his walkers taller, helium would find a method much suited to their build. And truthful “la marcha” was developed.

Traditionally, racewalking was conscionable a faster mentation of mean walking, with the feet moving successful parallel, the width of the athlete’s hips apart. In “la marcha,” the jock places 1 ft straight successful beforehand of the different to determination on a narrower line. Every clip we instrumentality a mean walking step, we twist our hips astir 4 degrees. Modern racewalkers, utilizing Hausleber’s gait, twist person to 20 degrees. In addition, alternatively of keeping the trunk and caput successful the rigid posture of the Europeans, Mexican racewalkers became acold much flamboyant, throwing their head, shoulders and trunk around. In different words, the caller method made walking much amusive to instrumentality portion successful and much breathtaking to watch. Still, it was not an casual adjustment, and Hausleber developed a full bid of exercises and grooming routines for his walkers. These are inactive utilized astir the satellite contiguous and are known arsenic the Mexican Drills.

The caller benignant was fast, and it suited the Mexican team, but it besides created a imaginable occupation with judges. Walking is defined arsenic having 1 ft successful interaction with the crushed astatine immoderate 1 moment. If some feet assistance disconnected the crushed simultaneously, it is considered running. The word utilized successful racewalking is ‘flight time’; if noticed by the judges who are dispersed astir the course, it earns a warning. Three warnings means disqualification. However, the sport’s rules stipulate that formation clip has to beryllium disposable to the quality eye. It is estimated that “la marcha” squeezed successful astir 40 milliseconds of formation clip connected each step: excessively accelerated for the quality oculus to spot. There was immoderate uncertainty if the caller benignant would beryllium accepted, oregon the rules changed to outlaw it.

The Mexican squad was targeting their location games successful 1968. (IOC)

The velocity of the Mexican team’s advancement was remarkable. Within a twelvemonth of Hausleber’s arrival, the Mexicans were signaling world-class times. In 1967 they made their debut connected the European circuit, wherever they held their ain against — and sometimes bushed — immoderate of the champion walkers successful the world. After competing successful the USSR, the squad traveled to Winnipeg, Canada, for the 1967 Pan American Games. Here Pedraza moved into the large leagues with a metallic medal.

Mexico City, 1968

Fast-forward to Oct. 14, 1968, the 2nd time of the way and tract programme astatine the Mexico City Olympics. The walkers completed a fractional thigh of the stadium and, with Russian champion Vladimir Golubnichiy already successful the lead, headed retired for the surrounding roads. Some 90 minutes aboriginal the leaders returned, inactive led by Golubnichiy, who had a constrictive pb implicit teammate Nikolai Smaga. Then determination was a cheer from the crowd, for successful 3rd spot was José Pedraza.

Pedraza looked harmless for the bronze medal but seemed excessively acold down the Russians to marque immoderate headway implicit the past 3 4th laps of the track. The Mexican had different ideas: with the assemblage calling his name, helium raced past Smaga. Golubnichiy was the finest walker of his procreation and managed to clasp out, beating Pedraza to the enactment by a second.

It was astir apt conscionable arsenic well. As the British mag Athletic Weekly said successful a reappraisal of Olympic walking, “in the views of astir experts, Pedraza was not walking legally but determination seemed small accidental helium would beryllium disqualified arsenic helium closed up connected Golubnichiy with officials fearing a riot.” Russia had nary privation to deprive the big federation of a medal, truthful they settled for golden and bronze. Had José Pedraza passed Holubnychy and won the gold, determination would astir surely person been an entreaty which would person apt turned into a large diplomatic incident.

The Mexican racewalking revolution

A metallic medal, won successful specified melodramatic fashion, laid the groundwork for a walking gyration successful Mexico. Hausleber was invited to enactment connected arsenic coach, and wealth was recovered to money a semipermanent program. Walking dilatory became 1 of Mexico’s nationalist sports, but it did truthful chiefly arsenic a spectator sport, with large thoroughfare races drafting ample crowds and tv cameras.

Munich successful 1972 brought steady, if unspectacular, progress, but it wasn’t until the kids who had watched the play of the 1968 contention were coming done the strategy that the aureate property of Mexican walking arrived. This cohort’s item was Daniel Bautista winning the Olympic rubric successful Montreal successful 1976.

Walking is astir much than conscionable the Olympics, however. Every 2 years the champion walkers successful the satellite gathered for the Lugano Cup, a squad satellite title which Mexico won successful 1977 and 1979. And the nation’s interaction goes beyond specified medals. The Mexican benignant of walking was adopted astir the satellite and the champion planetary walkers came to Mexico to train. This was partially for the altitude, but determination was besides the feeling that Mexico was present the halfway of the sport. Visiting athletes spoke successful awe of some the hospitality and the pugnacious grooming schedules the Mexican walkers were putting themselves through.

The 1984 Olympics brought adjacent much success, with Daniel Bautista winning the 20 km golden and Raul González securing the 50 km golden and 20 km silver. Perhaps the top jock of them each was Ernesto Canto, who openly acknowledged the inspiration of José Pedraza and the coaching of Hausleber. A fantastic method and hard enactment brought Canto Olympic, World and Pan-American titles.

Canto mightiness beryllium considered the past of the Golden Generation, and aft helium retired Mexican dominance started to fade. To beryllium sure, Mexico inactive produces world-class walkers, specified arsenic Daniel García Córdova and Lupita González. However, determination person been nary Olympic titles since 1984. This diminution was partially due to the fact that Jerzy Hausleber was losing energy. With bosom and genu problems, helium progressively restricted himself to coaching coaches and promoting the athletics with motivational speeches. Although helium was ever diplomatic, helium hinted that, successful his opinion, galore young Mexican walkers nary longer had the enactment ethic that had taken athletes similar Canto to the precise apical of their sport.

As for Jerzy Hausleber, helium became a Mexican national successful 1993 and died successful 2014 astatine the property of 83. He is inactive remembered some arsenic an bonzer manager who guided Mexican walkers to 118 medals successful large championships and, successful the words of Canto, arsenic “a large idiosyncratic and bonzer quality being.” José Pedraza Zúñiga, Hausleber’s top pupil, stayed successful the army, reaching the fertile of skipper and continuing to manager young walkers. He died successful 1998, astatine the property of 61.

Bob Pateman is a Mexico-based historian, librarian and a beingness word hasher. He is exertion of On On Magazine, the planetary past mag of hashing.

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