Evelyn Ashford after breaking the world 100m record in Zurich (© Hulton / Getty Images)
It was the night that Evelyn Ashford set the record straight.
When the smooth-striding sprinter from Sacramento crossed the finish line in the electric atmosphere of the Letzigrund Stadion, on the evening of 22 August 1984, nobody could dispute that she was the fastest woman on Earth.
It took a few moments for confirmation of the winning time in the 100m at that year’s Zurich Weltklasse Meeting: 10.76.
Just 17 days after capturing the Olympic crown on home state ground in the Los Angeles Coliseum, Ashford had succeeded in removing the metaphorical asterisk of the A that stood alongside her name in the world record book – and the challenge of the arch rival who disputed her standing as the world’s fastest woman.
When Ashford flew to a 10.79 clocking at the US Air Force Academy Stadium in July 1983, she was assisted by the high altitude of 2,195m at Colorado Springs. “I’m so tired of seeing ‘Ashford 10.79’ with an ‘A’ after it,” she confessed.
It also needled the US star that, despite her decisive Olympic victory – setting a Games record and finishing 0.16 clear of US teammate Alice Brown in 10.97 – some still regarded Marlies Gohr to be the planet’s preeminent sprint queen.
The East German held the world record before Ashford, running 10.88 in Dresden in 1977 and 10.81 in East Berlin in 1983. Gohr had also, in the wake of Ashford’s Colorado time, blitzed to the inaugural world title in Helsinki in 1983, when the new world record-holder pulled up with a hamstring injury.
Raising the victor’s right hand high
Having missed the Los Angeles Olympics because of the Soviet Bloc boycott, Gohr made the trip from Jena to take on Ashford in Zurich. As Sports Illustrated put it, “This was the real Olympic final, 17 days late.”
Craig Neef, the magazine’s correspondent, added: “To know the unyielding wills of Ashford and Gohr, and the bitterness of their rivalry, was to sense how fiercely each wanted to win.”
The ‘bitter rivals’ were drawn new to each other: Gohr in her blue East German vest in lane three; Ashford, in red, in lane four.
At the crack of the starting pistol, Gohr shot into the lead. Ashford got left in her blocks.
At 40m, the Olympic champion was half a metre down. By halfway, however, she was closing swiftly. In the final 20m, she pulled decisively clear.
Gohr finished 0.08 down in 10.84. The wind gauge flashed a legal 1.7m/s.
As Ashford celebrated, Gohr sought her out and made a point of raising the victor’s right hand high.
“There was a lot of pressure before the race,” said Ashford. “It was important to beat Gohr to prove I’m the best in the world.
“It was certainly a motivation to beat the world record at sea level. It was depressing to see my world record with an ‘A’ for altitude after it because I always felt Colorado Springs was in this world.
“In the Olympic final, I knew I could win if I was healthy. Here, I just wanted to win because it was important that I beat Gohr. The pressure on me was possibly higher.
“I knew I was better than I’ve ever been. I just had to stop my body from exploding on me.”
Gohr lamented: “I came here to win. I always come to win – otherwise, I’d hang up my spikes.
“In the last 10m, she must have listened to a voice from above.”
At the age of 27, Ashford had reached the zenith of her sprinting career.
One of the greatest runners ever
Having started out in Roseville High School by outpacing the boys on the track team, Ashford prospered under the guidance of Pat Connolly at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Evelyn Ashford at the 1979 World Cup in Montreal (© Getty Images)
Connolly had been a three-time Olympian, making her debut as a 16-year-old 800m runner in Rome in 1960. Ashford was just 19 when she made the US team in Montreal in 1976, placing fifth in the 100m final behind the German trio of Annegret Richter (West), Renate Stecher (East) and Inge Helten (West) plus the Australian Raelene Boyle.
At the IAAF World Cup in Montreal in 1979, Ashford won the 100m and 200m ahead of East German world record-holders Gohr and Marita Koch but was denied a shot at Olympic glory in Moscow the following year by the US boycott.
In Los Angeles in 1984 Ashford took gold in the 4x100m as well as the 100m. In the 1988 US Olympic Trials, she lost her world to Florence Griffith-Joyner, who clocked a stunning 10.49 in Indianapolis, but out in Seoul she earned silver behind Flo-Jo in the 100m final and gold in the 4x100m.
Evelyn Ashford anchors the USA to 1984 Olympic 4x100m relay gold in Los Angeles (© Getty Images)
At the age of 35, Ashford claimed a third 4x100m relay gold in Barcelona in 1992, missing out on a place in the 100m final by 0.01.
Five years later, the former Olympic 100m champion and world record-holder was inducted into the US National Track and Field Hall of Fame as “one of the greatest runners ever”.
Simon Turnbull for World Athletics Heritage
