In 1964, Jim Ryun had been an Olympic semi-finalist at the age of 17,
and had gone on to break Elliott’s world record of 3:35.6 by 2.5 sec-
onds in 1967. But the effects of altitude and a bout of glandular fever
made him no more than co-favourite with Keino. Ryun was fastest in
both the heats (3:45.7) and the more tactical semi-finals (3:51.2).
Only the Kenyans believed a fast run could be achieved at altitude,
and Jipcho set the pace in the final, running the first 100m in 13.5 and
continuing to 400m in 56.0 with Keino in contact (56.6) and Ryun
(58.5) waiting for the Kenyans to come back to him. Keino shortly
moved ahead and reached 800m in 1:55.3, with Ryun now more than
20m back (1:58.5). Keino managed a slightly quicker third lap (58.1)
while Ryun anxiously began to recoup a little of the deficit with a 57.5
lap. In the meantime, Tümmler had maintained second place, 10m
behind the flying Kenyan, with Norpoth and Whetton in close atten-
dance. Ryun got past Tümmler with 150m to go, but never had a chance
of catching Keino. He eased off in the last 50m, assured of silver.
Ahead, Keino was running four seconds faster than was thought possi-
ble at altitude, and his Olympic record was the number two perform-
ance of all-time. It was felt that he would likely have broken Ryun’s
world record by more than a second at low altitude.