Ira Murchison

Ira Murchison ( born February 6, 1933, Chicago, Illinois, † March 28, 1994 in Harvey, Illinois) was an American athlete who was successful on the 100 m in the second half of the 1950s.

Career

As a student of Western Michigan University, he won the 1958 NCAA Championship over 100 y ( 9.5 s ).

His success was the year 1956. Initially, he equaled on June 1 in Compton than 10 runners in 1936, established by Jesse Owens world record of 10.2 seconds, and repeated this performance on June 29 in Los Angeles. When he stopped in Berlin the day before improved by Willie Williams to 10.1 world record on August 4, he was considered one of the favorites for the XIII. Summer Olympic Games in Melbourne in 1956, where he only fourth ( 10.6 s ) was. For this, he secured as first runner in the 4x100 m relay his team the gold medal and world record in 39.5 seconds.

In 1957, he equaled another world record when he ran the 100 y in 9.3 seconds.

In the World Student Games in Paris in the same year he won the silver medal in 10.6 seconds behind the victorious Germans in 10.5 seconds Manfred Germar.

In 1959, when he was 26 years old, he was diagnosed with colon cancer, which meant the end of his career. Four years later, at the Pan American Games in Caracas, but he managed a comeback when he Bronze 100 m ( 10.62 s ) and gold in the 4x100 m relay ( 40.40 s ) won.

With a height of only 1.57 m Ira Murchison was the smallest sprint world record holder in history. Its high starting speed earned him the name "Sputnik ".

Ira Murchison left three brothers (Gerald, Robert and Norman ), a son, also named Ira, and step-son Kenneth.