Arnie Sowell
| Personal information | |||||||||||||
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| Full name | Arnold Milton Sowell | ||||||||||||
| Born |
April 6, 1935 (age 82) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
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| Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) | ||||||||||||
| Weight | 130 lb (59 kg) | ||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||
| College team | Pittsburgh | ||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Arnold "Arnie" Milton Sowell (born April 6, 1935 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is a former middle distance runner from the United States, who represented his native country at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. He finished fourth in the 800 m,.
He is best known for winning the gold medal in the men's 800 metres event during the 1955 Pan American Games in Mexico City. Sowell also set the world indoor record for the 880-yard run in 1957 at 1:50.3 s and tied the world record for the 1,000 yards of 2:08.2 s in 1955.
He was recognised as a very versatile and talented runner who could run a variety of distances, and even hurdle and long jump., One track coach, Manhattan's George Eastment, described him as the "greatest runner I ever saw"., another, Carl Olson, felt he could break the four-minute mile. During his career he had a particular rivalry with his fellow countryman and middle-distance runner, Tom Courtney, the two swapping victories and being involved in many memorable duels. One duel was the 1956 Olympic trials where Courtney held off Sowell to finish 1st and 2nd with Courtney in the process breaking Sowell's USA record (of 1:46.7)that he had achieved at that year's NCAA meet.
In the Olympic final itself Sowell led from the back straight of the first lap right up to the final turn of the final lap where he was passed by Courtney. As they entered the final straight, Coutney now ahead had his own battle with Derek Johnson who had also passed Sowell, but Sowell now had to contend with the challenge of Audun Boysen. Courtney was to win his battle with Johnson and finish first, but Sowell lost his and finished fourth.
Sowell was good runner indoors as well as outdoors, winning 4 NCAA titles and establishing a world record for the 880 yards at 1:50.3 s.
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Wikipedia