On June 21, 1960, at a World Class Zurich tournament, a runner from Germany Armin Hari, nicknamed the White Lightning, set a unique record for the first time after running a 100-meter distance in exactly 10 seconds.
Hari was born on March 22, 1937 into a mining family. According to him, the origin had a tremendous impact on his worldview. He dreamed of breaking out into people, and was ready to do a lot for his purpose. It was from here that his stubbornness and unwillingness to obey generally accepted rules came from. The athlete did not recognize authority, always acted in his own way and said what he thought.
Armin grew up as a versatile child, and his parents saw him as the future violinist. But soon the boy himself realized that he was more attracted to sports. He was involved in football and decathlon, but from all disciplines, short-distance runs were best for him. That is why he decided to focus on the sprint.
Hari achieved his first international success in 1958 at the European Championships in Stockholm. First, he won the 100-meter race, and then helped his national team win gold in the relay. Despite the victories, German fans refused to recognize him as the future champion. Then two other West German sprinters - Manfred Germar and Martin Lauer - enjoyed universal love, and the native of the small commune Kvirschid had to fight for the attention of the public.
On September 6, 1958, a 100m race was held as part of the tournament in German Friedrichshafen. At that time, no one could have imagined that a person could run a distance in 10 seconds. The previous record (10.1 seconds) has been held since 1956.
However, the runner from Germany proved the opposite, showing the best result in history. Hari went the distance in exactly 10 seconds, but the Germans' love for order prevented the official perpetuation of his achievement.
To officially record the result, it was necessary to take into account many factors, including wind speed. When the other indicators were normal, the last one remained - the slope of the track, which should not exceed 10 cm. The slope of the Hari track turned out to be 9 mm more than the allowed. Despite the protests, the German was left without a record.
In 1960, the XVII Summer Olympic Games were to be held in Rome. All the forces of the German national team were thrown to prepare for the main start of the four-year-old, and the leaders of the athletics federation forbade their athletes to participate in less significant competitions. However, this did not like Hari, who approached the season in great shape. By all means, he decided to go to the prestigious “World Class in Zurich”.
Negotiations continued until the very beginning of the tournament, but, not without the support of the organizers, the runner still insisted. However, another obstacle arose here. He had to fly to Switzerland on a cargo plane, since there were no passenger flights at that time.
His crown discipline was listed in the competition program at the very beginning, so he had no time to prepare. But the lack of training, and the banal opportunity to relax properly did not hurt him.
Armin not only ran the first in the 100m race, but again met exactly 10 seconds. The athlete was ready to celebrate double success, but the unexpected happened: the judges recorded his false start. Interestingly, over time, one of the jury members admitted their mistake, and the experts of the two largest watch companies proved the rightness of the German.
But at that time, Hari's disappointment knew no bounds. The situation was saved by one of the journalists, who advised him to file a protest and achieve a second attempt. The fact is that such a violation should be recorded immediately after the start of the race, and not at the finish. The athlete’s demand was satisfied and in less than an hour he and two more rivals again went to the start.
Hari started the second attempt even later than the first, as he was afraid to be fined again. However, this time everything went like clockwork, and the runner from Germany became the first person to run a 100-meter distance in 10 seconds.
The German went to the Roman Olympics in the rank of favorite. And he confidently confirmed his class by winning gold in the same 100-meter race. His result was 10.2 seconds, which became a new Olympic record. Then he won another medal of highest dignity already in the relay.
Despite the resounding success, Hari remained calm, even ascending to the podium, which many considered arrogance. However, inside the athlete experienced completely different emotions.
“Often I was afraid to rejoice at my results, because they constantly told me that I was doing everything wrong,” the World Athletics website quoted Hari as saying.
The athlete admitted that having won Olympic gold, he achieved everything he wanted. That is why, at the age of 24, he decided to hang studs on a nail. At the same time, his last months in sports were no less high-profile than his career. One disqualification followed another, the situation was aggravated by a knee injury in a car accident.
Despite his unique achievement, the German always remained modest, believing that he was just lucky - with the physical qualities, with the character traits necessary for a high-class athlete: ambition, zeal, the desire to win at any cost.
“I just wanted to be the fastest person on Earth. But for this we had to do a lot, ”Armin recalled in an interview with Sport Express.
For 60 years, sports technology has moved forward, and Hari's achievement has long been broken. To date, the record for the 100-meter distance belongs to the fastest man of our time, Usain Bolt, and is 9.58 seconds. However, the name of the athlete from Germany, in 2000 recognized as the millennium runner in Germany, will forever remain in the history of athletics.