Year after year two records coincide in summer that remain unchanged. One is the oldest in world athletics. The other, from Spanish athletics. On July 26, 1983, Czech Jarmila Kratochvilová ran the 800 meters in Munich in 1: 53.28. A day later, but in 1985, in Oslo, José Luis González performed 3: 47.79 on the mile. A record of luxury in a cult test.

Although the mile (1,609 meters) is not an Olympic distance, replaced by 1,500 in the decimal metric system, it has enormous prestige. She is the daughter of Anglo-Saxon tradition and devotion. Exhale the aroma of the beginnings of sport in the land of its inventors. It evokes the university campuses of Victorian buildings, the old amateur ideal. It smells and tastes of ... athletics.

The Oslo race, the 'Dream Mile', the Dream Mile, brought together, along with González, some of the most illustrious offspring of the Empire: the British Sebastian Coe , world record holder at the time, and Steve Cram ; New Zealander John Walker ; Irish Ray Flynn ; to Americans Steve Scott and Chuck Aragon ... Another American, James Mays , and Australian Mike Hillardt were the 'hares.

The world record was floating in the air. It was blowing. She had a feeling. Steve Cram, the new prodigy of the Islands, had just broken, 11 days earlier, in Nice, the record of 1,500, crossing the border at 3:30. A milestone. At 3: 29.67, he had blinked out Said Aouita (3: 29.71) and Gonzalez himself, who, in turn, was sculpting a new record for Spain (3: 30.92) that would last 12 years.

In a crowded and effervescent stadium, the men flew. And Cram, in effect, broke the world record. He made 3: 46.32 for those 3: 47.79 from González, who left behind Coe and the rest. The Spanish experienced one of the greatest satisfactions of his career. No other national record of the 23 he broke is more pleasing to those who grew up fascinated by the history and legend of the mile. Together with his coach, Martín Velasco , another devotee, he reformed his training to adapt it to British methods.

González is an Englishman who was accidentally born in Toledo. From a very young age he mythologized in his memory and spirit the names of Roger Bannister, John Landy, Derek Ibbotson, Herb Elliott, Peter Snell, Jim Ryun, etc. Having shared a generation and a poster, having alternated triumphs with Coe, Ovett, Cram, Walker, etc., was always a tribute for him. The favor of a comprehensive and rewarding destiny.

Like a star that reaches its maximum brightness when extinguished, those giants, the Commonwealth of the tracks, were replaced by the African tide. Especially North African. Cram was "the last Lord". The following world record holders were named after the Algerian Nourredine Morceli and, since 1999, the Moroccan Hicham el Guerrouj .

With them and their predecessors there is reason and place for, in equal parts, admiration and nostalgia.

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