A roundup of the sports information of the week
TRACK & FIELD—In spirit of good will and keen competition at Philadelphia, U.S. men outscored Russians 127-108, and Soviet gals beat Americans 67-40 (see pages 14-23). Two world shotput records fell when Parry O'Brien lofted iron ball 63 feet 2½ inches and husky Tamara Press got off 55-foot 6¾-inch heave. Vasily Kuznetsov piled up amazing 8,350 decathlon points, falling short of his own world record by a mere seven points. Greg Bell, 1956 Olympic champion, leaped 26 feet 7 inches on first try only 1¼ inches short of Jesse Owens' long-standing world mark.
TENNIS—Alex (The Chief) Olmedo, in an Alex in Wonderland mood during national clay court championships, faulted away match to South Africa's Abe Segal, (who later lost to Bernard Bartzen in semifinals) was disqualified from doubles, censured in report (later endorsed by USLTA) of tournament committee.
SWIMMING—Taking their cue from men's record-breaking AAU championships week earlier, the girls sank some existing records in their own title frolic at Redding, Calif. Sylvia Ruuska started world marks plummeting with 5:40.2 clocking for 440-yard medley. Then Carta Cone splashed 220-yard backstroke in 2:37.9 (see below). Becky Collins (SI cover, July 13) knocked down two more, covering 110-yard butterfly in 1:11.2 and 220-yard butterfly in 2:37. Chris von Saltza (SI cover, July 21, 1958) broke meet and listed American record for 220-yard freestyle with fast 2:21.1 and 440-yard freestyle in 4:59.4.
BOATING—In the Transpacific, longest regularly scheduled ocean race, Class C sloop, 46-foot "Nalu II" slipped past Diamond Head as 17th boat in and first on corrected time (nine days, five hours, 50 minutes), beating 66-foot Class B winner, Chubasco by more than one hour (see p. 42). Class A winner: 75-foot Constellation. Sally Blair Ames (SI, July 13) commanding.
Meanwhile, back on the East Coast in fog-shrouded, 360-mile Marblehead-Halifax race, Peter Richmond's 56-foot yawl, "Magic Carpet," in her maiden ocean race, outsailed De Coursey Fales' Niña with a corrected time of 46:46:56.
FOOTBALL—Stanford University, after weighing pros and cons, took major step, joined up with former Pacific Coast Conference bad boys, California, UCLA, USC and Washington, in new Athletic Association of Western Universities.
PHOTO
RECORD BREAKERS—CONE, VON SALTZA