di Giorgio Cimbrico
Those who take the 35 years of the white-hot Golden Gala meeting into account think that Sergey Bubka and Hicham El Guerrouj deserve the first place but they have not reckoned with these criteria. The king is Frankie Fredericks with his boxed shoulders, his long face, his slight clipped moustache, his acceleration speed and his explosive speed. Namibia has not produced many great athletes but was in the spotlight for a long time thanks to this engineer who graduated at the Brigham Young.Mormon University. He was a high-class second placer who won seven silver medals at the Olympic Games and at the World Championships becoming the Silver Man. He won a world title in Stuttgart 1993 and set his personal best times of 9.86 and 19.68. He finshed second behind Michael Johnson who won in 19.32 in a humid evening in Atlanta. Without forgetting a couple of winter achievements: 10.05 and 19.92.
After this long introduction it’s better to analyze the pure facts and figures. Frankie, who will turn 48 years next October and is now a member of the IOC and the IAAF Councils, was not only the first sprinter to run under the 10 seconds barrier at the Golden Gala (this record does not give extra points), but he also won eight races and finished third in two more competitions totaling 26 points with a gap of 2 points over Hicham El Guerrouj, who is ranked second with six wins and extra bonus points thanks to his two world records (3:26.00 in the 1500m and 3:43.13 in the mile) which have remained at the top of the all-time lists over these two noble distances respectively for 17 and 16 years. Bubka also won six times with a double score for his world record in the legendary competition in 1994 when the Ukrainian cleared 5.94m responding to Thierry Vigneron who vaulted 5.91m becoming the only specialist who managed to break the Czar’s 30-year-old dominance for ten minutes.
Alessandro Lambruschini is impressively and emotionally ranked high with his six top-two places with a total score of 15 points at the same level with Moses Kiptanui and Allen Johnson, half a point less than Maurice Greene. Among the other Italian athletes who cannot be forgotten there are Pietro Mennea with 8 points (with two wins), Genny Di Napoli 7 points (with two wins), Salvatore Antibo with 7 points (1 win), Alberto Cova with six points (one win) and Stefano Tilli with six points
- Frankie Fredericks 26 points
- Hicham El Guerrouj 24
- Sergey Bubka 21
- Thierry Vigneron 18
- Maurice Greene 15.5
- Allen Johnson, Moses Kiptanui and Alessandro Lambruschini 15
- Colin Jackson, Sam Matete and Said Aouita 12
- Tonie Campbell 11
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