In 1972, Vince Matthews found himself regularly travelling all the way
from New York to California to find competitive races, and was only able
to make the Olympic Trials thanks to the generosity of a local bank. At
the Trials themselves, Vince finished third behind John Smith and Wayne
Collett in a time of 44.9sec, beating old rival Lee Evans into fourth.
American officialdom, dismayed at the failure of their favourite Evans,
made Vince feel extremely unwelcome and unsuccessfully attempted to get
the reigning Olympic Champion back in at his expense. In Munich, all
three Americans made the final where the US media predicted victory for
Smith. However, when Smith pulled up lame after 80 metres, the race
turned into a battle between Matthews and Collett. Vince was shocked to
find himself leading going into the final bend, but drew on all his
emotions and inner strength to pull away for the line in a winning time
of 44.66sec, with Collett coming second in
44.80sec.
Unfortunately, the triumph was tarnished by the inane
behaviour of Matthews and Collett during the medal ceremony, leading
many to believe it was a protest like 1968. The pair denied any
deliberate wrongdoing, but were banned from future Olympic competition
by the IOC. This debacle and John Smith's injury meant that the USA no
longer had enough men to fill a relay team and were forced to withdraw
from the contest. Despite the criticism, Vince later revealed to the New
York Times how important his victory was to him "A lot of people had
forgotten about me and given up on me. Twenty years from now, I can look
at this medal and say, "I was the best quarter-miler in the world that
day". If you don't think that's important, you don't know what's inside
an athlete's soul." Vince's struggle is told vividly in the book "My
Race Be Won", the title of which is taken from a poem penned by Matthews
himself called "The Trackman's Prayer". (Jon Collins)
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