During the mid 1950s, William (Bill) Dellinger emerged as one of the top middle distance runners in the USA, winning the 5000m at the 1956 USA Olympic trials to qualify for his first Olympic Games in Melbourne. There were three heats of the 5000m at Melbourne, with the first five in each heat advancing to the 15-man final. Dellinger easily qualified by finishing third in his heat, but in the final, he succumbed like the rest of the field to the relentless pace set by Vladimir Kuts (Soviet Union), and failed to finish. Dellinger's successes over the ensuing years came in North America, as, although he was consistently amongst the best the USA had to offer, it was during a time when the quality of middle distance running in the USA was well below the standard set in Europe. Dellinger won the 5000m title at the national AAU championships held at Boulder in June 1959, and later that year won his only significant international title, when he was victorious over 5000m at the Pan-American Games in Chicago. At the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome Dellinger was a victim of the strict qualifying standards, as only the first three in each of the four heats advanced, and Bill was eliminated when he finished fourth in his heat. Four years later, Dellinger qualified for his third Olympic team when he and Bob Schul crossed the line together at the 1964 USA Olympic trials. In the Olympic final at Tokyo on 18 October, Dellinger led at the bell, but was left behind in the first half of the last lap as the sprint for home began in earnest. However, Bill made up ground on the leaders with a late charge in the straight, to just grab the bronze medal (see photo above No. 717) behind the winning performance of his compatriot Bob Schul (No. 719). (Ron Casey)