Sándor Iharos (10 March 1930 – 24 January 1996) was a Hungarian

long-distance runner Long-distance running, or endurance running, is a form of continuous running over distances of at least . Physiologically, it is largely aerobic in nature and requires stamina as well as mental strength. Within endurance running comes two d ...

. Though unsuccessful in major competitions, Iharos ran

world records A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

over multiple distances and is one of only two athletes (the other being nine-time

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

champion

Paavo Nurmi Paavo Johannes Nurmi (; 13 June 1897 – 2 October 1973) was a Finnish middle-distance and long-distance runner. He was called the " Flying Finn" or the "Phantom Finn", as he dominated distance running in the 1920s. Nurmi set 22 official worl ...

) to have held outdoor world records over

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athle ...

5000 metres The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a sta ...

and

10,000 metres The 10,000 metres or the 10,000-metre run is a common long-distance track running event. The event is part of the athletics programme at the Olympic Games and the World Athletics Championships, and is common at championship level events. The ra ...

. Iharos was one of the star pupils of the famous coach

Mihály Iglói Mihály Iglói (September 5, 1908 – January 4, 1998) was a Hungarian distance running coach. Iglói coached runners such as Sándor Iharos, István Rózsavölgyi, László Tábori, Bob Schul and Jim Beatty. Counting both outdoors and indoors ...

World records

Iharos competed, without major success, in the 1952 Summer Olympics and 1954 and 1958 European Championships. In 1955, however, Iharos turned a world-beater. His first individual world record (he had already been a part of two record-breaking Hungarian teams in the rare 4×1500 metres relay) was 7:55.6 minutes over

3000 metres The 3000 metres or 3000-metre run is a track running event, also commonly known as the "3K" or "3K run", where 7.5 laps are run around an outdoor 400 m track, or 15 laps around a 200 m indoor track. It is debated whether the 3000m shoul ...

, run on May 14. After this, Iharos broke in a rapid succession the world records for

two miles The 2 mile (10,560 feet or 3,218.688 metres) is a historic running distance. Like the mile run, it is still contested at some invitational meets due its historical chronology in the United States and United Kingdom. It has been lar ...

(8:33.4),

(3:40.8) and

(13:50.8). The 5000 m record only stood eight days before broken by Volodymyr Kuts, but Iharos reclaimed it with a time of 13:40.6 on 23 October 1955. Iharos' records didn't last long, however. The 5000 m record was broken again on 19 June 1956 by

Gordon Pirie Douglas Alistair Gordon Pirie (10 February 1931 – 7 December 1991) was an English long-distance runner. He competed in the 5000 m and 10,000 m events at the 1952, 1956 and 1960 Olympics and won a silver medal in the 5000 m in 1956, placing fo ...

, and this time he wasn't able to reclaim it. The 1500 m record was first equalled by László Tábori and then beaten on 3 August 1956 by

István Rózsavölgyi István Rózsavölgyi (30 March 1929 – 27 January 2012) was a Hungarian athlete who competed mainly in the 1500 metres. Career Rózsavölgyi was born in Budapest. One of the star pupils of Mihály Iglói, he entered the 1956 Sum ...

– both fellow Hungarians and pupils of Iglói. Iharos ran a new record on 15 July 1956, 28:42.8 over

, but this was smashed less than two months later by Kuts.

Decline

That would be Iharos' last individual record. (He'd be part of another Hungarian team effort in another rarely contested relay, 4 × one mile, in 1959.) The Hungarian team's date of departure for the

1956 Olympics 1956 Olympics refers to both: *The 1956 Winter Olympics, which were held in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy *The 1956 Summer Olympics The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, were an international multi-sport even ...

in late October coincided with the beginning of the

Hungarian Revolution of 1956 The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 10 November 1956; hu, 1956-os forradalom), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was a countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the Hung ...

. Iharos left Hungary, but not for Australia, citing an ankle injury. There has been speculation whether an injury or the political situation kept him from competing. Iglói, however, did leave for Australia – and didn't return to Hungary again. Without his coach and mentor Iharos soon lost his record-breaking form. He competed in the Olympics again in

1960 It is also known as the " Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * J ...

, but without much success.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Iharos, Sandor 1930 births 1996 deaths Hungarian male middle-distance runners Hungarian male long-distance runners Athletes (track and field) at the 1952 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1960 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of Hungary Athletes from Budapest World record setters in athletics (track and field) 20th-century Hungarian people