When Bob Hayes equaled a world record in the 1964 Olympics without his shoes

Back in the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games, the USA's Bob Hayes, arguably one of the fastest sprinters of all time, won the gold medal in the men’s 100 meter event. He finished the race in 10.0 seconds to tie the world record. Before the start of the tournament, the record was held by Canada’s Harry Jerome and Venezuela’s Horacio Esteves.

Cuba’s Enrique Figuereola and Canada's Harry Jerome bagged the silver and bronze medals, respectively, in Tokyo. Hayes, however, broke the Olympic record of 10.2, held by Armin Hary from Italy. In the semi-finals, Hayes clocked a stunning 9.9 seconds, but his numbers were not recorded in the books due to wind assistance.

But for Hayes, popularly known as ‘Bullet Bob’, he could easily have missed out on making the record. Before the race, he left his shoe in the dorm room. Thereafter, he had to borrow a shoe from Tom Farrell, an 800-metre runner from the United States of America (USA). Interestingly, Farrell was the only other athlete who wore Hayes’ small size of 8.

In the same Olympics, he also won the gold medal in the 4x100-meter relay. He once held the world record of 39.06 seconds in the relay category.

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Bob Hayes had a glorious sports career

Apart from putting his best foot forward in the Olympics, Hayes also excelled in football. He plied his trade for the Dallas Cowboys in 11 editions of the National Football League (NFL). He is only the second Olympic gold medalist after Jim Thorpe to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Hayes had his fair share of controversies in his career after he resorted to alcohol and drugs. He also stayed in prison for 10 months after being found guilty of delivering narcotics.

Hayes passed away on September 18, 2002 at his hometown in Jacksonville. He succumbed to complications after liver problems and prostate cancer.

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