The 10,000-meter run at the 1964 Tokyo summer games was supposed to be a walk in the park for Australia’s Ron Clarke, holder of the event’s world record. Billy Mills of the United States, a virtual unknown, qualified for the games by finishing second at the U.S. Olympic trials.

In a literal shoving match down the stretch, Clarke and Tunisia's Mohammed Gammoudi jammed each other as Mills pulled into lane 3 and sprinted past them both. His winning time of 28:24.4 was almost a full minute faster than he’d ever run before and a new Olympic record for the event.

No American had ever won the 10,000-meter (nor has one come seriously close since), so the excitement in NBC analyst Dick Bank’s voice as he screamed, "Look at Mills! Look at Mills!" as the American sprinted to the finish should come as no surprise.

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