Mexico City, October, 1968. It’s the year of the Fosbury Flop, the first doping tests, the first woman to light the Olympic cauldron— and all at 2,240 metres above sea level. Olympic and world records are set and broken and broken again in the rarefied air: long jump, high jump, triple jump, pole vault and sprints. But for the middle- and long-distance runners, the altitude has the reverse effect. “It was a huge factor,” says Trerise, the memories flooding back. “The feeling is that you just want to lie down and go to sleep. There were some very good athletes that weren’t able to perform anywhere near their best, and that would have been devastating. I was lucky that I was able to perform well.” ...
Norman K. Trerise
Class of 1973-1974