Brought to you by the National Film Board of Canada and Macmillan Films this 1980 film is in 16mm format and lasts for 24 minutes. A history of the ancient origins of the Olympic marathon is used as a backdrop for this documentary featuring East Germany’s gold medal winner, Waldemar Cierpinski, and the spectacular victory at the 1976 Olympics. The title is in reference to this being the first Olympic marathon where an athlete ran the race with an average mile pace of less than five minutes per mile. Cierpinski’s Olympic record finishing time was 2:09:55 and stood until Carlos Lopes of Portugal went under this mark in 1984 by running 2:09:21. Lopes is the oldest person to set a world record when running the marathon in 2:07:12 at Rotterdam, Netherlands at age 38 years, 59 days. Visit NFB.ca to read more, as well as view still images and a video clip.
