This 1985 IAAF World Cup was the first major international competition where the USA Team got to compete against Team USSR and Team GDR (East Germany) since before the 1980 Olympic Games….when the USA and many other western countries boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics……which led to the Russians and East Germans boycotted the 1984 Los Angeles Games….so, these world power arch rivals of the era of the Cold War hadn’t really gone face to face since the at the 1976 Montreal Olympics.
ABC Sports Jim Lampley and Marty Liquori are at the mikes for coverage of this competition….as coverage started off with the finals in the men’s high jump competition as SWE Patrik Sojberg would win gold with a jump of 7’7″…..which is followed by the real star of this IAAF World Cup….GDR’s Marita Koch …..who would set a new World Record in the women’s 400m race at 47.60 seconds to win gold….with URS Olga Vladykina taking silver…. and USA Lillie Leatherwood capturing the bronze…..while she then ran an incredible last leg to. led the East German 4 x 100m relay team to another World Record of 41.37 seconds.
Next up on this broadcast is the men’s 200m featuring USA Kirk Baptiste….the silver medalist in this race at the L A Olympics….who would go on to win this race….but would later be disqualified for running out of his lane….while this event is followed by the men’s 5000m race…..as the USA’s Doug Padilla would show off an incredible stretch run to win gold.
The truth be known, the best event of this entire ABC Sports coverage of the 1985 IAAF World Cup wasn’t the two East German world records….albeit they were quite impressive….but they didn’t compare withe the men’s 4 x 400m relay…..whereby the USA TEam of Walter McCoy, Andre Phillips, Ray Armstead and Michael Franks ran an incredible race….that’s is until Armstead was knocked off the track by a Soviet runner who got pushed into Armstead….who had to gather himself and come back onto the track to pass the baton to USA anchor Michael Franks…..who was by then standing at a dead stop…..but once Franks got the baton…..what ensued was the greatest quarter this lil ole chiweenie Sportphile has ever seen…. which makes this video MUST SEE TV!!!
