Muhammad Ali was of course a great boxer rather than a runner, but running (or 'roadwork' as boxers sometimes term it) was a huge part of his training. Hence lots of photos of him running. There is a great quote that is often attributed to him online: “The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses-behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights". Unfortunately I haven't been able to find the original source of this - I hope it's not another of those endless circulating internet myths - but it tells a truth about training for any sport.
 | ||
| Cassius Clay (as he was then) running on the Julia Tuttle Causeway, Miami Beach 1961 (from Miami Archives) 'Ever the early riser, Clay would start each day of training at 5:00 am with roadwork. As he ran from his hotel to the gym[in Miami], police would sometimes get complaints that a young black man was running down the streets. In a southern city during the era of segregation, such a black male must obviously been guilty of something' - Muhammad Ali: A Biography by Anthony O. Edmonds). |
 |
| Ali running in London streets, 1960s (from Huffington Post) |
 |
| Ali running in Hyde Park with Jimmy Ellis, 1966 |
 |
| 'taken at dawn in Miami as Ali does his roadwork while training for his first encounter with Joe Frazier 1971' (from Chris Smith Photography) |
 |
| "Champ had finished his morning workout at the Fifth Street Gym when I asked him to run on the beach. He agreed and told me it would be good training for his leg strength running on the sand in combat boots. He told me he always ran in heavy combat boots so his boxing shoes would feel lighter when he was in the ring. As I took the pictures I thought of something Muhammad had said years before: “The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses-behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights"." (Telegraph) |
Marilyn Monroe the Runner
Tom Longboat, Canadian First Nations Marathon Runner
Runners in Space: an image from Munich 1972 on NASA's Voyager spacecraft
Tom Longboat, Canadian First Nations Marathon Runner
Runners in Space: an image from Munich 1972 on NASA's Voyager spacecraft
Anita Neil - Britain's first female Black Olympian?
No comments:
Post a Comment