(3 of 3)
Even so, the U.S. sprinters, who have not lost a gold medal since 1928, seem strong enough to dominate the 100 and 200 meters, and the 400-meter relay. "To beat one American sprinter is possible," says Italy's Dr. Robert Quercetani, president of the Association of Track and Field Statisticians. "But to beat all three is something else again."
The U.S. should win the shotput, pole vault, hammer throw, and high jump, seems likely to take the javelin, discus and broad jump. But South Africa's Mai Spence is rated the world's best in the 400 meters by Europe's experts, and Jamaica's George Kerr will be the man to beat in the 800 meters. Jim Beatty in the 5,000 meters and Dyrol Burleson in the 1,500 meters give the U.S. its strongest candidates in years, but both will go to Rome as long shots against European and Russian distance men.
Looking at the cold statistics in the record books, U.S. Olympic Track Team Chairman Pincus Sober said: "We will face an uphill struggle to amass as many gold medals as we did in Helsinki (14) in 1952 or at Melbourne (15) in 1956.
But, as proved at Palo Alto last week, past records are of little help when trackmen are fighting it out in the stretch. If American athletes rise to the occasion in Rome as they have always done, the U.S. should not fall off the gold standard.