Gerry Lindgren

American athlete. Despite his failure to win an Olympic gold medal, Lindgren is known as one of America’s finest distance runners. As a senior in high school in Spokane, Washington, his talent was obvious, and during the annual United States versus U.S.S.R. race on 7/25/1964, he defied the odds and became the first American runner to win against the Soviet Union. As he crossed the finish line of this historic race, the U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy cheered, tears streaming down his face. Lindgren commented on his win, saying, "I couldn’t let America down. I had to do my best." Continuing his education at Washington State University, he ended up in the midst of a feud between the Amateur Athletic Union and the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Scheduled to run in the 1965 AAU race, Lindgren received 300 calls a week warning him not to race, and he even received threats saying his mother’s house would be burned to the ground if he didn’t withdraw. Despite this, Lindgren ran, and he shared the world record with Billy Mills, a 1965 Tokyo Olympic Gold Medallist. During congressional hearings that were held in an attempt to settle the dispute between the AAU and NCAA, he testified, stating his participation was a "decision of conscience." Over the next few years, he won 11 NCAA championships and broke eight records set by the great Jesse Owens. Lindgren was unable to compete in the 1968 Mexico Olympics due to a strained Achilles tendon. During intensive training for the 1972 Munich Olympics, he was in an automobile collision that once again kept him out of the competition. Link to Wikipedia biography