Gumersindo Gómez

Gumersindo Gómez was a marathon star in Córdoba, Argentina for many years and dominated the local racing scene. He first rose to fame as a multiple winner of the events held by the sporting magazine “El Gráfico” in Buenos Aires. His success began to spread nationally, and then internationally, culminating in an appearance at the 1960 Summer Olympics, where he placed 15th out of 69 competitors. Despite this result, he still ran the race faster than any previous Olympic gold medal winner. A few days later he won a 30km race held in the city with a world record time of 1:32:06, but this was not approved by the IAAF because they could not accurately measure the length of the course in the streets. He continued to coach and race through the 1980s and was able to easily keep pace with much younger athletes. He had a leg amputated in 2009 following a traffic accident and died of infection and other related complications the following year.

Personal Best: Mar – 2-23:00 (1960).