The sports world knows Edwin Moses as a dominator over 400 meter hurdles. Hardly anyone knows him for what he actually was: a natural scientist. Now a film tells the story of his amazing life.
A few times has happened Edwin Moses Already seen as a leading actor on the big screen, at film premieres across the USA and Europe. And every single time he has “a bit amazed” about the fact that a 90-minute documentary is dedicated to him. On the other hand, in this way he experienced himself in a completely new way, as he says. This also applies to many of his friends, “who have known me for decades and who now say that they only really understood me after seeing this film”. This film is called “13 Steps”and it opens in theaters on December 5th.
Three times nine is 122
Thirteen steps, this number is still important. Like it Moses with numbers at all. He is world-famous as a track and field athlete, Olympic champion in 1976 and 1984 in the 400 meter hurdles, Moses dominated this track like no one else. He was actually unbeaten for nine years, nine months and nine days. In a total of 122 races. No other athlete has achieved such a long streak of success, not Sergej Bubka, the pole vaulter who keeps producing new world records Usain Boltno one.
Moses In the conversation he says that this superlative isn’t that important to him, “really not”. Because running was just a pastime for him back then Morehouse College in Atlanta. Because he is actually a physicist, not an athlete. And as a physicist, he is more fascinated by the astonishing sequence of three times nine in relation to the length of his winning streak than the many victories he has achieved. “Really strange”he finds this 9-9-9.
A physicist runs for a world record
But how did a highly gifted physicist end up getting involved in athletics? Moses says: “I’ve always run, since I was ten years old. But I wasn’t really good because I was smaller than my peers. So I chose the academic path, that of a physicist, and was successful with it.” When the late, big growth spurt occurred, he was suddenly physically able to sprint better over the hurdles. In March 1976, at the age of 20, his best time was a modest 50.1 seconds – “and I thought, just try to make it to the US Trials for Montreal”. Montreal was the site of the 1976 Summer Olympics US Trials the qualification hurdle for this. Only the top three would be there.
The film describes the physicist’s transformation with many contemporary witnesses Moses to the 400 meter hurdles star Moses. His scientific knowledge helped him, which is also what makes his story so fascinating. There was no real coach who could have helped him with his running development college. There wasn’t even a 400-meter track there. Has trained Moses primarily on a golf course: “I was only able to train on a track outside of campus, and then only very rarely.”
The formula for winning
At a time when sports science was still in its infancy and many athletes ran by feeling Mosesthe physicist, “With a few student friends I came up with the formula that would help me move forward. We calculated that I would walk with a frequency of 13 steps at a time – 13 steps – should run between the ten hurdles. And if I could do that, I would be fast.” In the laboratory, fellow students also calculated the optimal angle between the calf and the hurdle when taking off, so that the runner spends less time in the air and more time on the ground. It was also clear: “I absolutely had to jump off with my left hand”to face the counterclockwise stadium lap with the best possible biomechanics.
It was a formula from the drawing board, a winning formula. Moses not only qualified for Montreal, he even ran a world record in the Olympic final in 47.64 seconds.
High salaries for top performance
His series began the following year and only ended in 1987. In between there was another Olympic victory – in 1984 Los Angeles – and two world titles. 1980, before the Moscow Games Moses another world record, his third, 47.13 seconds. It was his response to the Western world’s boycott of the Olympics because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Moses says: “I was robbed of a golden opportunity.”
The film describes the personality Moses from many angles. Morehouse graduates like Spike Lee or Samuel L. Jackson have their say, Moses Physio from the past, fellow students, his brother, his mother, his son Julian, a volleyball professional, with his German mother Ed Moses are no longer together today. The only person missing is his German competitor Harald Schmid, who did not want to comment. And it becomes clear that everyone we spoke to was very surprised that this highly gifted physicist was a very gifted runner. Someone who also managed to introduce appropriate salaries for top performance. In the long term, this development also ensured that professionals were allowed to compete in the Olympic Games from 1992 onwards.
Fight against racism
The film also gives up a lot of time Moses‘Commitment to the fight against unequal treatment of blacks and whites in the USA. The Morehouse College was a university for blacks only and a reaction to the fact that they were not allowed to study at all universities in the USA. In the film says Moses: “The smarter you were, the whiter you were considered.” His insight: “Racism will always be a problem in the United States.”
Moses broke the world record for a fourth and final time on August 31, 1983 in Koblenz, the day of his 28th birthday, 47.02 seconds. This time was only beaten in 1992. After the end of his career in 1988, he became involved Moses in the fight against doping. He was the chairman of the proceedings Lance Armstrong brought down. He is currently an ambassador for the Laureus Foundation, which supports social sports projects in 40 countries.
The film by director Michael Wech tells all this in 90 minutes. He introduces a physicist, an athlete, an activist against doping and a person who advocates for equal rights. All of this is one person. That’s all Edwin Moses.