Autumn 2007 - British Milers Club

Franz StampflFranz Stampfl is one of those halfforgotten coaches who made animmense contribution to middledistance running. He was also a greatcharacter in the sport. Among theathletes he coached included RogerBannister – the first man to run a subfour minute mile. The list continueswith Chris Chataway who held the5000m world record and Chris Brasherthe 3,000 steeplechase Olympicchampion from 1956. He also coachedRalph Doubell to the Olympic 800mtitle in Mexico in 1968. Doubell`s timeof 1m 44.3 secs is still the Australianrecord and come to think of it wouldstill be world class time today.So who was Stampfl? He was anAustrian, who after going to the 1936Olympics in Berlin decided to seek hisfortune as a coach in England. He wasgiven a job eventually by the AAA andwas interned during World War 2 as anenemy alien. He was then transportedto Australia. Stampfl returned toEngland after the war.Without doubt he was a formidablecharacter who developed a scientificapproach to training based on intervaltraining. In later years when hecoached in Australia he was badlyinjured in a car accident and even as aquadriplegic he continued to coach.Ralph Doubell later described him asdetermined, non conformist andconfrontational. He certainly had strongviews; on organisation he said “You canbe a Jesus Christ of a coach but youwill never produce any performancesworth talking about if you have badorganization behind you”As the only professional coach inAustralia he was approached byDoubell for coaching in Melbourne.Ralph Doubell asked to train three daysa week and wanted to break 48seconds for 400m. Stampfl`sresponse gives a big clue tohis character. He said “Verywell, I will tell how to trainand when to train and howoften, so let`s start training”.“You can only have onestandard and that is worldstandard”. Doubell`scomments in a later radiointerview are also quiterevealing. “Franz hadcomplete faith in himself andhe was never wrong!” Healso said, “He had the abilityto inspire me, to motivate meto do the extra 20% oftraining”. Commenting onhis preparations for theMexico Olympics duringwhich he had suffered injuryproblems he said “ After anearful of Stampfl I believed Icould beat anyone in theworld”. Doubell stated that he could nothave won the Olympics without FranzStampfl and that as a coach he wascertainly ahead of his time. It isinteresting that Stampfl was active inAustralia at the same time as PercyCerutty, the coach of Herb Elliot. Moreabout him in a later article.Earlier though, Stampfl had workedwith the trio of Bannister, Chatawayand Brasher in England. It is interestingin his book”The First four Minutes” thatBannisters comments about Stampfland his methods are limited but theyare still quite revealing “He had magicand he worked it with me”.”Stampfl`sgreatness as a coach rests on hisadaptability and his patience. Hewatches and waits for the momentwhen the athlete really needs him”. Onthe day of the first sub four minute mileat Iffley Road Oxford in 1954 Bannistertravelled by train with Stampfl.Bannister stated later that “I hadby Brendon Byrnereached my peak both physically andpsychologically. There would never beanother day like this. I had to drivemyself to the limits of my powerwithout the stimulus of competitiveopposition”. Stampfl`s contribution onthe journey was to convince Bannisterthat his training indicated that he wascapable of running 3mins 56 secs.If Bannister`s sub four minute mile wasone of the most memorableachievements in athletics thenChataway`s victory over Vladimir Kutsat the old White City (London) in 1954was also one of the most talked aboutraces. Kuts was the front runner andlater to be the Olympic champion in the1956 Olympics in Melbourne.Chataway knew that he had to staywith him to have a chance of winningthe race. Kuts applied fast bursts todrop Chataway. To quote Norris McWhirters description of the race “Despite the profligate torture which wasapplied in sustained bursts during the30 BMC News : Autumn 2007