Billy Mills biography

 Billy Mills biography

 Billy Mills, byname of William Mervin Mills, (born June 30, 1938, Pine Ridge, South Dakota, U.S.), athlete who was the primary American to win an Olympic gold medal within the 10,000-metre race, reaching a dramatic upset victory on the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Mills, who was half Sioux, grew up on an Oglala Sioux Indian reservation and, after he was orphaned on the age of 12, attended the Haskell Institute, an Indian college in Lawrence, Kansas. There and on the University of Kansas, he excelled in observe occasions however then deserted them for 2 years. While serving within the U.S. Marine Corps, he returned to racing in 1964, qualifying for that yr’s Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Mills was a little-known entrant within the 10,000-metre run; amongst these favoured to win was Ron Clarke, of Australia, who held the world report. On a moist observe, Mills stored tempo with the leaders till the ultimate lap, when Clarke and Mohamed Gammoudi of Tunisia pressured him to the skin of a crowded subject. As Clarke and Gammoudi fought for the lead, Mills, in a frantic ultimate dash, surged previous them to win an electrifying victory by simply three yards. His success continued in 1965, when he set an outside world report (27 minutes 11.6 seconds) within the six-mile run and set U.S. data within the 10,000-metre and indoor three-mile races. The movie Running Brave (1984) was primarily based on his Olympic victory.

In 1986 Mills cofounded Running Strong for American Indian Youth, which gives well being and shelter help whereas additionally supporting conventional cultures and languages. In 2013 Mills was introduced with the Presidential Citizens Medal by U.S. Pres. Barack Obama.