Billy Mills

Later that year, Mills went to Tokyo, Japan to compete. No one in the track world had heard of this Native American Marine, and he was not considered as competition by any of the world-famous runners there. In addition, no American athlete had ever won a distance race in the Olympics. Even the American coach did not expect Mills to win, and was not sure if any American athletes would even place in the event. Ironically, Mills was actually ranked eighth in the world at the time, an immense achievement that should have forewarned coaches and competitors. In an interview with Runner's World, Mills said that he was overlooked as a runner because of the prejudices of his time: "I was caught, as a Native American, in that complexity of how society deals with someone who's different. Because of that, no coach, trainer, or anyone in the media knew that I went to the Olympic Games ranked eighth in the world."

Indeed, the U.S. Olympic Committee initially refused to provide Mills with shoes for the race; according to an article on the Sports Humanitarian Web page, one official said, "We only have enough for those we expect to do well." Mills borrowed shoes and got ready for the race.

Of all the thirty-six runners in the event, Australia's Ron Clarke was expected to win. Tunisian Mohamed Gammoudi was expected to place second, and any of the other runners could have taken the bronze medal. Clarke and Gammoudi were the only runners who were believed capable of winning.

Mills, who believed in the value of positive mental imagery, ignored these predictions. During his training, he had visualized a young Native American runner winning the 10,000 meters, over and over again, erasing any images of loss.

As the runners lined up on the wet track, Mills continued to focus on winning. After the starting gun sounded, Clarke and Gammoudi took first and second place, with the other runners behind them in a mixed pack. Mills stayed up with the rest of the pack, and as the group entered the last 300 yards, Mills took the lead. Gammoudi jostled Clarke, and Clarke elbowed Mills, forcing him to stumble and lose 20 yards.

The crowd watched, cheering, as Clarke and Gammoudi continued in the lead, as predicted.

According to Bud Greenspan in 100 Greatest Moments in Olympic History, Mills decided he still had a chance to win. "So I started driving. They were fifteen yards in front of me, but it seemed like fifty yards. Then I kept telling myself, 'I can win … I can win … I can win …' Mills surged forward, passing Gammoudi and Clarke, and the crowd fell silent, shocked at this unexpected comeback.

Mills finished three yards ahead of Gammoudi, who took second place, with a time of 28:24.4, a new Olympic record, forty-six seconds better than his best time to date. A writer in Contemporary Heroes and Heroines quoted Mills as saying later, "My Indianness kept me striving to take first and not settle for less in the last yards of the Olympic race. I thought of how our great chiefs kept on fighting when all the odds were against them as they were against me. I couldn't let my people down."

After the race, according to Mark Bloom in Runner's World, reporters asked Clarke if he had been worried about Mills beating him. Clarke replied, "Worried about him? I never heard of him." And, according to an article about Mills on the Sports Humanitarian Web site, he was so little-known that an official approached Mills after the race and asked, "Who are you?"

Mills' win was voted the Associated Press "Upset of the Year" for 1964. That was the same year that African-American boxer Cassius Clay (who later changed his name to Muhammad Ali) beat Sonny Liston for the heavyweight title, an event often considered one of the biggest upsets of all time; the fact that Mill's win took precedence over Clay's shows the impact it had on sports reporters at the time.

Although Mills also ran the Olympic marathon, he finished in 14th place. He told a Runner's World writer that he thinks he had the potential to do well in that event, but that he did not do the right type of training. In addition, during the race, he did not drink enough water. Although he was in fourth place at mile 21 of the 26.2-mile race, he became dehydrated, and when he did drink, his specially concocted beverage tasted so bad that he couldn't swallow it. By mile 24.5 he was badly dehydrated, and hit what marathoners call "the wall," a state of exhaustion in which the athlete struggles to run at all, let alone with any speed.