Arquímedes Herrera

Who was Arquímedes Herrera?

Arquímedes Herrera was a Venezuelan track and field athlete who competed in the sprint events. He claimed three medals at the 1963 Pan American Games held in São Paulo, Brazil, and also participated at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, where he made the semi-finals in both the 100 metres and 200 metres and was a member of the Venezuelan team which finished sixth in the final of the 4 × 100 metres relay.

Herrera was a claimant to the Masters M35 100 metres world record, running a hand timed 10.3 while taking a silver medal in the 1970 Bolivarian Games in Maricaibo on August 29, 1970. In the transitional period, hand times were acceptable. His record held until it was beaten by an automatically timed 10.28 by Olympic champion Allan Wells almost 17 years later. The record was beaten intrinsically by an automatic 10.50 set by Delano Meriwether at the Penn Relays in 1979. Four day later, Herrera added the M35 200 metres record at 21.5. That record lasted was tied two years later but not surpassed for almost 6 years.