James Ronald "Jim" Ryun (conceived April 29, 1947) is an American previous government official and Olympic style sports competitor, who at his pinnacle was generally viewed as the world's top center separation sprinter.

He won a silver award in the 1500 m at the 1968 Summer Olympics and was the primary-secondary school competitor to run a mile in less than four minutes.

He is the last American to hold the world record in the mile run. Ryun later served in the United States House of Representatives from 1996 to 2007, speaking to Kansas' second congressional region for the Republican Party. started. 

Early years 

In 1964, as a secondary school junior at Wichita East High School, Ryun turned into the primary-secondary school competitor to run a mile in less than 4 minutes in the hour of 3:59.0, when he took the eighth spot at the 1964 California Relays, the last under four minutes in a notable mass completion under 4:00.

His season of 3:55.3, set winning the 1965 AAU Championship race in front of Olympic gold medalist and previous WR holder Peter Snell, was a secondary school record that represented 36 years.

Ryun ran five sub brief miles while in the secondary school including the main sub brief mile run in a secondary school occasion, a 3:58.3, at the 1965 Kansas HS state meet.

As a secondary school senior he has cast a ballot the fourth-best miler on the planet by Track and Field News. ESPN.com named him the best secondary school competitor ever, prevailing over individuals, for example, Tiger Woods and LeBron James. He was Track and Field News "Secondary School Athlete of the Year" in 1965. 

Post-secondary school 

In 1966, at age nineteen, Ryun set world precedents in the mile (3:51.3) and the half-mile (1:44.9). He got various honors, including Sports Illustrated magazine's "Athlete of the Year" grant, the James E. Sullivan Award as the country's top novice competitor, the ABC's Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year grant, and the Track and Field News' Athlete of the Year grant as the world's best track and field competitor. 

In 1967, Ryun set a world precedent in the indoor half-mile (1:48.3) and the outside mile from (3:51.1), a record that represented just about eight years.

That equivalent year he set the world precedent for the 1,500 meters (3:33.1). In NCAA rivalry, Ryun was the 1967 NCAA open air-mile champion. He was likewise the NCAA indoor mile champion in 1967, 1968, and 1969. 

Ryun still holds the American junior (19 and under) records at 1,500 m (3:36.1), one mile (3:51.3), and two miles (8:25.1). His American junior record in the 800 meters endured precisely 50 years.

On the whole, he broke the American record for the mile multiple times: once as a secondary school senior (3:55.3 on June 27, 1965), twice as a school first-year recruit (3:53.7 on June 4, 1966, and 3:51.3 on July 17, 1966), and once as a school sophomore (3:51.1 on June 23, 1967). 

Ryun took an interest in 1964, 1968, and 1972 Summer Olympics. At age 17 years, 137 days in 1964, he remains the most youthful American male track competitor to ever fit the bill for the Olympics.

In 1968, he won the silver decoration in the 1,500 meters in Mexico City, losing to Kip Keino from Kenya, whose amazing race remained the Olympic 1,500-meter record for a long time. Prior to the race, Ryun had believed that a period of 3:39 would be sufficient to win in the high height of Mexico City.

He wound up running quicker than that with a 3:37.8, yet Keino's 3:34.9 was too difficult to even consider beating at that height.

Keino moved into the primary situation with two laps to go (800 meters) at a world record pace. Ryun kept on climbing during the last two laps from eighth to second however was never nearer than around 30 yards from Keino.

A long time later, in 1981, he told Tex Maule in a meeting for The Runner magazine, "We had felt that 3:39 would win and I ran under that. I thought of it as like winning a gold award; I had done my absolute best I despite everything trust I would have succeeded adrift level."

Ryun was assaulted by certain scholars who accepted he had allowed his country to nation. "Some even said I had let down the entire world. I didn't get any acknowledgment for running my best and nobody appeared to understand that Keino had performed splendidly."

In the 1972 Munich, Germany, Games, he was stumbled and tumbled down during a 1,500-meter qualifying heat.

Despite the fact that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recognized that a foul had happened, U.S. bids to have Ryun reestablished in the opposition were denied by the IOC. 

Ryun's 1,500-meter world record, run in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum during the United States versus English Commonwealth meet in July 1967, was one of Ryun's most prominent running exhibitions.

Olympic style events News detailed that "after 220 yards of dillydallying, a record appeared to be not feasible." However, after 440 yards, which Ryun, in third, went in 60.9 seconds, Kip Keino started to lead the pack and ran the following lap in 56 seconds (the quickest second lap at any point run at that point).

Ryun, simply behind, passed the 880-yard mark in 1:57.0. At 1,320 yards the two were one next to the other in 2:55.0. Ryun pulled away to complete in 3:33.1, a record that represented seven years.

With last 440 yards of 53.9, a last 880 yards of 1:51.3, and the last 1320 yards in 2:47.4, Cordner Nelson of Track and Field News called it "the mightiest completing drive at any point seen," and said of Ryun's presentation, "This was unquestionably his most noteworthy race." 

Ryun's last season as a novice was in 1972 and incorporated the third-best mile of his vocation (at that point, the third quickest ever: a 3:52.8 at Toronto, Canada on July 29): a 5,000-meter profession best (13:38.2 at Bakersfield, CA on May 20), and success in the 1,500 meters at the U.S. Olympic Trials.

He left novice games after 1972 and for the following two years ran expertly on the International Track Association circuit. 

Individual life 

Ryun was conceived in Wichita, Kansas. He currently lives in Lawrence, however, he was recorded in the House move as "R-Topeka." He additionally claims a ranch in Jefferson County. 

Ryun met his better half, Anne, when she approached him for a signature after he broke the world record for the mile in Berkeley.

They wedded in 1969 and have four youngsters and seven grandkids. He and his children, Ned Ryun and Drew have co-composed three books: Heroes Among Us, The Courage to Run, and In Quest of Gold – The Jim Ryun Story. 

In the wake of moving on from the University of Kansas in 1970 with a degree in photojournalism, Ryun moved to Eugene, Oregon; searching for a decent preparing circumstance to proceed with his track vocation.

A half-year later, he moved to Santa Barbara, California, where he and his family stayed for a long time. He and his family moved back to Lawrence in 1981. 

Brought up in the Church of Christ, Ryun and his significant other are individuals from Grace Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Lawrence. 

President Donald Trump granted Jim Ryun the Presidential Medal of Freedom on July 24, 2020.