"Hary! Hary! Hary!"

"If you can get a step on a man in the 100 meters," says U.S. Sprinter Ray Norton, "you can just look over your shoulder at him and let him do his best. He'll never catch you." Last week a Frankfurt sales clerk named Armin Hary, 23, got a step on the world's fastest sprinters, including Norton himself, and ran off with the 100-meters gold medal for one of the biggest upsets of the Olympics.

Hary's performance caught the U.S. completely off guard. For one thing, the U.S., which had not lost the 100 meters since 1928, seemed as strong as ever, with a trio headed by Ray Norton. For another. Hary had always been regarded with some suspicion. Rivals had long claimed that tolerant European starters let him beat the gun. When Hary knocked .1 sec. off the world record this summer with a time of 10 sec. flat, skeptical U.S. and European coaches alike freely predicted that he would certainly be run into the ground in Rome.

They figured without Hary's fierce pride. Son of a Saarland coal miner who was a German wrestling champion. Hary began serious training at the age of 14. By 1958 Hary was the European champion, but he had won few personal admirers along the way. Says West German Track Boss Dr. Max Danz: "He was a little urchin, a tough kid and a little loudmouth." Hary cockily dispensed with a coach: "I've been raised to stand on my own two feet and can take my fate into my own hands." In time, Hary's starting reflexes came to have as delicate a hair trigger as his temper. "Hary is capable of anything," said a German track official last month, "provided he doesn't lose control over himself. He's the flightiest athlete on the German team."

To calm down for the Olympics, Hary spent hours prowling the countryside, slept late and loafed through practice drills. But when he arrived in Rome, Hary was his old, unmellowed self. The great Jesse Owens, star of the 1936 Olympics, wanted to meet him. Snapped Hary: "I'm sorry. I haven't the time to fool with him."

When the competition began, Hary showed up carrying a knapsack loaded with his gear, pointedly ignored his rivals clustered on a bench. Then he set to work. He lowered the Olympic record by .1 sec., to 10.2. in an early heat, won the semifinals in 10.3. In the finals, after making two false starts with the rest of the field, Hary poised on his blocks as steady as a carrier plane braced on its catapult. The six men came off the mark together, but within two strides Hary had accelerated to a half-meter lead. By the 50-meter mark, Hary opened up a two-meter gap as German fans chanted: "Hary! Hary! Hary!"

At the finish. Duke's Dave Sime, 24, made a frenzied dive that sent him skidding along the cinders and tied Hary's time of 10.2. But Hary had clearly crossed the line first to win the gold medal (Norton finished sixth), completing the finest exhibition of sprinting in Olympic history. Said Champion Hary: "I'm a fast starter. That's all there is to it."

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